News
Sean Meloy, politics guru for LGBTQ Victory Fund, declares run for Congress
Hopeful would be first out person to represent Pa. in Congress

Sean Meloy, the political director for the LGBTQ Victory Fund who has taken a lead role in helping LGBTQ hopefuls get into elected office, has now taken the goal on for himself and launched a campaign to run for Congress.
Meloy, who has also served as a member of the Democratic National Committee, announced on Monday his run to represent Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district in Congress via video on Twitter, emphasizing his background as a middle-class native son of Pittsburgh.
“I was born and raised in Allegheny County,” Meloy said. “Iām a public school kid, a lifelong organizer and the product of a middle class upbringing that is no longer available for so many families. Iām running to fix that.”
Pennsylvania’s 17th congressional district is currently represented by Rep. Conor Lamb (D), who’s vacating the seat at the end of the his term to pursue a run for U.S. Senate. If elected, Meloy would be the first openly gay person to represent in Pennsylvania in Congress.
Meloy is not yet an endorsed candidate by the LGBTQ Victory Fund. According to the organization, Meloy would have to go through the same process as LGBTQ political candidates seeking an endorsement from the organization, which exclusively seeks to help LGBTQ people get into elected office.
Annise Parker, CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund, commended Meloy in a statement for taking the leap from helping other candidates get elected to seeking elected office himself.
āThere is no bigger advocate for Pittsburgh and the surrounding communities than Sean, who invests enormous amounts of time and resources to building up the Democratic Party and its candidates throughout the state,” Parker said. “Not driven by ideology or absolutism, Sean is a leader who prizes progressive pragmatism and believes a government that reflects the diversity of America will perform best for its people.”
Other candidates seeking the Democratic nomination to run for the congressional seat are Christopher Deluzio, a voting rights attorney, and William Murphy, an engineer at GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy and member of the Democratic Soclalists of America. The date of the primary is not yet announced.
Congress
Five HIV/AIDS activists arrested during USAID hearing
Protesters demanded full restoration of PEPFAR funding

Capitol Police on Thursday arrested five HIV/AIDS activists who disrupted a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that focused on the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The activists ā including Health GAP Executive Director Asia Russell, Housing Works CEO Charles King, and ACT UP NY co-founder Eric Sawyer ā started chanting “PEPFAR (the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) saves lives. Restore AIDS funding now” shortly after Max Primorac, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, began to testify. They also held posters that read “Trump kills people with AIDS worldwide.”
The Trump-Vance administration last month froze nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for at least 90 days. Secretary of State Marco Rubio later issued a waiver that allows PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the freeze.
The Washington Blade last week reportedĀ PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of a lack of U.S. funding. The Trump-Vance administration’s efforts to dismantle USAID, along with the suspension of nearly all U.S. foreign aid, has been “a catastrophe” for the global LGBTQ rights movement.
“I guess these guys don’t watch the news. They didn’t realize that PEPFAR was one of the many programs that did prove to be lifesaving, so the funding was restored,” said U.S. Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, after Capitol Police removed the activists from the room. “Somebody better give ’em a link to … I don’t know, maybe Fox News or something like that.”
Protesters interrupt a House hearing on USAID spending, demanding that funding be restored to PEPFAR, but "the funding was restored" says Rep. Brian Mast. pic.twitter.com/9bQduNEwnQ
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 13, 2025
Russell and King are two of the dozens of HIV/AIDS activists who protested outside the State Department on Feb. 6 and demanded U.S. officials fully restore PEPFAR funding.
Virginia
Va. House approves Ebbin resolution to repeal marriage amendment
Proposal passed with Republican support

The Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday approved gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
The resolution passed by a 58-33 vote margin. State Del. Chris Obenshain (R-Montgomery County) is among the Republicans who supported it.
“Glad to report that SJ 249, my constitutional amendment to protect marriage equality, has passed the House of Delegates with bipartisan support,” said Ebbin after the vote.
The House last month approved a similar resolution that gay state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) introduced.
Voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
The General Assembly in 2021 approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. It must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.
Politics
Trump picks Richard Grenell as interim Kennedy Center executive director
President proclaimed “no more drag shows” at D.C. institution

President Donald Trump on Monday picked Richard Grenell to serve as interim executive director of the Kennedy Center, just days after appointing himself chair the national cultural center and removing several members of the institution’s board of trustees.
Grenell is an openly gay diplomat and fierce ally to the president who served in high profile roles, including as acting director of national intelligence, during his first administration.
“Ric shares my vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American arts and culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA ā ONLY THE BEST. RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!”
In a previous post announcing his takeover of the center and purging of Democratic board members including appointees of former President Joe Biden , Trump wrote “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured drag shows specifically targeting our youth ā THIS WILL STOP.”
Board members oversee the administration of federally appropriated funds for the āoperation, maintenance, and capital repair of the presidential memorial as well as its trust-funded artistic programming,ā per the 2025 fiscal year budget justification to Congress. Together with previous honorees, they are responsible for selecting new Kennedy Center Honors recipients each year.
The federal government provided about $45 million in funding to the center last year, roughly a fifth of its $268 million operating budget in 2024.
On Wednesday, Grenell said on X that he was briefed by the center’s CFO and learned there is “ZERO cash on hand. And ZERO in reserves. And the deferred maintenance is a crisis.”
I was briefed today by the CFO of the Kennedy Center on its financial situation.
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) February 13, 2025
She told me there is ZERO cash on hand. And ZERO in reserves. And the deferred maintenance is a crisis.
For the past months theyāve been digging into the DEBT RESERVES.
We must fix this greatā¦
-
District of Columbia3 days ago
Booz Allen withdraws as WorldPride corporate sponsor
-
a&e features23 hours ago
D.C.ās most eligible queer singles
-
District of Columbia2 days ago
Protests against Trump executive orders to take place in D.C. on Thursday
-
Out & About5 days ago
Camp Rehoboth Theatre Company kicks off new season