Local
Lesbian activist Moregan Zale dies at 73
Former D.C. resident worked as clothing designer


Moregan Q. Zale, on left.
Veteran lesbian activist Moregan Q. Zale, a former D.C. area resident whose career included work as a clothing designer, seamstress, upholsterer, sewing teacher and amateur stand-up comic, died April 16, 2017 at a hospice in Danbury, Conn.
P.J. Schimmel, her partner and wife of 36 years, said she had been suffering from cancer and other ailments.
The couple lived in Arlington, Va., for more than 20 years, where Zale operated an antiques and upholstery business in Virginia before they moved to the Norwalk, Conn., area in 1993, where they remained until the time of Zale’s death in April.
Zale’s involvement in the LGBT rights movement dates back to 1970, according to Schimmel, when she marched in the first Christopher Street Liberation Day march in New York City that commemorated the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
“Moregan continually worked for gay rights and women’s liberation,” Schimmel said, becoming an activist for marriage equality long before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling making same-sex marriage the law of the land.
Schimmel said she and Zale liked to boast that they were “married” three times before same-sex nuptials became legal in the U.S. The first was in 1987 in D.C. as part of a mass demonstration of 3,000 gay or lesbian couples taking marriage vows on the weekend of a national gay rights march on Washington.
In 2001 the two traveled to Vermont for a civil union, which the state had recently legalized, Schimmel said. Then finally in 2003 they traveled to Canada to be legally married being able to do so in Connecticut.
Zale was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. in 1943, where she went to public schools and attended Brooklyn College. A short time later she became one of the first women to go to an upholstery trade school in New York City, Schimmel said.
“As a young girl, her grandmother taught her the basics of sewing,” Schimmel noted. “In the ‘60s and ‘70s she designed and made custom clothing for lesbians and organized a lesbian fashion show at her Manhattan loft, which was featured in DYKE magazine, according to Schimmel.
At the age of 62 she went back to college to study early childhood education and “reinvented herself” with a new business called Sew Create & Celebrate, teaching sewing to kids and adults, Schimmel recounts in a write-up on her wife’s varied career.
“She taught thousands to sew, both at her studio and at after school programs, Girl Scouts, and kids birthday parties,” said Schimmel.
Along the way in her wide range of activities Zale lived and worked out of a houseboat moored in a harbor in San Diego; moved in with friends on an 1,800 acre farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, where they created a “lesbian community” in four rented farmhouses.
It was at the farmhouse in Virginia where Zale and Schimmel met and fell in love, Schimmel recalled.
In keeping with her avocation as sometimes stand-up comic Zale in the last months of her life wrote a “Cross-Over Comedy, telling what was funny about being told she had a terminal illness,” Schimmel said. “We read some of it at her ‘After-Party’ celebrating her life,” Schimmel says in her write-up.
“Along with sharing our life together, Moregan’s passion was creativity,” Schimmel said. “She loved people, but wore her heart on her sleeve and would sometimes get mad at the world. She had a great joie de vivre and enthusiasm and will be missed by many.”
Zale is survived by Schimmel, her son and a grandson.

Moregan Q. Zale
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
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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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