Arts & Entertainment
Local queer students receive national awards for art, writing
Work explored race, sexuality, gender and heartbreak
The fifth picture in the photo essay “Anything But Simple” shows a school hallway with gray lockers lit up by sunlight shining through ceiling-length windows and two bodies tightly embracing. One, with large hairy arms, holds the other, draped in a maroon hoodie with a sign that says “faggot” stuck to its back.
The photo essay, curated by Spencer Strebe, was part of a legion of portfolios honored by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for their poignant and intelligent exploration of young identity. Strebe, 18, received a silver medal with distinction for his work that explored the rugged terrain that is navigating queer relationships as a teenager fresh into understanding their sexuality. He was a student at Yorktown High School in Arlington, Va., and will attend Virginia Commonwealth University in the fall to study art.
“I wasn’t out as gay dating my first boyfriend,” read his artist statement. “The frustration of keeping their love secret…led the guy in the gray hoodie [to] out his partner as gay in a desperate effort to make their love known. This is more of a thought, a want, rather than an action done.”
Like many his age, the COVID-19 pandemic inspired Strebe to pursue a hobby to stave off boredom. He began by taking photos of his friends, documentary-style, which then evolved into in-depth projects for his high school photography classes.
Although he said he quit more photography classes than he took, the desire to continue using the medium as a form of expression persisted. And, when he was required by one of his classes to submit for a Scholastic award, he heeded.
Strebe described “Anything But Simple” as a “breakup portfolio” that followed a ceramics tradition of using clay to make secret keeper jars. Because he hadn’t come out yet while creating the photo essay, taking the photos felt like molding a pot into which he’d whisper.
“Heartbreak is having a lot of love with no place to put it,” he said.
This kind of raw expression is what Scholastic Art & Writing Awards has championed for 100 years now.
The organization, which adjudicates submissions blindly, awards skill, originality, and the emergence of personal voice. Past recipients of the award include poet Amanda Gorman and artists Andy Warhol and Richard Avedon. Avedon, who received the award in 1941, described the honor as a defining moment of his life.
“Teenagers are incredible young people. They’re not adults but they’re also not children,” said Christopher Wisniewski, executive director for Alliance for Young Artists and Writers. “[This] is a time when [they] feel raw and start to express this in their art and writing.”
For Taiwo Adebowale, 17, her gold medal-winning poetry was a fierce effort to affirm her Black immigrant and queer identities. Adebowale, who goes by she/they pronouns, was a student at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology in Towson, Md., and will study English and advertising at Howard University in the fall.
“I do not exist. I am not fiction. I am not walking delirium. I’m not even considered a person. I’m Something,” read her essay “subspaces.” “Something, that according to all laws of nature, shouldn’t exist. Something that goes into spaces, softening our tones, crouching down, telling security guards and mothers ‘do not be afraid’ like we’re angels at Christ’s second coming.”
Adebowale, who is also the first Scholastic award winner at her school in six years, draws inspiration from Black queer authors like Akwaeke Emezi, whose work highlights life’s absurdities through mysticism and surrealism. Thus, for her submission, she wanted to embrace the concept of beauty as taboo.
“Beauty is one of the things I find integral to myself as a person,” she said. “I don’t feel beauty can exist without embracing yourself as a whole.”
In embracing her wholeness, Adebowale harked to a lesson from her poetry teacher about writing about the things that make one uncomfortable.
In “My Fault, Doctor,” written to mimic a doctor’s note, Adebowale wrote about the annoyance her nameless character had with a doctor who asked about the character’s sexuality.
“My fault, Doctor. I swallow up the fact I like a girl. Fact beats wings in my stomach,” read the poem. “Fact tries to crawl up with the acid reflux. Fact infests my throat and nests as a knot. Don’t be alarmed by that. I chose to kiss the girl at church, behind my family’s back, with the knot.”
All in all, this uninhibited opining about societal ills is what Scholastic Arts and Writing lauds. Wisniewski believes the award validates budding artists’ and writers’ work, and more importantly, their humanity.
“Creativity should be a universal value,” he said.
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
a&e features
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (she/they)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriques (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Formerly of Voto Latino - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Coalition - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
Celebrity News
D.C. goes gaga for Gaga
Bisexual icon brought ‘The Mayhem Ball’ tour to Washington this week
Lady Gaga this week took D.C. by storm.
The bisexual icon and LGBTQ rights champion brought “The Mayhem Ball” tour to Capital One Arena on Monday and Tuesday.
“Abracadabra,” “Paparazzi,” “Applause,” and “Bad Romance” are among the songs Lady Gaga performed during the 2 1/2-hour long concert. Lady Gaga also celebrated her many queer fans.
“You are precious to us,” she said on Tuesday night before she performed “Born This Way.”
‘No Kings’ protests set for D.C.
Border to border: modern slavery and human trafficking in refugee movements across East Africa
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Pa. House passes bill to codify marriage equality in state law
PHOTOS: Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary
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‘Inherit the Wind’ isn’t about science vs. religion, but the right to think
Polish court rules country must recognize same-sex marriages from EU states
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