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Rania named director of music at All Saint’s in Rehoboth
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 Jon Rania on his appointment as Director of Music and Communications for All Saint’s and St. George’s Parish in Rehoboth Beach. Rania will join All Saint’s in mid-February after finishing his tenure at Christ Church Dover. Upon accepting the new position Rania said, “I am very excited to be returning home to Rehoboth to take up this new position and look forward to working with the new pastor, The Rev. Shelley McDaide and the staff as we begin to rebuild the parish post-COVID. … For those who may not know, The Episcopal Church is affirming of all people and we welcome everyone to our church and the services we provide.”
Rania and his husband, Rob, have been year- round residents of Rehoboth Beach since 2001 and parishioners of All Saints’ Church since 2002. Their sons Kenny and Evan were baptized, attended Sunday school, and were Acolytes at All Saints’. He was assistant director of music there from 2003 to 2007. Prior to relocating to Delaware full time, Rania was the director of music for the Diocese of Camden (Roman Catholic) in New Jersey for eight years. He is a native of Philadelphia and served many churches and institutions of learning on all levels from elementary school to higher learning and also gave private instruction in piano, organ and voice.
In addition to his church work, Rania is the dean for the local Chapter of the American Guild of Organists in Southern Delaware and a volunteer chaplain in the Bayhealth Health Systems with special emphasis as a resource person for the LGBTQI+ community. He is preparing to be certified in chaplaincy. Rania is a member of the LGBTQI+ Caucus of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, a newly formed advocacy group created for the purpose of addressing LGBTQI+ issues within the church.
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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