Arts & Entertainment
‘Christian’ haunted house depicting Pulse massacre banned
‘The Room’ also planned to depict Charleston church shooting


The Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
A Chicago elementary school canceled plans to host a “Christian” haunted house for its advertised depiction of the Pulse Nightclub massacre this weekend.
The event, called The Room: A Journey to Hell, was scheduled to run at Fernwood Elementary School on Oct. 29 and 30.
“You will walk in 10 Rooms and encounter individuals who will make choices. The choice is life or death; sin or salvation; heaven or hell. The scenes will be action-packed, real and jaw-dropping,” the Eventbrite page advertises.
The haunted house also planned to recreate the 2015 Charleston church shooting and a botched abortion.
According to the Huffington Post, Tyrone TapplerĀ Productions sought out volunteers on Facebook calling for āClub Pulse, Dancers, Victims, caged people/screamers, extras needed trying to escape a cage! Sounds interesting? Come out this Saturday!ā
The post has since been deleted.
Chicago Public School officials say the event was canceled due to organizers’ misrepresentation of the event.
“The event organizers mischaracterized the true content of the event, and we did not approve any association with the activities the organizers have now advertised,” CPS spokesman Michael Passman told the Windy City Times. “The event will not be held on CPS property.”
TapplerĀ tweeted on Saturday that the event had been canceled.
GM THE ROOM IS OFFICIALLY BANNED! As of Friday, 7:17pm. There will be no show TODAY OR Tomorrow! . Sorry for the inconvenience.
ā Playwright Tyrone (@TyroneTappler) October 29, 2016
Photos
PHOTOS: Tennessee all-ages drag brunch
New Beginnings in Johnson City raises $3,500 to combat gun violence in schools

New Beginnings in Johnson City, Tenn., held an all-ages drag brunch on Sunday, March 26 ā just days before the state’s anti-drag law was scheduled to take effect. The event was a fundraiser for the Johnson City school system to help prevent gun violence. Organizers announced that $3,500 was raised.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)






















Covering for @WashBlade New Beginnings in Johnson City, Tennessee defying the state at an all-ages drag brunch. Here is baby shark: pic.twitter.com/Z9iyY7zTO8
ā Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) March 26, 2023

The Miss Charm City pageant was held at the Baltimore Eagle on Friday, March 24. Stormi Skye was crowned the winner. Both Skye and first alternate Sorority Heights qualified to compete in the upcoming Miss Gay Maryland competition later this year.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)























Covering Miss Charm City for @WashBlade at @EagleBaltimore . Stormi Skye takes the crown pic.twitter.com/muykQqiET6
— Michael Patrick Key (@MichaelKeyWB) March 25, 2023
Sports
Trans women banned from track and field, intersex athletes restricted
World Athletics Council policy to go into effect March 31

The organization that makes the rules for track and field meets around the world declared Thursday it will bar transgender women who have experienced male puberty from competing, a move that was anticipated following a similar trans ban issued last year by the governing body for world swimming.
As the Associated Press noted, at this moment there are zero trans women competing at the elite level of track and field. But the edict, which the World Athletics Council announced will take effect on the Transgender Day of Visibility, March 31, is crushing news for one hopeful.
In May 2019, CeCĆ© Telfer won the 400m hurdles at the Division II championships and became the first out trans woman to win an NCAA title. Sheās been training ever since for her shot at the Olympics, despite being ruled ineligible for Beijing at the trials in 2021. The Jamaican-American had set a goal of qualifying for Paris in 2024. But the World Athletics ban ends that dream.
Telfer tweeted Thursday, āIt feels as though the world stopped moving.ā
It feels as though the world stopped movingā¦
ā CeCe Telfer (@CeceTelfer) March 23, 2023
Another ruling by the group will likely mean no shot at the Olympics for another Black woman athlete, two-time gold medalist Caster Semenya. The South African track icon is not trans, but because of her higher than typical testosterone levels, she has been barred from competing in her signature event, the 800m. World Athletics took that from her around the same time Telfer made history, in May 2019.
The group issued an eligibility ruling that prohibits female athletes like Semenya who have Differences in Sexual Development from competing in women’s events, from the 400m to one mile (1600m), unless they reduce their testosterone levels. So, Semenya chose to run in longer events than she did previously. She finished 13th in her qualifying heat at 5,000 meters at world championships last year as she worked to adapt to longer distances, in preparation for Paris.
āIām in the adaptation phase, and my body is starting to fit with it. Iām just enjoying myself at the moment, and things will fall into place at the right time,ā the South African runner told the AP.
That time may now never come. On Thursday, World Athletics announced athletes who have DSD will have to undergo hormone-suppressing treatment and maintain a testosterone level of below 2.5nmol/L for 24 months, in order to be eligible to compete in any event in the female category.
Semenya vowed following the 2019 ruling that she would never again take any testosterone suppressing medication, terming the rules discriminatory and unfair.
This new rule could impact not only Semenya but also as many as a dozen other elite runners, World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said. Among them, Olympic 200-meter silver medalist Christine Mboma of Namibia, who won a silver medal in Tokyo two years ago but didnāt compete last year because of an injury. Mboma has not publicly stated whether she would be willing to undergo hormone therapy.
Like Semenya, Olympic 800-meter silver medalist Francine Niyonsaba of Burundi has said she will not undergo hormone suppression.
Even though Niyonsaba, Mboma and Semenya are not trans like Telfer and former Connecticut high school track athletes Andraya Yearwood and Terry Miller ā who have been targeted in federal court by opponents of inclusion ā there is one thing all these women have in common: They are all women of color, and all targeted for being too fast because of their natural gifts.
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