Virginia
LGBTQ law student group invites community to ‘Pride On The Plaza’
Event to be held outside George Mason law school in Arlington
The LGBTQ student group called OutLaw at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School in Arlington, Va., is inviting LGBTQ students at other law schools across the D.C. metropolitan area and the LGBTQ community and its allies to an Oct. 25 event on the school’s campus called Pride on the Plaza.
A statement released by OutLaw says the event will be held from 6-10 p.m. on Mason Square Plaza, which serves as a campus-like plaza in front of the law school building at 3301 Fairfax Dr. in Arlington.
“Coinciding with LGBT Pride Month, Pride on the Plaza is a gathering of the D.C. Metro area’s LGBTQIA+ law student organizations and the community at large,” the statement says. “It’s more than just a party; it’s a chance to stand together, to celebrate who we are, and to show our pride.”
The statement says organizers have invited lawyers and legal professionals as well as undergraduate and graduate students at the university to participate in the event. It says there will be food and beverages and live entertainment, including a “first ever” drag show at the Scalia Law School.
Mackenzie Freilich, the OutLaw president, said the event will also include a raffle for items such as concert tickets and autographed sports memorabilia, a free sexual health screening clinic, and information stations provided by several LGBTQ organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign.
According to the group’s statement, the event will be limited to people 18 years of age and older and there will be an admission fee of $8 to help support the cost of putting on the event and the work of OutLaw. It says tickets can be purchased online in advance of the event or at the event itself
“We are rewriting the narrative from hateful rhetoric to impactful, long-lasting change for good,” Freilich told the Washington Blade. “We must not let hate win, we must rise up and unite the community, not divide.”
Morgan Menzies, another student at the Scalia Law School who is organizing the Pride on the Plaza event, said Freilich was referring to the anti-LGBTQ laws that several states have passed recently or are considering passing.
She said organizers are also concerned about the anti-LGBTQ proposals in a document called Project 2025 that conservative advocates want Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to put in place if elected president.
Menzies said another concern organizers of the event have is the statement made by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the time the high court overturned Roe v. Wade. She noted that Thomas said the court should reconsider its ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The Scalia Law School is named after another conservative former Supreme Court justice, the late Antonin Scalia, who served on the court from 1986 to the time of his death in 2016.
Menzies said school officials approved the LGBTQ group’s plans to hold the event on the school’s campus plaza and some of the school’s law professors have expressed support for the event.
“We wanted to host this event to create visibility on our campus because we are a minority at our school and also provide a networking opportunity with the other progressive law students in the region so that we can strengthen those bonds,” Menzies told the Blade.
Additional information and ticket availability for Pride on the Plaza can be accessed here.
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.
German group slams White House’s LGBTQ rights record ahead of World Cup
Gay 1920s-era Hollywood star to be honored in Staunton, Va.
Why I’m supporting Gary Goodweather for D.C. mayor
Don’t just vote for change — vote for Hope Solomon for mayor
Vote Kenyan McDuffie for D.C. mayor
PHOTOS: ‘Soul Divas’
‘Mighty Real’ explores history of LGBTQ music
D.C.’s housing reality: Cautious optimism meets landlord strain
Hundreds of thousands expected to attend D.C. Pride events
