Arts & Entertainment
ClexaCon brings focus to queer women in entertainment
Annual convention kicks off March 3 in Las Vegas


Lynn Chen is one of many actresses and other queer women in entertainment taking part in ClexaCon. (Photo courtesy of ClexaCon)
Editorās note: The Blade is a sponsor of ClexaCon and will have a reporter in Las Vegas covering the convention March 3-5.Ā
Conventions are a popular way to bring die-hard, like-minded fans together ā from the star-studded Comic Con in San Diego to the D.C. Awesome Con, which has featured cast members from fantasy/sci-fi shows like āDoctor Whoā and āThe Walking Dead.ā
ClexaCon, the first con created by queer women for queer women, will unite a more specific part of fandom culture that has been demanding attention for a long time.
ClexaCon is a three-day convention for queer women in entertainment from March 3-5 at Ballyās and Paris in Las Vegas. The name āClexaā comes from the fan favorite couple Clarke and Lexa from the CWās āThe 100.ā Lexaās death on the show sparked outrage among LGBT fans who felt Lexa was the casualty of yet another āBury Your Gays Trope.ā A petition was started to spread awareness of the treatment of queer female characters in media and to raise money for The Trevor Project.
The con strives to rectify the āBury Your Gaysā trope and to celebrate LGBT characters in media as well as to encourage queer women to create their own content that does justice to the representation they want to see of themselves on screen.
āWe want ClexaCon to be a place where fans from around the world connect and form friendships. If we can impact just one person’s life positively, then we have accomplished our goal,ā ClexaCon organizers said in a statement to the Washington Blade.
Organizers say they are expecting thousands of attendees during the three-day event. The lineup includes a bevy of celebrities, panelists, journalists, artists and other fandom contributors. Top names expected to attend include Amy Acker (āPerson of Interest, āAngelā), show runner Emily Andras (āWynonna Earp,ā āLost Girl), Lynn Chen (āSaving Faceā), Gabrielle Christian (āSouth of Nowhereā), Ali Liebert (āBomb Girls,ā āLost Girlā), Mandy Musgrave (āSouth of Nowhereā) and many more.
These actresses will bring together some of the most beloved lesbian couples in fandom. Spashley (Spencer and Ashley on āSouth of Nowhereā), Shoot (Root and Shaw on āPerson of Interestā), Wayhaught (Waverly Earp and Nicole Haught from āWyonna Earpā), Hollstein (Laura Hollis and Carmilla Karnstein on āCamillaā), Bam (Bianca and Maggie from āAll My Childrenā) and a reunion of the cast from romantic-comedy āSaving Face.ā
Panels will include Bring Your Own Bulletproof Vest: How to Write Damn Good T.V. for Women, Creating an Original Web Series, Diversity in Comics, Fanfiction and the Art of a Good Love Scene, How to Raise Investment for your LGBTQ Business: from Crowdfundraising to Venture Backing, and Transgender Representation in the Media, among others.
The ClexaCon Film Festival will screen films, web series and documentaries from queer filmmakers. Other special events during the weekend will include Cocktails for Change, a one-hour event that gives attendees the chance to mingle with celebrities at the con while raising money for the Tegan and Sara Foundation, and Speed-Pitching, the chance to pitch a television series to professional TV writers and creators on the panel.
āThis event is for the LGBT+ person sitting in their small town feeling completely alone and alienated,ā ClexaCon organizers say. āClexaCon is for those of us who have placed our hope in a fictional character just to have been let down. We are powerful and we are important. Itās time our community felt that. Itās time we are the change we want to see in the world.ā
Single-day passes are $50-$55 and three-day passes are $135. Tickets for autographs and photographs are sold separately. For more information, visit clexacon.com.
Books
New book explores why we categorize sports according to gender
You can lead a homophobic horse to water but you can’t make it think

āFair Play: How Sports Shape the Gender Debatesā
By Katie Barnes
c.2023, St. Martin’s Press
$29/304 pages
The jump shot happened so quickly, so perfectly.
Your favorite player was in the air in a heartbeat, basketball in hand, wrist cocked. One flick and it was allĀ swish, three points, just like that, and your team was ahead. So are you watching men’s basketball or women’s basketball? Or, as in the new book,Ā “Fair Play” by Katie Barnes,Ā should it really matter?

For sports fans, this may come as a surprise: we categorize sports according to gender.
Football, baseball, wresting: male sports. Gymnastics, volleyball: women’s sports. And yet, one weekend spent cruising around television shows you that those sports are enjoyed by both men and women ā but we question the sexuality of athletes who dare (gasp!) to cross invisible lines for a sport they love.
How did sports “become a flash point for a broader conversation?”
Barnes takes readers back first to 1967, when Kathrine Switzer and Bobbi Gibb both ran in the Boston Marathon. It was the first time women had audaciously done so and while both finished the race, their efforts didn’t sit well with the men who made the rules.
“Thirty-seven words” changed the country in 1972 when Title IX was signed, which guaranteed there’d be no discrimination in extracurricular events, as long as “federal financial assistance” was taken. It guaranteed availability for sports participation for millions of girls in schools and colleges. It also “enshrine[d] protections for queer and transgender youth to access school sports.”
So why the debate about competition across gender lines?
First, says Barnes, we can’t change biology, or human bodies that contain both testosterone and estrogen, or that some athletes naturally have more of one or the other ā all of which factor into the debate. We shouldn’t forget that women can and do compete with men in some sports, and they sometimes win. We shouldn’t ignore the presence of transgender men in sports.
What we should do, Barnes says, is to “write a new story. One that works better.”
Here are two facts: Nobody likes change. And everybody has an opinion.
Keep those two statements in mind when you read “Fair Play.” They’ll keep you calm in this debate, as will author Katie Barnes’ lack of flame fanning.
As a sports fan, an athlete, and someone who’s binary, Barnes makes things relatively even-keel in this book, which is a breath of fresh air in what’s generally ferociously contentious. There’s a good balance of science and social commentary here, and the many, many stories that Barnes shares are entertaining and informative, as well as illustrative. Readers will come away with a good understanding of where the debate lies.
But will this book make a difference?
Maybe. Much will depend on who reads and absorbs it. Barnes offers plenty to ponder but alas, you can lead a homophobic horse to water but you can’t make it think. Still, if you’ve got skin in this particular bunch of games, find “Fair Play” and jump on it.
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Theater
An exciting revival of āEvitaā at Shakespeare Theatre
Out actor Caesar Samayoa on portraying iconic role of President Perón

āEvitaā
Through Oct. 15
Shakespeare Theatre Company
Harman Hall
610 F St., N.W.
$35ā$134
Shakespearetheatre.org
When Eva Perón died of cancer at 33 in 1952, the peopleās reaction was so intense that Argentina literally ran out of cut flowers. Mourners were forced to fly in stems from neighboring countries, explains out actor Caesar Samayoa.
For Samayoa, playing President Perón to Shireen Pimentalās First Lady Eva in director Sammi Cannoldās exciting revival of Andrew Lloyd Webberās āEvitaā at Shakespeare Theatre Company is a dream fulfilled.
As a Guatemalan-American kid, he had a foot in two worlds. Samayoa lived and went to school in suburban Emerson, N.J. But he spent evenings working at his parentsā botanica in Spanish Harlem.
During the drives back and forth in the family station wagon, he remembers listening to āEvitaā on his cassette player: āItās the first cast album I remember really hearing and understanding. I longed to be in the show.ā
As an undergrad, he transferred from Bucknell University where he studied Japanese international relations to a drama major at Ithica College. His first professional gig was in 1997 playing Juliet in Joe Calarcoās off-Broadway āShakespeareās R&J.ā Lots of Broadway work followed including āSister Act,ā āThe Pee-Wee Herman Show,ā and most significantly, Samayoa says, āCome From Away,ā a musical telling of the true story of airline passengers stranded in Gander, Newfoundland during 9/11. He played Kevin J. (one half of a gay couple) and Ali, a Muslim chef.
He adds āEvitaā has proved a powerful experience too: āWeāre portraying a populist power couple that changed the trajectory of a country in a way most Americans canāt fully understand. And doing it in Washington surrounded by government and politics is extra exciting.ā
WASHINGTON BLADE: How do you tap into a real-life character like Perón?
CAESAR SAMAYOA: Fortunately, Sammi [Connald] and I work similarly. With real persons and situations, I immerse myself into history, almost to a ridiculous extent.
First day in the rehearsal room, we were inundated with artifacts. Sammi has been to Argentina several times and interviewed heavily with people involved in Eva and Peronās lives. Throughout the process weād sit and talk about the real history that happened. We went down the rabbit hole.
Sammiās interviews included time with Evaās nurse who was at her bedside when she died. We watched videos of those interviews. Theyāve been an integral part of our production.
BLADE: Were you surprised by anything you learned?
SAMAYOA: Usually, Eva and Perónās relationship is portrayed as purely transactional. They wrote love letters and I had access to those. At their country home, theyād be in pajamas and walk on the beach; that part of their life was playful and informal. They were a political couple but they were deeply in love too. I latched on to that.
BLADE: And anything about the man specifically?
SAMAYOA: Perónās charisma was brought to the forefront. In shows Iāve done, some big names have attended. Obama. Clinton. Justin Trudeau came to āCome From Away.ā Within seconds, the charisma makes you give into that person. Iāve tried to use that.
BLADE: And the part?
SAMAYOA: Perón is said to be underwritten. But I love his power and the songs he sings [āThe Art of the Possible,ā āShe is a Diamond,ā etc.]. Iām fully a baritone and to find that kind of role in a modern musical is nearly impossible. And in this rock opera, I can use it to the full extent and feel great about it.
BLADE: āEvitaā is a co-production with A.R.T. Has it changed since premiering in Boston?
SAMAYOA: Yes, it has. In fact, 48 hours before opening night in Washington, we made some changes and theyāve really landed. Without giving too much away, we gave it more gravity in reality of time as well as Evaās sickness and the rapid deterioration. Itās given our second act a huge kind of engine that it didnāt have.
BLADE: Youāre married to talent agent Christopher Freer and youāre very open. Was it always that way for you?
SAMAYOA: When I started acting professionally, it was a very different industry. We were encouraged to stay in the closet or it will cast only in a certain part. There was truth in that. There still is some truth in that, but I refuse to go down that road. I canāt reach what I need to reach unless Iām my most honest self. I canāt do it any other way.
Out & About
HRCās National Dinner is back
LGBTQ rights organization’s annual gala features Rhimes, Waithe, Bomer

The Human Rights Campaign will host its annual National Dinner on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.
The dinnerās honorees include world-famous producers, actors and entertainers whose work spotlights the fight for civil rights and social justice, including Shonda Rhimes, Lena Waithe and Matt Bomer.
A new event, as part of the weekend, ā the Equality Convention ā will take place the night before the dinner on Friday, Oct. 13. The convention will showcase the power of the LGBTQ equality movement, feature influential political and cultural voices, and bring together volunteer and movement leaders from across the country to talk about the path ahead.
For more details about the weekend, visit HRCās website.
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