Local
SMYAL names new executive director
Shakir a veteran HRC staffer, marriage equality advocate
SMYAL has been carrying out its mission of supporting and empowering LGBTQ youth in the D.C. metro area for more than 20 years.
Sultan Shakir, director of the Human Rights Campaign’s Youth and Campus Engagement Program and a longtime community organizer, will be the new executive director of the local LGBT youth advocacy group SMYAL beginning Aug. 4.
According to a SMYAL announcement on Thursday, Shakir will replace SMYAL’s current executive director, Andrew Barnett, who’s leaving the organization to begin a doctorate program in clinical psychology this fall at George Washington University.
SMYAL, which stands for Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders, has been carrying out its mission of supporting and empowering lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth in the D.C. metro area for more than 20 years, according to a statement released by the group.
“Sultan Shakir is the right leader for SMYAL at an exciting time of change,” said Mike Schwartz, chair of the group’s board of directors.
Prior to serving in his current position at HRC, Shakir served as director of the campaign to persuade the Maryland General Assembly to pass a marriage equality law in 2012. He served in a leadership role in pushing for D.C.’s marriage equality law in 2009.
Before joining HRC in 2006, Shakir worked as a project manager with Grassroots Solutions, a consulting firm “where he trained young people nationwide to create progressive change,” a SMYAL statement says. The statement says he began his career as a community organizer in Baltimore.
“Andrew Barnett leaves SMYAL recognized among the LGBTQ and donor communities as a great way to invest in our young people,” Schwartz said in a statement announcing Shakir’s appointment. “LGBT young people in our area have safer, healthier and brighter lives because of Andrew Barnett,” he said.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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