Local
Chris Abell, popular DJ, dies at 56
Accomplished pianist also worked in gay clubs
The funeral Mass for Chris Abell will be held on Tuesday, October 7, 2014, 10 a.m. at St. James Catholic Church in Mt. Rainier, MD.
Christopher George Abell, an accomplished church organist and pianist who later became a popular disc jockey at gay clubs in D.C. and up and down the East Coast, died Sept. 24 at George Washington University Hospital from a brain injury caused by a fall. He was 56.
George Strausbough, Abell’s partner of 15 years, said Abell was born in D.C. and raised in suburban Brentwood, Md., and was the second of six children of John and Bernadette Abell.
Strausbough said Abell attended the University of Maryland before transferring to Catholic University, where he studied music on a scholarship. In the late 1970s and early ‘80s Abell’s skills as an organist and pianist landed him in jobs playing at many D.C.-area churches, including the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Strausbough said.
Beginning in the early to middle 1980s through the late 1990s Abell worked as a guest DJ in a number of East Coast clubs. He also worked as a DJ in several D.C. gay bars, including the Lost & Found, Tracks, Badlands, Mr. P’s, and JR.’s. In addition, Strausbough said Abell worked as a bartender at Mr. P’s. He was widely known as “DJ Abell.”
During his DJ days, Abell became an officer with the Mid Atlantic Record Pool, an organization that worked with record companies to arrange for DJs to receive the latest record releases from popular recording artists, according to Strausbough.
After being diagnosed with HIV/AIDS nearly 25 years ago, Abell participated in clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health, the Whitman-Walker Clinic and George Washington University’s Medical Faculty Associates, Strausbough said.
He also helped to organize benefits for AIDS-related causes and groups, including Whitman-Walker, Food and Friends and Brother Help Thyself.
Amid his many activities and job duties, Strausbough said Abell was dedicated to his family, including Strausbough’s family members.
“He and I, between us, had 15 nieces and nephews that were the joy of his life, including mine and his and everybody’s,” said Strausbough. “His family was everything to him. And his family took me in as a son and my family took him in as a son.”
In addition to Strausbough, Abell is survived by his mother, Bernadette Abell; his brothers John Abell Jr. and his partner Nancy Kimball; Tim Abell and his partner Kathy; Lawrence Abell and his wife Cindy Abell; his sister Julia Jones and her husband Jay Jones; his sister Jennifer Addis and her husband Bryan; his beloved nieces and nephews and many longtime friends.
A funeral mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7 at St. James Catholic Church, 3628 Rhode Island Ave., in Mt. Rainier, Md.
Photos
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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)
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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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