Virginia
Rainbow crosswalks, street murals installed in Alexandria, Arlington
Street painting received support from government officials
With approval by local government officials, rainbow-colored crosswalks were installed this month on a street in Virginia’s Old Town Alexandria and what officials are calling rainbow street murals were painted on a street in the Crystal City section of nearby Arlington, Va., in time for this year’s Pride celebrations.
Kirk McPike, a gay member of the Alexandria City Council, said the Council gave unanimous approval for the installation of two bright rainbow-colored crosswalks at the intersection of King and Royal streets at Old Town’s Market Square “right there in front of City Hall.”
McPike said he first proposed the rainbow crossings in June 2023, and with support from the Council, the city’s Human Rights Commission brought the proposal to him as the gay member of the Council, and he introduced it. He said the Council approved it last November. According to McPike, the crosswalks were officially dedicated with a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 1 during Alexandria’s annual Pride festival in Old Town.
“And this year, we had one of our Pride wrapped Dash buses drive through the ribbon to snap the ribbon and officially open the new Pride crosswalks,” he told the Washington Blade.
In Arlington’s Crystal City neighborhood, rainbow stripes were painted on June 12 and 13 on South 23rd Street at the intersections of Eads Street and Fern Street. The Fern Street intersection is located steps away from Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, which is Arlington’s only gay bar. Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s, was among the community leaders who advocated for the rainbow crosswalks.
Kellen MacBeth, president of the LGBTQ group Equality Arlington, said the Arlington Department of Environmental Services, which oversees street and roadway issues, gave approval of the installation of the two rainbow stripes as “street murals” rather than crosswalks, even though they are located next to or parallel to the crosswalks. He said for reasons he is unsure of, the Environmental Services Department didn’t want the crosswalks themselves to be painted with rainbow stripes.
“If you compare what Alexandria did and what Arlington did, Alexandria has the full crosswalk painted in rainbow,” he said. “Whereas Arlington did the rainbow stripes on either side of the crosswalk,” MacBeth told the Washington Blade. “For whatever reason, the county said they weren’t able to do the full rainbow crosswalk this year. And we’re hoping to have the full rainbow crosswalks for next year.”
Kathryn O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Environmental Services Department, told the Blade that painting crosswalks in rainbow strips “is not allowable” under the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD), which she said defines national standards for traffic signs, road markings, and other road related issues that Arlington adheres to.
MacBeth praised the National Landing Business Improvement District, an organization that promotes community-based businesses in the area known as National Landing, which includes the Pentagon City, Crystal City and Potomac Yard neighborhoods, with playing a lead role in advocating for the rainbow street mural project, among other things, by paying for the street installations.
“Located at key intersections along S. Fern Street and S. Eads Street, these installations are the first of their kind in Arlington, designed to show solidarity and support for the LGBTQIA+ community,” the organization, known as National Landing BID, said in a statement. “Beyond their aesthetic appeal, they foster a sense of community pride and inclusivity, transforming National Landing into a vibrant and welcoming neighborhood,” the statement says. “Their presence encourages dialogue, celebration, and reflection, making them integral to the cultural fabric of our community.”
The installation of the rainbow crosswalks in Alexandria and the rainbow street murals in Arlington came about seven years after D.C. first installed two full rainbow-colored crosswalks on 17th Street, N.W. near Dupont Circle in 2017 near the gay bar JR.’s and the LGBTQ supportive restaurant Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse. Additional rainbow crosswalks were installed in that section of 17th Street in subsequent years.
Virginia
Gay 1920s-era Hollywood star to be honored in Staunton, Va.
Billy Haines became acclaimed designer after anti-gay policies ended his acting career
A project is underway in Staunton, Va., to honor William ‘Billy’ Haines, who was born and raised in Staunton before becoming an out gay 1920s and early 1930s-era Hollywood movie star whose acting career ended around 1934 when he refused demands that he conceal his sexual orientation and end his relationship with his male partner.
Haines left the movie business around that time to start what became a highly successful interior design and furniture business in Los Angeles that he led until his death in 1972 at age 72, and which remains in business today, according to the Arcadia Project, a Staunton-based nonprofit initiative.
In a statement released last month, Arcadia Project announced it is working to revitalize a long-vacant movie theater in downtown Staunton that it plans to rename after Haines. It says a fundraising campaign is under way to support efforts to reopen the theater and the larger building in which it is housed as a “dynamic mixed-use cultural center.”
The statement notes that Haines left Staunton at age 14 and resided in Hopewell, Va., and Greenwich Village in New York City until 1922, when he was “discovered” by a talent scout and sent to Hollywood.
“Between 1922 and 1934, Haines appeared in 54 movies during his meteoric and highly successful career,” the Arcadia Project statement continues, noting he transitioned from silent movies to talkies and was fully open about being gay. “But when Hollywood’s moral crackdown of the 1930s demanded that he end his relationship with his longtime partner Jimmie Shields, Haines refused,” it says.
“For LGBTQ people – then and now – Haines’s choice resonates deeply. Rather than deny who he was, he reinvented himself as an interior designer to the stars,” according to the statement.
It says he helped invent the so-called Hollywood Regency style home and designed homes for Hollywood legends such as Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, George Cukor, and Jack Warner as well as for political figures like Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California.
“As there is no monument, marker or public recognition for Haines in his hometown of Staunton, Va., Arcadia Project, in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ community in Staunton seeks to commemorate him inside a new cultural center,” the statement says.
It quotes Arcadia Project Executive Director Pamela Mason Wagner as saying, “Naming the movie theater in Haines’ honor is more than an act of historical recognition – it is a powerful statement about visibility, belonging, and whose stories are valued in our community.”
The statement says project leaders hope to open the cultural center in early 2027, with a fundraising campaign seeking to raise $250,000 to renovate the theater.
“If the full goal is not reached, a smaller space within the building will be named for Haines, scaled to the amount of funds raised,” it says. “We truly hope friends and admirers of Billy Haines everywhere will want to participate.”
Donations for the project can be made through this site: www.thearcadiaproject.org
Virginians for Marriage Equality on Monday launched a campaign in support of repealing Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman, former state Sen. Adam Ebbin, former state Del. Mark Sickles, and American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer are among those who spoke at the launch that took place in Richmond. State Del. Kirk McPike (D-Alexandria), who co-chairs the campaign, also participated.
“This amendment is about making clear that the government has no business deciding which marriages or which families are worthy of recognition,” said Bauer. “The ACLU of Virginia has been fighting for Virginians’ right to marry who they love since the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the ban on interracial marriage. Now we are proud to carry that legacy forward by standing with our coalition partners in the fight to pass this amendment and finally enshrine the right to marriage equality in the commonwealth’s constitution.”
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is a Republican, in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger in February signed a bill that finalized the referendum’s language.
The referendum will take place on Nov. 3.
Virginia
Va. Supreme Court invalidates Democrat-backed redistricting plan
Voters narrowly approved new congressional districts last month
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Democrat-backed redistricting plan that voters approved last month.
Ten of 11 of Virginia’s congressional districts favor Democrats in the plan that passed by a 51-48 vote margin in last month’s referendum.
The Human Rights Campaign PAC is among the groups that support it. The court by a 4-3 majority invalidated the referendum results.
Democrats on May 11 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the ruling.
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