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Blade hosts Judith Light, Amy Schneider at Correspondents’ Dinner

Star-studded event returns after COVID cancellations

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Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff and actress/advocate Judith Light walk the red carpet at the 2022 WHCA Dinner on April 30.

The Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest LGBTQ newspaper, celebrated the return of the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday by hosting a table of renowned guests and celebrities.

Tony Award-winning beloved actress and LGBTQ advocate Judith Light and Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider were among the Blade’s guests.

“Each year we look to honor and thank a group of LGBTQ advocates by hosting them for a fun and memorable evening at the Correspondents’ Dinner,” said Blade Editor Kevin Naff. “Judith Light was on the top of our list for her impactful advocacy over many years. It was a thrill to escort her and we had a blast.”

Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider and Blade White House reporter Chris Johnson at the WHCA Dinner.

Blade guests at the 2022 White House Correspondents Dinner were:
• Dr. William Arroyo, Board Chair, AIDS Healthcare Foundation
• Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD President and CEO
• Chris Johnson, White House reporter, Washington Blade
• Michael Kikukawa, White House Press Aide
• Judith Light, actress and advocate
• Kevin Naff, editor, Washington Blade
• Jeopardy! champion Amy Schneider and her fiancée Geneveive
• Gunita Singh, attorney, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
• Michael Weinstein, CEO, AIDS Healthcare Foundation

“Thank you to all of our guests for their ongoing support of LGBTQ equality,” added Naff. “It was a fantastic night of not just comedy and schmoozing, but of celebrating our First Amendment freedoms and remembering journalists killed and injured while covering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”

The Washington Blade became the first LGBTQ outlet to be added to the White House press pool in 2014 and remains the only LGBTQ outlet in the press pool today. 

All guests at the Washington Blade’s table at the WHCA Dinner: Blade editor Kevin Naff; Blade White House reporter Chris Johnson; GLAAD’s Zeke Stokes; GLAAD CEO and President Sarah Kate Ellis; Geneveive and fiancee Amy Schneider; actress/advocate Judith Light; Dr. William Arroyo, Board Chair, AIDS Healthcare Foundation; Michael Weinstein, CEO, AIDS Healthcare Foundation; and Gunita Singh, attorney, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
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Queen Jean is Tony’s first transgender winner

Designer/activist wins for work on ‘Cats: The Jellicle Ball’

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Queen Jean (Screen capture via vulture/YouTube)

It was a historic night at the 79th annual Tony Awards on Sunday as Queen Jean won the award for Best Costume Design of a Musical, making her the first out transgender person to win a Tony.

“This experience has been monumental. We are here for the legacy of queer people, trans people,” she said. “We are taking up space in ways we have to take up space. We have to shift the paradigm. So I just want to say, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. The world right now is deeply, deeply combating so many ailments, and we know as a society that when we come together, we can make real, permanent change.”

She won the award for her work on “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” and was also nominated for best costume design of a play for “Liberation.”

In addition to her stage work, Queen Jean is the founder of Black Trans Liberation, an organization that supports trans and gender-nonconforming people in New York City.

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Madonna turns Times Square into massive dance floor

Pop icon celebrates Pride month with surprise performance

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Madonna surprised New York fans with an impromptu show in Times Square. (Photo by Alex Antonioni; courtesy Warner Records)


Pop icon Madonna celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York City’s Times Square on Thursday to the delight of 50,000 fans.

She performed for about 15 minutes high above street level, including several songs from her new album “Confessions II” due on July 3, along with a trio of songs from the first “Confessions on a Dance Floor.”

In addition to the brand new “Love Sensation,” she performed “I Feel So Free” and “Bring Your Love,” plus “Hung Up,” “Get Together” and “I Love New York.” She wished the crowd a happy Pride season; the event was shared with audiences through Grindr’s first-ever livestream. 

Madonna performs in Times Square on Thursday. (Photo by Alex Antonioni; courtesy Warner Records)
(Photo by Ricardo Gomes; courtesy Warner Records)

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Gallup finds LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping

Marriage equality support lowest since 2016

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Progress rainbow flag and trans flag flying. (Washington Blade Photo by Michael Key)

Gallup, one of the leading organizations in public opinion polling, has found that LGBTQ support among Americans is dropping.

The poll, whose data was collected using Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs survey, was conducted in May and was published on Wednesday. The data was collected through telephone interviews from a sample of more than 1,000 adults living in all 50 states and D.C. using random digit dialing. 

It highlights declining attitudes surrounding LGBTQ issues in multiple areas — from support for same-sex marriage to views on gender identity and the morality of one’s sexuality.

One of the most striking findings was that support for marriage equality fell six points from its 2022-2023 high.

The survey also found that 62 percent of Americans view gay and lesbian relations as morally acceptable, the lowest level since 2016 just after same-sex marriage was legalized nationwide by the U.S. Supreme Court. 

One newer question on the poll found that the perceived morality of changing one’s gender has dropped eight points since 2021, indicating the American public is less supportive of transgender people.

New data from Gallup shows a decline in LGBTQ support. (Graph courtesy of Gallup)

The data attributes much of the decline to shifting Republican views alongside the party itself. Conservative leaders have pushed back against diversity, equity, and inclusion programs that were intended to foster greater acceptance of LGBTQ people and other historically disadvantaged groups.

President Donald Trump has been a guiding force behind waves of anti-LGBTQ sentiment, particularly when it comes to trans rights. The president has enacted multiple executive orders, including Executive Order 14168, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” which mandates that gender be defined by one’s sex assigned at birth. He also signed Executive Order 14183, “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness,” which barred qualified trans applicants from joining the military and led to the removal of trans service members already serving in the armed forces.

Additionally, he signed Executive Order 14201, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which prohibits trans female athletes from participating on women’s and girls’ sports teams.

In February, Gallup found that an estimated 9 percent of Americans identified as part of the LGBTQ community in some form.

The organization also found that 23 percent of adults under age 30 identify as LGBTQ, compared with 10 percent of those ages 30 to 49 and 3 percent or less among those ages 50 and older.

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