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Comings & Goings

DeMiglio earns promotion at AACOM; Stensrud joins Sidwell

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Paul DeMiglio, gay news, Washington Blade
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].

The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.

Paul DeMiglio, gay news, Washington Blade
Paul DeMiglio (Photo courtesy of DeMiglio)

Congratulations to Paul DeMiglio recently promoted to the position of Manager of Media Relations at the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM). In this capacity, he will work to further increase the Association’s social media presence and earned media coverage to elevate awareness and support for the role of osteopathic medical education in training the nation’s future health care workforce.

DeMiglio has worked as part of a team in AACOM’s Marketing and Communications Department since 2014. Upon his promotion he said, “It is an honor and privilege to serve AACOM at this pivotal time in the history of medical education when for the first time ever more than 25 percent of all medical students in the United States are training to be doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs). I look forward to continue collaborating with an amazing team and our growing family of member colleges of osteopathic medicine to tell the stories of current and future doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs). These doctors are saving lives, improving the health of communities worldwide, and serving the under-served in powerful ways every day.”

Prior to joining AACOM he worked at Whitecoat Strategies, LLC; the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA); and the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN). Before coming to D.C., he worked with the Ohio Senate Minority Caucus as its Deputy Communications Director and The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Ind. as a Universal Desk Editor.

He has his bachelor’s in Communications and Public Relations from Capital University. He was a member of the Congressional Chorus of Washington and a board member of the Capital Area Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

Congratulations also to Matthew Stensrud on his new position as a Lower School Music Teacher at Sidwell Friends in Bethesda. Previously he worked for the Alexandria City Public Schools at George Mason Elementary School as a General Music Teacher. Prior to that he worked with the Fairfax County Public Schools and as a communications intern with the Education Trust.

Stensrud spent three weeks this summer in China working with Chinese music teachers across the country focusing on early childhood music education through singing, dancing, and playing. He also taught Movement in an Orff Schulwerk Levels Course in Portland, where he taught fellow music teachers how to incorporate creative movement and folk dance into their elementary music rooms.

He has published numerous articles and his latest is in the Kentucky Music Educators Association Bluegrass Music News entitled, “Setting Students for Success: Incorporating Responsive Classroom into the Elementary Music Room.” Stensrud serves as chair of the Alexandria Commission on the Arts. He received a 40 under 40 award from the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce.

He earned his bachelor’s in Music Education, summa cum laude, from the University of Cincinnati College, Conservatory of Music and his master’s in Music Education from the George Mason University. He also holds various certifications from the American Association of Orff Schulwerk.

Matthew Stensrud (Photo courtesy of Stensrud)
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PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards

Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony

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Members of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington as well as local drag artists joined hosts Mike Millan and Felicia Curry with other performers for a WorldPride dance number at the Helen Hayes Awards on Monday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.

A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.

The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals

Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade

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Deacon Maccubbin attends the 2024 Capital Pride Parade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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.

Laverne Cox (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

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.

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PHOTOS: D.C. Trans Pride

Schuyler Bailar gives keynote address

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D.C. Trans Pride 2025 was held at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on May 17. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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)

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