Arts & Entertainment
Calendar: March 28-April 3
Center groups, parties, exhibits and more for the week ahead
Singer Cher Lloyd, who played the Capital Pride mainstage last summer, visits Rams Head Live in Baltimore next week. (Photo courtesy Rams Head Live)
Calendar for the week ahead in LGBT D.C. events:
Friday, March 28
The Latino History Project hosts its third annual “Mujeres en el Movimiento,” an event for lesbian Latinas to meet and connect, at MOVA Lounge (2204 14th St., N.W.) tonight from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The theme is “Celebrating Women of Color, Courage and Commitment.” There will be drinks, Latino music and a historical digital photo exhibit. There is a $5 suggested donation. For more details, visit latinoglbthistory.org.
Chef Art Smith hosts a private dinner as part of “Taste of Pride” at his restaurant Art and Soul (415 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) tonight from 7-10 p.m. Smith, who has appeared on numerous television specials including “ABC’s Lady Gaga Thanksgiving Special,” will prepare a three-course dinner with red wine. There will also be a meet and greet with him. Tickets are $60. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit capitalpride.org/taste.
Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) holds a happy hour from 5-7:30 p.m. tonight with all drinks half price. Enjoy pool, video games and cards. Admission is $5 after 9 p.m. Must be 21 and over. For more details, visit bachelorsmill.com.
Women in Their 20s, a social discussion group for lesbian, bisexual, transgender and all women interested in women, meets today at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) from 8-9:30 p.m. All welcome to join. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Saturday, March 29
Washington Independent Review of Books hosts “Books Alive!,” a literary book conference for writers, agents and book lovers, at the Bethesda Marriott (5151 Pooks Hill Rd., Bethesda, Md.) today from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Speakers include best-selling author Jonathan Alter, cookbook author Joan Nathan and former Washington Post restaurant critic Phyllis Richman. There will also be pitch session for aspiring authors to meet with top literary agents. Tickets are $220 and include morning coffee and a box lunch. For more information, visit washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com.
“Bring It On: The Musical,” a musical adaptation of the hit blockbuster movie “Bring It On” comes to Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Ln., North Bethesda, Md.) for two performances today at 3 and 8 p.m. The musical was on Broadway and written by Tony Award-winning writer of “Avenue Q,” Jeff Whitty. Tickets range from $31-81. For more details, visit strathmore.org.
Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts DJ Chord, who will be playing pop music, tonight. Doors open at 10 p.m. Cover is $8 from 10-11 p.m. and $12 after 11 p.m. Drinks are $3 before 11 p.m. The drag show starts at 10:30 p.m. Admission is limited to guests 21 and over.
Sunday, March 30
Perry’s (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Sunday Drag Brunch” today from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. For more details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
Adventuring, an LGBT outdoors group, holds a walking tour of the Battle of Spotsylvania this morning at 9 a.m. The tour covers seven miles of trails including the Bloody Angle, where two armies were locked in combat for nearly 24 hours. Bring a picnic lunch, bug spray and $10 for transportation and trip fees. They will carpool at 9 a.m. from the King Street Metro Station (1900 King St., Alexandria, Va.). For more information, visit adventuring.org.
Monday, March 31
University of Maryland’s Jewish LGBT group hosts Rabbi Steve Greenberg, an openly gay rabbi, at Theodore R. McKeldin Library at University of Maryland (Theodore R Mckeldin Library Campus Dr., College Park, Md.) in the special events room on the sixth floor tonight from 7-10 p.m. He will speak on “wrestling with God” as an openly gay Jew in the Orthodox world. For more details, visit marylandhillel.org.
The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon for the senior LGBT community. Older LGBT adults can come and enjoy complimentary coffee and conversation with other community members. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
Us Helping Us (3636 Georgia Ave., N.W.) holds a support group for gay black men to discuss topics that affect them, share perspectives and have meaningful conversations. For details, visit uhupil.org.
Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts poker night tonight at 8 p.m. Win prizes. Free to play. For more information, visit nelliessportsbar.com.
Tuesday, April 1
Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.) hosts its weekly ”FUK!T Packing Party” from 7-9 p.m. tonight. For more details, visit thedccenter.org or greenlanterndc.com.
The National Education Association (1537 M St., N.W.) screens “Always Be My Son,” a short documentary about a family struggling with a family member’s sexuality, tonight from 7-9 p.m. For more information, thedccenter.org.
SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) provides free and confidential HIV testing drop-in hours today from 3-5 p.m. For more information, visit smyal.org.
Wednesday, April 2
The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for social bridge. No partner needed. For more information, call 301-345-1571.
Bookmen D.C., an informal men’s gay literature group, discusses “The Queen’s Throat: Opera, Homosexuality and the Mystery of Desire,” an exploration of the relationship between gay men and opera, at Tenleytown Library (4450 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome. For details, visit bookmendc.blogspot.com.
Thursday, April 3
British pop singer Cher Lloyd performs at Rams Head Live (20 Market Pl., Baltimore) tonight at 8 p.m. Lloyd is a former “The X Factor U.K.” contestant and received fame in the United States with her hit single “Want U Back.” Lloyd has previously performed at Capital Pride. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $22 in advance and $25 the day of show. For more details, visit ramsheadlive.com.
Broadway star Linda Eder performs at Wolf Trap (1645 Trap Rd., Vienna, Va.) tonight at 8 p.m. Eder played Lucy in the Broadway musical “Jekyll and Hyde.” She also has 14 solo albums and one duets album. Tickets range from $44-48. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit wolftrap.org.
Rude Boi Entertainment hosts “Tempted 2 Touch,” a ladies dance party, at the Fab Lounge (2022 Florida Ave., N.W.) Doors open at 10 p.m. Drink specials $5 and vodka shots $3 all night. No cover charge. Admission limited to guests 21 and over. For more details, visit rudeboientertainment.wordpress.com.
Italy
Olympics Pride House ‘really important for the community’
Italy lags behind other European countries in terms of LGBTQ rights
The four Italian advocacy groups behind the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics’ Pride House hope to use the games to highlight the lack of LGBTQ rights in their country.
Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano organized the Pride House that is located in Milan’s MEET Digital Culture Center. The Washington Blade on Feb. 5 interviewed Pride House Project Manager Joseph Naklé.
Naklé in 2020 founded Peacox Basket Milano, Italy’s only LGBTQ basketball team. He also carried the Olympic torch through Milan shortly before he spoke with the Blade. (“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie last month participated in the torch relay in Feltre, a town in Italy’s Veneto region.)
Naklé said the promotion of LGBTQ rights in Italy is “actually our main objective.”
ILGA-Europe in its Rainbow Map 2025 notes same-sex couples lack full marriage rights in Italy, and the country’s hate crimes law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Italy does ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, but the country’s nondiscrimination laws do not include gender identity.
ILGA-Europe has made the following recommendations “in order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Italy.”
• Marriage equality for same-sex couples
• Depathologization of trans identities
• Automatic co-parent recognition available for all couples
“We are not really known to be the most openly LGBT-friendly country,” Naklé told the Blade. “That’s why it (Pride House) was really important for the community.”
“We want to use the Olympic games — because there is a big media attention — and we want to use this media attention to raise the voice,” he added.
Naklé noted Pride House will host “talks and roundtables every night” during the games that will focus on a variety of topics that include transgender and nonbinary people in sports and AI. Another will focus on what Naklé described to the Blade as “the importance of political movements now to fight for our rights, especially in places such as Italy or the U.S. where we are going backwards, and not forwards.”
Seven LGBTQ Olympians — Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio, Canadian ice dancers Paul Poirier and Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, Spanish figure skater Javier Raya, Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson, and Irish field hockey and cricket player Nikki Symmons — are scheduled to participate in Pride House’s Out and Proud event on Feb. 14.
Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood representatives are expected to speak at Pride House on Feb. 21.
The event will include a screening of Mariano Furlani’s documentary about Pride House and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. The MiX International LGBTQ+ Film and Queer Culture Festival will screen later this year in Milan. Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood is also planning to show the film during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Naklé also noted Pride House has launched an initiative that allows LGBTQ sports teams to partner with teams whose members are either migrants from African and Islamic countries or people with disabilities.
“The objective is to show that sports is the bridge between these communities,” he said.
Bisexual US skier wins gold
Naklé spoke with the Blade a day before the games opened. The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will close on Feb. 22.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are competing in the games.
Breezy Johnson, an American alpine skier who identifies as bisexual, on Sunday won a gold medal in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, on the same day helped the U.S. win a gold medal in team figure skating.
Glenn said she received threats on social media after she told reporters during a pre-Olympics press conference that LGBTQ Americans are having a “hard time” with the Trump-Vance administration in the White House. The Associated Press notes Glenn wore a Pride pin on her jacket during Sunday’s medal ceremony.
“I was disappointed because I’ve never had so many people wish me harm before, just for being me and speaking about being decent — human rights and decency,” said Glenn, according to the AP. “So that was really disappointing, and I do think it kind of lowered that excitement for this.”
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
Drag artists perform for crowds in towns across Virginia. The photographer follows Gerryatrick, Shenandoah, Climaxx, Emerald Envy among others over eight months as they perform at venues in the Virginia towns of Staunton, Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
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