Local
Comings & Goings
Levie lands at Accenture; Leffler heads to Chicago
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, landed an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.
During these difficult times when our community is being especially hard hit, there are some who are finding success and we will continue to share their stories.
Congratulations to Joshua Levie on his new position with Accenture Federal Services (AFS) as a Manager and ServiceNow Experience Lead. In this role some of Levie’s responsibilities include leading the strategy, experience, and design of custom interfaces of client and internal portals, websites, and products for internal AFS customers to government clients. He has said, “I am looking forward to this new career path and using my expertise to help Accenture’s clients. It is great when friends who work for the federal government tell me about their positive experiences with portals and websites I have designed.”
Prior to this, Levie was founder and CEO of Brunch Digital for 10 years. He worked as a project manager with TIG Global and an account manager with both Virilion and the Business Software Alliance. He began his career at Dickinson College as an Assistant Web Manager and was a website intern with the Human Rights Campaign.
Levie earned his bachelor’s in psychology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa.
Congratulations also to Jeremy Leffler who is now a licensed real estate broker with The Brad Lippitz Group at Compass in Chicago. Leffler said, “After significant outreach and research into various teams and brokerages, I realized that the best way for me to assist my clients and also impact the broader community would be to work with my friend and mentor Brad Lippitz. As an agent with The Brad Lippitz Group at Compass, I am now part of a dynamic team bringing over 25 years of trusted experience in Chicagoland. That trust and leadership under Brad has resulted in the team’s consistent ranking as a top 10 producer in Chicago.”
Prior to moving to Chicago and starting this new career, Leffler was director of Public Policy with Sanofi (sanofi-aventis), in D.C. His other experience includes being COO and Head of Government Affairs with BayBio in San Francisco; manager of Federal Public Policy at Eli Lilly & Company, in Indianapolis; and assistant director of Federal Affairs with the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Alexandria, Va.
He is currently volunteering with Howard Brown Health in Chicago. Leffler served as an elected ANC Commissioner in D.C. and as a board member of the California Biotech Foundation. He earned his bachelor’s in Political Science and Communications, graduating cum laude, from the University of Louisville, Arts & Sciences Louisville in Louisville, Ky.
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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