Local
GLAA backs Newsham for D.C. police chief
‘Accessible, responsive and forthright’


The mayor has nominated Peter Newsham as the city’s police chief. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
The Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance is calling on the D.C. City Council to confirm Mayor Muriel Bowser’s nomination of Peter Newsham as the city’s police chief.
In remarks prepared to be delivered Friday, March 24, at a confirmation roundtable hearing of the Council’s Judiciary Committee, GLAA’s immediate past president, Rick Rosendall, called Newsham an “experienced and level-headed” police official who has been supportive of the LGBT community.
“We are pleased to endorse the confirmation of Peter Newsham as Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department,” Rosendall said in a statement. “In our experience and that of others who have spoken to us, Chief Newsham has been accessible, responsive, and forthright in his dealings with members of the LGBTQ community.”
Bowser named Newsham, an attorney who joined the MPD in 1989, as interim chief last September after then Police Chief Cathy Lanier resigned to take a job as head of security for the National Football League. In February, Bowser announced she was nominating Newsham as permanent chief after her office completed a national search for Lanier’s successor.
Rosendall and other LGBT activists have praised Newsham for appointing Acting Lt. Brett Parson, the former head of the police LGBT Liaison Unit, to oversee all of the police liaison units, which Newsham transferred into the Executive Office of the Chief of Police.
As a guest speaker on March 13 at a meeting of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, Newsham discussed his rationale for bringing back Parson to the liaison units and bringing the units under his office.
“I thought that was really important for us as a police department to do, to send that message,” he said. “MPD is going to continue to strive to be inclusive and to be diverse and to work with some of our vulnerable and underserved communities.”
World Pride 2025
D.C. liquor board extends drinking hours for WorldPride
Gay bars, other liquor-serving establishments can stay open 24 hours

D.C.’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board, which regulates liquor sales for the city’s bars, restaurants, nightclubs, and other establishments licensed to serve alcoholic beverages, has approved extended hours for alcohol service and sales during the days when most WorldPride events will be held in the nation’s capital.
In a May 2 announcement, the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration, which works with the board, said the extended liquor serving and sales hours for WorldPride will take place beginning Friday, May 30, through 4 a.m. Monday, June 9.
Although the official schedule for WorldPride events shows the events will take place May 17-June 8, most of the large events, including a two-day Pride street festival, parade, and concert, were expected to take place between May 30 and June 8.
According to the ABCA announcement and an ABCA spokesperson, liquor servicing establishments with the appropriate license can stay open for 24 hours and serve alcoholic beverages from 6 a.m. through the day and evening until 4 a.m., with no liquor sales allowed from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. during the May 30-June 9 period.
The ABCA announcement says liquor serving establishments must apply for the extended hours option and pay a $100 registration fee by a deadline on May 27.
Sources familiar with the liquor board have said the board has for many years approved the extension of liquor serving and sales hours for important events and for certain holidays such as New Year’s Eve.
At the time it approved the extended hours for WorldPride the liquor board also approved extended hours during the time when games for a World Cup soccer tournament will be held in the city on June 18, June 22, and June 26.
It couldn’t immediately be determined how many of D.C.’s 22 LGBTQ bars plan to apply for the extended drinking hours. David Perruzza, owner of the Adams Morgan gay bar Pitchers and its adjoining lesbian bar A League of Her Own, said he will apply for the 4 a.m. extended hours option but he does not intend to keep the two bars open for the full 23 hours.
Under the city’s current alcoholic beverage regulations, licensed liquor serving establishments may serve alcoholic beverages until 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends.
World Pride 2025
Episcopal bishop to speak at WorldPride human rights conference
Trump demanded apology from Mariann Edgar Budde over post-Inauguration sermon

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde is among those who are scheduled to speak at the WorldPride 2025 Human Rights Conference that will take place from June 4-6.
Budde, who is the bishop of the Diocese of Washington, in January urged President Donald Trump “to have mercy” on LGBTQ people, immigrants, and others “who are scared right now” during a post-Inauguration service that he and Vice President JD Vance attended at the Washington National Cathedral. Trump criticized Budde’s comments and demanded an apology.
The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde speaks at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 21, 2025. (PBS NewsHour clip)
A press release the Washington Blade received notes Icelandic Industries Minister Hanna Katrín Friðriksson, UK Black Pride founder Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, and Bob the Drag Queen are among those who are also expected to participate in the conference.
The conference will take place at the JW Marriott (1331 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.) and registration is open here.
World Pride 2025
Pabllo Vittar to perform at WorldPride
Brazilian drag queen, singer, joined Madonna on stage in 2024 Rio concert

A Brazilian drag queen and singer who performed with Madonna at her 2024 concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach will perform at WorldPride.
The Capital Pride Alliance on Thursday announced Pabllo Vittar will perform on the Main Stage of the main party that will take place on June 7 at DCBX (1235 W St., N.E.) in Northeast D.C.
Vittar and Anitta, a Brazilian pop star who is bisexual, on May 4, 2024, joined Madonna on stage at her free concert, which was the last one of her Celebration Tour. Authorities estimated 1.6 million people attended.
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