Local
Whitman-Walker awarded HHS grant
Money falls under Trump’s ‘Ending HIV Epidemic’ plan
The Health Resources and Services Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has named Whitman-Walker Health as one of five D.C. health centers to receive a total of $1.4 million in grants to carry out HIV prevention programs.
An HHS statement says the programs are funded under the Trump administration’s Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America initiative that calls for reducing the number of new HIV infections in the U.S. by 90 percent by 2030.
The grant to Whitman-Walker, which totals $266,321, will be used to enhance HIV prevention and “linkage services” for four priority populations – LGBTQ youth, young people, black and African American people and Latinx people, according to Meghan Davies, Whitman-Walker’s Chief Program Officer.
“We’re going to work on that by strengthening and expanding our current HIV services by augmenting our PrEP work,” Davies said. “So we have a PrEP navigator. We have PrEP advocates. We have PrEP specialists. And with the augmenting of the PrEP we’re going to have that increased capacity to diagnose, treat, prevent, and then respond to HIV negative and or positive individuals in these targeted populations,” she said.
Among other things, Davies said the program includes same-day anti-retroviral treatment or “treatment on demand” for people who test HIV positive with the goal of ensuring immediate control of a person’s viral load to the point of “undetectable,” which means they cannot transmit the virus to someone else.
“We’re thrilled obviously to get this funding,” said Davies. “It’s so important. We’ve been doing HIV work since HIV existed,” she said. “And so it’s wonderful to have the support of the Ending the HIV Epidemic to be able to advance or HIV work.”
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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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