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Comings & Goings
LGBT Congressional Staff Association names new board
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
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].
Congratulations to Tom Sommers, who was elected chair of Center Global. This is the organization within the DC Center supporting LGBTQ asylum seekers who’ve arrived in the area to start their new lives.
Center Global is in its fifth year and provides a safe, stable community along with financial and housing support to help asylum seekers who are legally present as they’re going through the multi-year asylum-application process. Asylum seekers, unlike refugees, receive no government aid and must rely on friends, family and organizations like ours to sustain themselves. Sommers said, “Our goal for 2018 is to continue the great work that Matt Corso and Eric Scharf began five years ago and to increase awareness of our efforts and needs to the larger DMV, LGBTQ community.”
Sommers has been involved with the D.C. LGBTQ community for seven years most recently serving on the LGBTQ National Task Force’s initiative to host the 30th Creating Change conference. He is also a past president of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) DC/Metro chapter.
He is a principal with Explorations & Insights, an insight-based communication and data-solutions company. Prior to that he was a senior account director with GfK Custom Research, NA; sales director with MarketTools (now MetrixLab); and a communications specialist with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
Congratulations also to David Perez on his new position as senior director of Donor Relations at the Hispanic Federation (HF), which provides grants and services to a broad network of Latino non-profit agencies serving the most vulnerable members of the Hispanic community and advocates nationally with respect to the vital issues of education, health, immigration, economic empowerment, civic engagement and the environment. HF programs include Proyecto Somos Orlando founded after the Pulse nightclub tragedy to provide bilingual wrap-around services and LGBTQ community education; Immigrants Get the Job Done coalition founded with Lin Manuel Miranda, and the UNIDOS Disaster Relief and Recovery Program, which has raised $30 million to serve the immediate and long-term needs of families and communities in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
Previously, Perez served as director of development for the League of United Latin American Citizens, the largest and oldest Latino civil rights volunteer membership organization in the U.S. He co-founded the annual Unión Hace La Fuerza Latino Institute at the Creating Change Conference, which annually gathers 250 LGBT Latino grassroots activists for a full day of networking and bilingual issue and skill-based training. David currently serves as the chair of the District of Columbia Mayor’s LGBTQ Advisory Committee and is on the Community Advisory Board for ¡Empodérate! Youth Center at La Clínica del Pueblo. He has received awards from The DC LGBT Center, Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, Next Generation Leadership Foundation, Capital Pride and Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence.
Finally, congratulations also to the new board members of the LGBT Congressional Staff Association, an official, non-partisan congressional staff organization whose mission is to advance the interests of current as well as prospective members and the LGBT community at-large. The LGBT CSA is dedicated to developing the careers of its membership and advocating on behalf of the LGBT community. New board members are; President, Robert Edmonson, Chief of Staff, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Vice President, Christopher Cunningham, Legislative Assistant & Correspondent, Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-CT); Communications Director, Pablo A. Sierra-Carmona, Press Assistant, Rep. Linda T. Sánchez (D-CA); Professional Development Director, Jayson Schimmenti, Legislative Assistant, Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-NJ); Social Events Director, Hector Colón, Legislative Correspondent, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY); Membership Director, Sarah Jackson, Legislative Assistant, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); At-Large Director, Christofer Horta, Policy Assistant, House Democratic Caucus; At-Large Director, Matthew Ramirez, Legislative Correspondent, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
The new board of the LGBT Congressional Staff Association. (Photo courtesy LGBT CSA)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
a&e features
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
Washington Blade’s unique archives chronicle highs, lows of our movement
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of LGBTQ Pride in Washington, D.C., the Washington Blade team combed our archives and put together a glossy magazine showcasing five decades of celebrations in the city. Below is a sampling of images from the magazine but be sure to find a print copy starting this week.
The magazine is being distributed now and is complimentary. You can find copies at LGBTQ bars and restaurants across the city. Or visit the Blade booth at the Pride festival on June 7 and 8 where we will distribute copies.
Thank you to our advertisers and sponsors, whose support has enabled us to distribute the magazine free of charge. And thanks to our dedicated team at the Blade, especially Photo Editor Michael Key, who spent many hours searching the archives for the best images, many of which are unique to the Blade and cannot be found elsewhere. And thanks to our dynamic production team of Meaghan Juba, who designed the magazine, and Phil Rockstroh who managed the process. Stephen Rutgers and Brian Pitts handled sales and marketing and staff writers Lou Chibbaro Jr., Christopher Kane, Michael K. Lavers, Joe Reberkenny along with freelancer and former Blade staffer Joey DiGuglielmo wrote the essays.
The magazine represents more than 50 years of hard work by countless reporters, editors, advertising sales reps, photographers, and other media professionals who have brought you the Washington Blade since 1969.
We hope you enjoy the magazine and keep it as a reminder of all the many ups and downs our local LGBTQ community has experienced over the past 50 years.
I hope you will consider supporting our vital mission by becoming a Blade member today. At a time when reliable, accurate LGBTQ news is more essential than ever, your contribution helps make it possible. With a monthly gift starting at just $7, you’ll ensure that the Blade remains a trusted, free resource for the community — now and for years to come. Click here to help fund LGBTQ journalism.
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