News
LGBT group joins call to ‘honor with action’ victims of gun violence
Family of victims tell stories day after House passes concealed carry bill
Rep. John Larson is joined y gun control advocates at a news conference (Washington Blade photo by Chris Johnson)
One day after the U.S. House approved legislation allowing concealed carry of firearms across state lines, gun control advocates — including an LGBT group — took to Capitol Hill to decry the move and to “honor with action” the lives of Americans lost to ongoing gun violence.
Representing an LGBT voice at the news conference Thursday was Taylor Houston, communications director for the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence.
Houston recalled the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., was once the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, but things have changed with the mass shooting in Las Vegas, which this year surpassed the death toll in Orlando, as well as other incidents.
“America is the only developed country in this entire world that faces this public health crisis,” Houston said. “We’re supposed to be leading the world when it comes to the quality of life that we ensure our citizens.”
Houston said the United States has experienced 1,500 mass shootings since the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012 and 142 of them have been school shootings.
“So we’re fighting here with Pride Fund, we’re fighting with gun safety measures everyday with everything that we have,” Houston said. “We’re doing it for the 20 children that were gunned down an six staffers in the room of Sandy Hook, we’re doing it for the Pulse victims and 58 Las Vegas and the other 33,000 Americans who will lose their lives this year.”
During a somber portion of the news conference, family and friends of the victims of gun violence stood up to the podium one by one to name the victim they knew and called on Congress to “honor with action” their memory.
Among them were parents who lost their daughter at the 2012 theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., individuals who lost loved to suicide by gun death, a parent whose daughter was shot in the heart in a mass shooting, parents whose daughter who shot several times during a 2010 home invasion in Portland, Maine, a pastor whose mother was shot and killed in front her other daughters and whose niece was lost to gun violence, and a mother who lost her son to gun violence while he out celebrating graduation from paramedic school.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), who has made gun safety a signature issue, the stories were an “impossible act to follow,” but took the opportunity to lament legislative inaction and accused Congress of letting the violence happen.
“Congress has unfortunately become complicit in these murders because our silence has started to look like an endorsement,” Murphy said. “People notice when the leaders of this country do nothing in the face of slaughter, after slaughter, after slaughter.”
But Murphy cited a number of factors which he said indicate things are changing, such as Democratic victories on Election Day 2017 in Virginia after voters cited gun violence as their No. 2 reason for going to the polls.
On Tuesday, the House passed legislation, 231-198, that would allow people with permits for carrying concealed handguns to do so in other states that allow concealed weapons. The interstate concealed carry would require an individual to carry a valid government-issued photo ID and be lawfully licensed to possess a concealed handgun.
The package also contained a measure that would ensure authorities report criminal history records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, penalizing agencies that don’t report them to the FBI.
Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) spoke angrily about the passage of the House bill, saying it amounts lawmakers having “dishonored with action” the victims of gun violence.
“The House leadership chose to bring up a bill which we might as well rename ‘The Guns Anywhere, Anytime by Anyone,'” Esty said. “It is wrong, and the American people need to stand up.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) asserted the House-passed legislation “will not pass the United States Senate” and anticipated separation of the bill into parts — one expanding checks, one for concealed carry — because that was the “good faith” agreement with Senate leadership and Republican.
“That’s sort of the bare minimum,” Blumenthal said. “It’s barely progress. What we need to extend those background checks to all purchases, to make sure we ban assault weapons, to ban high capacity magazines.”
Blumenthal added “we will prevail” because of gun control advocates “are breaking the vice-like grip of the NRA and the gun lobby.”
Other lawmakers who spoke were Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), Jim Himes (D-Conn.), Brent Thompson (D-Calif.). Joining them were from Po Murray, chair of Newtown Action Alliance; Avery Gardiner, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence; Victoria Coy, national director of States United to Prevent Gun Violence; and Robin Lloyd, director of government affairs for Giffords.
The news conference took place hours before another shooting in Aztec High School in New Mexico that left two students and the suspect dead.
Congress
Gerry Connolly dies at 75 after battle with esophageal cancer
Va. congressman fought for LGBTQ rights
Democratic U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia died on Wednesday, according to a statement from his family.
The 75-year-old lawmaker, who served in Congress since 2009, announced last month that he will not seek reelection and would step down from his role as the top Democrat on the powerful U.S. House Oversight Committee because his esophageal cancer had returned.
“We were fortunate to share Gerry with Northern Virginia for nearly 40 years because that was his joy, his purpose, and his passion,” his family said in their statement. “His absence will leave a hole in our hearts, but we are proud that his life’s work will endure for future generations.”
“He looked out for the disadvantaged and voiceless. He always stood up for what is right and just,” they said.
Connolly was memorialized in statements from colleagues and friends including House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (La.), former President Joe Biden, and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Several highlighted Connolly’s fierce advocacy on behalf of federal workers, who are well represented in his northern Virginia congressional district.
The congressman also supported LGBTQ rights throughout his life and career.
When running for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 1994, he fought the removal of Washington Blade newspapers from libraries. When running in 2008 for the U.S. house seat vacated by Tom Davis, a Republican, Connolly campaigned against the amendment to Virginia’s constitution banning same-sex marriage and civil unions in the state.
In Congress, he supported the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality, the Biden-Harris administration’s rescission of the anti-trans military ban, and the designation within the State Department of a special LGBTQ rights envoy. The congressman also was an original cosponsor of the Equality Act and co-sponsored legislation to repeal parts of the Defense of Marriage Act.
District of Columbia
LGBTQ leaders celebrate Frank Kameny’s 100th birthday at Supreme Court
Advocates march, deliver speeches to remember activist’s many contributions
More than 100 people joined the leaders of a dozen prominent national LGBTQ rights organizations on May 21 to celebrate the 100th birthday of iconic gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building in the nation’s capital.
Kameny, who passed away on Oct. 11, 2011, on National Coming Out Day, has been hailed as one of the founding leaders of the modern LGBTQ rights movement.
Among other things, he became the first openly gay man to file an appeal about gay rights to the U.S. Supreme Court, which was among the reasons organizers of his birthday celebration chose to hold it at the Supreme Court.
“Today is the 100th birthday of Frank Kameny, the founder of the LGBTQ civil rights movement,” said Malcolm Lazin, who served as national chair of the committee that organized the Kameny 100th birthday event. Frank is one of the nation’s most consequential civil rights leaders,” Lazin told the gathering in opening remarks.
“We are in front of the Supreme Court because Frank believed in the Constitution’s promise of equality for all Americans,” he said. “He based his liberation strategy against systemic homophobia on that promise.”
Participants in the event, many of whom were young LGBTQ activists from New York City, carried 100 candles to commemorate Kameny’s birthday.
They were joined by the national LGBTQ organization leaders who formed a ceremonial picket line carrying replicas of the “homosexual rights” signs used in the 1965 historic first gay protest outside the White House organized by Kameny and his supporters from the Mattachine Society of Washington, a gay rights group that Kameny helped to form.
Among speakers at the event was Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the same-sex marriage lawsuit that resulted in the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide. Obergefell noted that the Kameny birthday celebration marks the 10th anniversary of the high court’s marriage decision and recalls for him Kameny’s role as a strong supporter of legalizing same-sex marriage.
Obergefell and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), the Senate’s first openly lesbian member, served as national honorary co-chairs of the Kameny 100th birthday celebration.
Ross Murray, a vice president of GLAAD, told how Kameny used an effective strategy to fight homophobia both for the public and to many in the LGBTQ community who experienced internalized homophobia due to societal pressure.
“So, using the model of ‘Black is Beautiful,’ Frank turned perceptions upside down when he coined ‘Gay is Good,’” Murray said. “And he carried that on a picket sign in 1970 at the first New York Pride Parade.”
Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff told the gathering that the early 1960s era newsletter of the Mattachine Society of Washington, that Kameny helped to start, evolved into the early version of the Washington Blade in 1969.
“Frank recognized the importance of community building and engagement by having a reliable community news source,” Naff said. “We are honored to join in the 100th birthday tribute to one of our founders, Frank Kameny.”
Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said the mayor’s office is proud that the city hosted Kameny’s 100th birthday celebration. Bowles announced that Bowser issued an official mayoral proclamation declaring May 21, 2025, Frank Kameny Centennial Day.
In her proclamation Bowser recites many of Kameny’s accomplishments in advancing LGBTQ rights in D.C. and across the nation and concludes by stating she commends “this observance to all Washingtonians with a reminder to always remember, as Frank Kameny often said, ‘Gay is Good.’”
Others who spoke included Keith Joseph of the LGBTQ group Equality Forum, Ben Garcia of the American LGBTQ+ Museum, Saul Levin of the American Psychiatric Association, Kevin Jennings of LGBTQ attorneys’ group Lambda Legal, Elliot Imse of the LGBTQ Victory Institute, Jay Brown of the Human Rights Campaign, Philadelphia City Council member Rue Landau, D.C. Capital Pride Alliance and WorldPride organizer June Crenshaw, Anya Marino of Advocates for Transgender Rights, Sultan Shakir of PFLAG, and Aaron Tax of SAGE.
U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), who is gay, was scheduled to speak at the event but had to cancel due to a House committee vote scheduled around the same time, Lazin told the Blade. Rep. Mark Takano, who’s gay, spoke at a lunch after the event to the LGBTQ leaders and praised Kameny’s many contributions to the LGBTQ movement.
District of Columbia
Blade’s Lou Chibbaro subject of new film premiering May 29
‘Lou’s Legacy’ looks back at 50-year career
Longtime Washington Blade reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. is the subject of a new documentary film premiering on May 29 in D.C.
The world premiere of the film by Emmy-nominated director Patrick Sammon will take place at the Martin Luther King Jr. Library auditorium in D.C. on May 29 at 6:30 p.m.
“Lou’s Legacy: A Reporter’s Life at the Washington Blade”(29 minutes) tells the story of D.C.’s tumultuous and inspiring LGBTQ history through the lens of veteran reporter Lou Chibbaro’s reporting during nearly five decades at the Blade. The film features renowned D.C. drag performer Donnell Robinson who has been entertaining Washington’s LGBTQ community since 1975 as “Ella Fitzgerald.” Chibbaro and Robinson reflect on their careers and discuss the rising backlash against the LGBTQ community, including laws targeting drag performers.
As a reporter, Chibbaro made a point of focusing on the people and issues that were regularly ignored or distorted by mainstream outlets: the HIV/AIDS epidemic, hate crimes, and the fight for LGBTQ civil rights.
“Lou and Donnell are cornerstones of D.C.’s LGBTQ community,” said Sammon, the film’s director and producer. “I have great respect for both of them and hope this film celebrates in some small way their contribution to our city. It’s especially appropriate to premiere this documentary during WorldPride as people from all over the world gather in D.C. to celebrate our community and find inspiration to continue fighting for LGBTQ equality.”
Sammon and his production team were given unprecedented access to more than 300 archival boxes of meticulously kept reporter’s files, documents, and audio tapes that Chibbaro saved and donated to George Washington University’s Gelman Special Collections Library. In addition, the Washington Blade granted Sammon access to its photo archive of compelling and emotional images, most of which have not been seen for decades.
Charles Francis, president of Mattachine Society said, “The Mattachine Society is so proud to have played a role in making this film happen, especially in this time of total erasure and efforts across the country to rewrite our history. With our work and support, Lou was able to preserve, donate, and help curate his thousands of pages of papers at George Washington University. That history cannot be erased. This film tells the story.”
Pate Felts, co-founder of the Mattachine Society, said, ”Lou’s archive, including more than 300 cartons of reporter’s files, holds thousands of stories of the men and women who suffered and fought for LGBTQ dignity and equality, at great professional and personal cost. Patrick’s film focuses on some of the most powerful ones to help educate all of us, especially younger generations, about the dues paid, the courage displayed and the hope that we all carry forward today.”
A panel discussion will follow the premiere screening of “Lou’s Legacy.” Aside from Chibbaro, Robinson, and Sammon, the conversation will feature Bladepublisher and co-owner Lynne Brown. D.C. journalist Rebekah Robinson will moderate the conversation.
“Lou’s Legacy: A Reporter’s Life at the Washington Blade” will broadcast in late June on MPT and WETA, the region’s leading PBS stations. The WETA broadcasts are set for Saturday, June 21 at 8 p.m. and Monday, June 23 at 9:30 p.m. The film will also stream on PBS.org starting June 21.
“Lou has had a front-row seat to 50 years of historic events; from covering the trial of Matthew Shepard’s murderers to observing the inauguration of President Obama from the Capitol Steps, Lou has seen it all,” said Blade editor Kevin Naff who has worked with Chibbaro for more than 20 years. “The film captures Lou’s dedication and tenacity and reminds us how far we’ve come as a community.”
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
Gerry Connolly dies at 75 after battle with esophageal cancer
WorldPride begins — let’s hope it ends well
LGBTQ leaders celebrate Frank Kameny’s 100th birthday at Supreme Court
