Local
Blade Foundation awards two journalism fellowships
Students to spend 12 weeks learning, reporting
The Blade Foundation, a non-profit that works to educate the next generation of LGBTQ journalists and to fund enterprise projects into queer topics, announced this week it has awarded two $2,000 fellowships to aspiring journalists.
The first is a reporting fellowship focused on topics of interest to the D.C. LGBTQ community funded by a grant from the DC Front Runners Pride Run Foundation, which presented the Foundation with a $2,000 donation at last June’s Pride Run 5K.
The fellowship goes to Michelle Siegel, who is studying multi-platform investigative journalism at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
“I moved to the Washington, D.C. area last year in hope of finding the support system of resources, mentors and fellow LGBTQ journalists that I never had out in rural Michigan, so receiving a Blade Foundation Reporting Fellowship is, quite literally, my dream come true,” Siegel said. “I am grateful to the Blade Foundation and the DC Front Runners for making this opportunity available to me, and I am excited to become a better reporter through working with the Blade.”
“We are thrilled to support the Blade Reporting Fellowship through proceeds from the DC Front Runners Pride Run Foundation. We offer our warmest congratulations to Michelle upon her selection and wish her well as she pursues her journalism studies with this valuable hands-on experience at the Blade Foundation,” said Pride Run Foundation Directors Rob Geremia and Ivan Cheung.
Siegel will start her fellowship in March and work for 12 weeks mentored by Blade staff.
The second fellowship is the Blade Foundation Steve Elkins Memorial Journalism Fellowship, named in honor of Elkins, a journalist and co-founder of the CAMP Rehoboth LGBT community center, who passed away in March 2018. Elkins served as editor of Letters from CAMP Rehoboth in Delaware for many years as well as executive director of the center.
The fellow covers issues of interest to the LGBTQ community of Delaware for 12 weeks during the summer months. Topics include coverage of legislative and political issues out of Dover; LGBTQ business issues in Wilmington; the summer beach season in Rehoboth and more. Stories are published in the Washington Blade online and print editions. The fellowship is funded by Rehoboth community donations at an annual summer kickoff event in May. This year’s event is slated for May 15. Details to come soon.
The Elkins Memorial fellowship goes to Joshua Keller, a student at Washington University in St. Louis and native of Northern Virginia. His fellowship will commence in late May.
“I feel so honored to receive the Steve Elkins Memorial Fellowship,” Keller said. “I look forward to working with the Blade and Delaware’s LGBTQ community.”
“I can only imagine how excited Steve would be to know the Fellowship named in his honor will continue to support young journalists,” said Murray Archibald, Elkins’s husband and co-founder of CAMP Rehoboth. “I look forward to congratulating Joshua in person, and sharing with him a little of Steve’s passion for his life’s work.”
Kevin Naff, executive director of the Blade Foundation, congratulated the students and thanked donors.
“First, congratulations to Michelle and Joshua, we look forward to seeing what they can do this spring in highlighting the stories of our community,” Naff said. “And thank you to everyone at Front Runners for donating to the Blade Foundation and thanks to the generous LGBTQ community in Rehoboth Beach for opening their wallets to fund this important work.”
To donate to the Blade Foundation, please visit bladefoundation.org.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
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)
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)
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