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 Zaleās death in April.
Zaleās 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.
āMoregan continually worked for gay rights and womenās liberation,ā 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 āmarriedā 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.
āAs a young girl, her grandmother taught her the basics of sewing,ā Schimmel noted. āIn the ā60s and ā70s 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 āreinvented herselfā with a new business called Sew Create & Celebrate, teaching sewing to kids and adults, Schimmel recounts in a write-up on her wifeās varied career.
āShe taught thousands to sew, both at her studio and at after school programs, Girl Scouts, and kids birthday parties,ā 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 ālesbian communityā 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 āCross-Over Comedy, telling what was funny about being told she had a terminal illness,ā Schimmel said. āWe read some of it at her āAfter-Partyā celebrating her life,ā Schimmel says in her write-up.
āAlong with sharing our life together, Moreganās passion was creativity,ā Schimmel said. āShe 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.ā
Zale is survived by Schimmel, her son and a grandson.

Moregan Q. Zale
District of Columbia
Booz Allen withdraws as WorldPride corporate sponsor
Company updated programs to comply with Trump executive orders

The U.S. technology company Booz Allen Hamilton has confirmed it has withdrawn as a corporate sponsor for the international LGBTQ WorldPride events scheduled to take place in D.C. from May 17-June 8, according to a report by the Washington Business Journal.
In an exclusive story published Feb.10, the business publication reports that Booz Allen Hamilton disclosed in a statement that its decision to withdraw as a WorldPride sponsor was based on its need to comply with ārecently issued presidential executive orders.ā
Although the statement did not say so directly, it is referring to executive orders issued since Jan. 20 by President Donald Trump that, among other things, ban government agencies and companies doing business with the government through contracts from promoting or carrying out diversity, equity, and inclusion or āDEIā programs.
On its website, Booz Allen Hamilton describes itself as an āadvanced technology company delivering outcomes with speed for Americaās most critical defense, civil, and national securities priorities.ā Among the government agencies it does business with, the website statement says, are the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
āWe take this responsibility to our nation seriously,ā Washington Business Journal quoted the Booz Allen Hamilton statement regarding WorldPride as saying. āIt demands from us commitment to their best principle to flawless execution and to full compliance with all laws and regulations, including executive orders,ā Washington Business Journal quotes the statement as saying.
The Washington Business Journal article includes a photo of more than a dozen of Booz Allen Hamilton employees marching in D.C.ās Capital Pride parade in 2017.
The company did not immediately respond to a request from Washington Blade seeking comment on its WorldPride decision.
Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most D.C. LGBTQ Pride events and is the lead organizer of WorldPride 2025, in response to a request by the Blade released a statement responding to Booz Allen Hamiltonās sponsorship withdrawal.
āBooz Allen Hamilton is the only organization that has withdrawn its committed financial support for WorldPride,ā the statement says. āCPA is proud of its many longstanding legacy sponsors, many of whom have already reaffirmed their commitments to participate in WorldPride this summer,ā the statement continues.
āJust like many American companies and LGBTQ+ organizations, we are navigating current challenges and many unknowns,ā the statement says. āWe are confident, however, that we will have the support necessary to have a successful and safe WorldPride that meets this moment,ā it says.
āThat support includes families, organizations, and businesses from across our community and corporations that truly celebrate diversity and value equity and inclusion for all,ā the statement concludes.
The Capital Pride Alliance website last year listed Booz Allen Hamilton as a corporate sponsor for the 2024 Capital Pride events in the category of a āTrue Colorsā sponsor, which it said represented a donation of $75,000. But the Capital Pride Alliance statement to the Blade this week says, āWe are not going to share theyāre previously planned commitment for 2025.ā
The statement adds, āMany in our community are extremely vulnerable right now, and standing up for them, standing with them, standing with us, in this movement is what we all need.ā
District of Columbia
Trump executive order prompts local hospitals to stop gender-affirming care for youth
Activists marched outside Children’s National on Feb. 2

Hospitals in the D.C. area are putting a prompt stop to aiding transgender youth and their families continue their transition after President Donald Trump signed an executive order that bans all gender-affirming care nationwide for minors under 19.
On Jan. 28, days after Trump took office, signed the executive order, āProtecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,ā which immediately halted the prescription and medical treatment of gender-affirming care for all minors under the age of 19 across the country. The order use of āchemical and surgical mutilationā is in reference to the various kinds of gender-affirming care that youth may receive when in the care of a medical practice.
“Today, medical professionals are maiming and sterilizing a growing number of impressionable children under the radical and false claim that adults can change a childās sex through a series of irreversible medical interventions.ā says the executive order. āThis dangerous trend will be a stain on our nationās history, and it must end.ā
The executive order laid out various guidelines for medical practices to follow that must be implemented within the coming months. These include āending reliance on junk science,ā in referring to following the World Professional Association for Transgender Health’s guidelines for youth, and “defunding chemical and surgical mutilation,” which seeks to ban hospitals and medical schools to use federal funding for gender-affirming care.
Hospitals, medical schools, and clinics across the country have begun to abide by the executive order and drop trans and gender diverse youth as they dismantled programs that provided care of any kind that treated a childās gender dysphoria. Childrenās National Hospital in Northwest Washington is one of those institutions.
āChildrenās National is committed to providing compassionate and comprehensive care in accordance with the law,” said Children’s National in a Jan. 30 press release. “As a result, we are currently pausing all puberty blockers and hormone therapy prescriptions for transgender youth patients, per the guidelines in the executive order issued by the White House this week. Childrenās National already does not perform gender affirming surgery for minors.”
“We recognize the impact this change will have, and our commitment to creating a better future for children and families remains at the forefront of our mission,” it added. “We will do everything we can to ensure the same uninterrupted access to mental health counseling, social support, and holistic and respectful care for every patient at Children’s National. We are working directly with patients and providers to ensure every patient has access to the information and support services they need, and we appreciate their continued trust and understanding as we work through these changes.ā
The hospital did not provide the Washington Blade with additional comment.
Activists in response to the decision organized a march that took place outside Children’s Hospital. on Feb. 2. D.C. Safe Haven, a group founded to āprovide TLGBQ people in the DMV area with opportunities to transform their lives,ā helped organize the march.
Similar protests have taken place across the country.
The Gender Liberation Movement organized the “Rise Up for Trans Youth” march in New York’s Union Square on Saturday. The group was one of the organizers of a march that took place in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Dec. 4 when the justices heard oral arguments in the U.S. v. Skrmetti case, which challenges a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors under 18.
āVCU Health and Childrenās Hospital of Richmond at VCU have suspended gender-affirming medications and gender-affirming surgical procedures for patients under 19-years-old in response to an executive order issued by the White House on Jan. 28, 2025, and related state guidance received by VCU on Jan. 30, 2025,” the hospital said in a statement. “Our doors remain open to all patients and their families for screening, counseling, mental health care, and all other health care needs.ā
Equality Virginia, a queer advocacy group that works across the state, in a statement to the Blade criticized the executive order and response to it.
āExecutive orders are not legislation, they are not law, and they do not supersede state laws,” said Narissa Rahaman, the group’s executive director. “The General Assembly has taken up bills on both transgender athletes and gender-affirming care, and in both cases, the general assembly has declined to pursue bans on either. State law is clear; what is unclear is why the Youngkin administration is spending its final year cozying up to the Trump administration and repeatedly singling out transgender Virginians for discrimination.ā
āTo the transgender and nonbinary athletes and youth seeking healthcare in Virginia who are feeling scared: Equality Virginia will not stop fighting for you, no matter who occupies the Governorās Mansion or the White House,” added Rahaman.
Petitions are urging D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, Health and Human Services, and Children’s National to use D.C.’s human rights law to challenge the executive orders. Lambda Legal, along with the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firms Jenner & Block and Hogan Lovells have filed lawsuits against Trump’s mandate on behalf of families of trans youth.

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].Ā
Congratulations to Ryan Levi on assuming the presidency of the D.C. chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association (DCNLGJA).
“I’m incredibly excited to take on this new leadership role with an organization full of incredible journalists,ā Levi said. āIn these uncertain and challenging times for many in our queer and trans community, I hope NLGJA can continue to be a space for queer and trans D.C. journalists to connect with their peers, find support, grow in their careers, and build community.”
Leviās background includes being a reporter and producer with Tradeoffs Washington, D.C., where he reported and produced podcast episodes for the national nonprofit health policy news organization. Topics included ransomware attacks on hospitals, bias and AI in health care, and bringing Medicaid to incarcerated people. He was the lead reporter on The Fifth Branch, a special three-part series on mental health crisis response. His reporting was featured on NPR, PBS NewsHour, The Marshall Project, and Slate. He was a producer for KQED News, San Francisco, where he reported and produced sound-rich feature stories, developed, and executed engagement strategy, provided editorial feedback, and mixed pieces for the weekly Bay Curious podcast. Before that he was a producer and reporter at KBIA News in Columbia, Missouri.
Levi earned his bachelorās degree in journalism from the University of Missouri, and a bachelorās degree in Spanish, College of Arts and Science. He has won numerous honors and recognition for his work, including: Region 2 Edward R. Murrow Best News Series award for Three Refugees, Three Journeys to California; and second place 2017 Hearst Journalism Awards Radio Competition (reporter).
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