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Comings & Goings
New communications manager at AIDS United


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 Helen Jeannette Parshall on her new position as Communications Manager with AIDS United. The organization’s mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the United States. Upon being named to the position, she said, “As a younger bisexual activist, I stand on the shoulders of so many in the LGBTQ community lost to HIV & AIDS — people who paved the way for me to be who I am openly and without fear. … Our communities must support the health, wellbeing and human rights of everyone impacted by HIV and center the stories of those most disproportionately affected.”
Prior to this, Parshall was Digital Media Manager with the Human Rights Campaign. She worked as a freelance writer and as an International News Intern with the Washington Blade. She was a reporter with the Capital News Service and earned a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in Latin American Studies and a master’s in multi-platform Journalism from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Congratulations also to Jeffrey Mack, the new Assistant Dean and Director of Advancement for the College of Architecture, Design, and Art at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He is leaving his position with the Kennedy Center where he was Vice President of Individual Campaigns. Mack’s team raised more than $250 million to build the new REACH at the Kennedy Center. He said, “Working for the Kennedy Center has been a true honor and a dream come true. After 10 years in this wonderful city, I am looking forward to a new chapter in life and the world of academia and the arts.”
His career at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts included being Chief Development Officer for the Washington National Opera where he also served as co-interim executive director. Prior to that he worked as senior director of Philanthropic Partnership with Hunt Alternatives and Chief Development Officer for the American Red Cross. Jeffrey was at the Human Rights Campaign as Corporate and Foundation Relations Manager.

Congratulations also to Tyler Hatch who began his new job as Development Director at the Friends of the Truman Foundation. Friends of the Truman Foundation is the nonprofit partner to the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation. Established by Congress in 1975, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship is an independent executive branch agency, and reflects President Truman’s desire not to be honored by a bricks and mortar monument but rather by a living memorial that would act as a catalyst of support for future generations of public servants. The Truman Foundation fulfills that mission by selecting as Truman Scholars, each year, outstanding young people from every state and territory of the United States who are committed to public service leadership.
Prior to starting this position, he was associate director of Donor Relations at the American Constitution Society and worked as a policy analyst with Business Strategy Consultants, D.C., and as Development Fund Associate with the College of Idaho, Caldwell, ID.

Virginia
Va. LG opposed marriage equality affirmation bill in handwritten note
Winsome Earle-Sears constitutionally required to sign HB 174 as Senate president

Virginia Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears last year in a handwritten note indicated her opposition to marriage rights for same-sex couples when she signed a bill that affirmed marriage equality in the state.
Brandon Jarvis of Virginia Scope on May 1 published Earle-Sears’s note on House Bill 174, which state Del. Rozia Henson, a Prince William County Democrat who is gay, introduced.
The Virginia Senate passed HB 174 by a 22-17 vote margin, and the state constitution required Earle-Sears to sign it as the chamber’s president. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed the measure into law after it received bipartisan support.
“As the lieutenant governor, I recognize and respect my constitutional obligation to adhere to procedures set out in the constitution of Virginia,” wrote Earle-Sears in her note. “However, I remain morally opposed to the content of HB 174 as passed by the General Assembly.”
Earle-Sears, a former U.S. Marine who served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002-2004, in 2021 became the first woman elected Virginia’s lieutenant governor. Activists have criticized her for her opposition to LGBTQ rights in Virginia.
She sparked controversy last year when she misgendered state Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who is transgender, on the Senate floor. Earle-Sears has also spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Earle-Sears is running to succeed Youngkin as governor once his term ends in January 2026. She will likely face former U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who previously represented Virginia’s 7th Congressional District.
John Reid, a conservative talk show host who is openly gay, last month secured the Republican nomination to succeed Earle-Sears as lieutenant governor. Youngkin has called for Reid to end his campaign amid reports that he posted “pornographic content” on social media.
Reid has strongly denied the reports.
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.
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