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Protests against Trump executive orders to take place in D.C. on Thursday

Demonstrations will happen outside attorney general’s office, Kennedy Center

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The Kennedy Center (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Trump-Vance administration has taken an aggressive stance against the LGBTQ community by passing executive order after executive order that restricts the ability of transgender people to exist. In response, LGBTQ activists in Washington will take to the streets on Thursday to protest the slew of actions the White House has undertaken.

In back-to-back protests, demonstrators will rally against a federal ban on gender-affirming care for minors, followed by a protest at the Kennedy Center condemning a newly imposed ban on drag performances at the venue.

The first protest of the day will take place outside the D.C. Attorney General’s Office (400 6th St., N.W.) to oppose Trump’s executive order banning gender-affirming care for minors. Originally scheduled for the previous day but postponed due to snow, the protest will run from 12-2 p.m. Organizers aim to pressure D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb and Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage to join 15 other states in issuing official public guidance against the order and declaring it unlawful. 

Under the D.C. Human Rights Act, passed by the D.C. City Council in 1977, discrimination based on gender identity and expression is explicitly prohibited. The law defines gender identity and expression as “a gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior of an individual, regardless of the individual’s assigned sex at birth.” Trump’s executive order, officially titled the “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” order, directly violates this act by banning all forms of gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth, effectively preventing them from accessing medical care necessary for their transition.

The 15 other states’ that objected to the order include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

This protest was organized by the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America Bodily Autonomy Working Group, which focuses on “the fight for queer, trans, and feminist liberation and against systems of patriarchal capitalist oppression that devalue women and LGBTQIA+ people, under the guidance of reproductive justice.” 

Organizers encourage protesters to bring friends and signs to get their voices heard. 

The second protest of the day will take place in Washington Circle in between the Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods to protest Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center. Trump removed all 18 members that former President Joe Biden appointed to the Kennedy Center board and has started installing Trump loyalists into their roles. 

The sudden board shake-up was first announced on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, as a response to what he called the board’s lack of “vision for a Golden Age in arts and culture.” Many found this statement puzzling, given that Trump has openly admitted he has never attended a performance at the nonpartisan arts center.

The “Trans & Queer Dance Party and Protest,” which will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the circle only a few blocks from the Kennedy Center, is an attempt by six DC based organizations to show the Trump administration that “as D.C. residents, we say the Kennedy Center is our house, and we’re not going to let fascists tell us what to do or censor our artists.” The collaborating organizations encourage supporters of art, drag, the Kennedy Center, and the LGBTQ community to show up in “our best (warm) looks” to let the administration know that D.C. will not be silenced.

Richard Grenell, a gay man who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany in his first term, was given the title of “interim executive director” of the Kennedy Center, tasked with realigning the arts center to better fit Trump’s agenda. The announcement initially caused confusion because before this announcement, there had never been an acting director, but a president elected by the board.  

His agenda so far includes banning any performances in the famous performing arts center, including “Dancing Queens Drag Brunch,” “A Drag Salute to Divas,” and “Dixie’s Tupperware Party,” which were put on at the Kennedy Center and aimed at adults. 

This protest was organized through a collaboration of six local left-leaning organizations. They include the DC Dyke March, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Occupation Free DC, Good Trouble Cooperative, and Claudia Jones School. 

For more information on the trans gender-affirming care protest, visit https://actionnetwork.org/events/schwalb-trans-rally or https://mdcdsa.org/. For more information on the Kennedy Center dance party protest, visit any of the organizers’ Instagram pages.

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District of Columbia

Sentencing for Ruby Corado postponed for second time

Former Casa Ruby director pleaded guilty to wire fraud

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Ruby Corado’s sentencing is now scheduled for April 29. (Washington Blade file photo by Ernesto Valle)

The sentencing in D.C. federal court for Ruby Corado, the founder and executive director of the now-defunct LGBTQ community services organization Casa Ruby on a charge of wire fraud, has been postponed for the second time, from March 28 to April 29.

A spokesperson for U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden, who is presiding over the case, said it was the judge who postponed the sentencing due to a scheduling conflict. The earlier postponement, from Jan. 10 to March 28, came at the request of Corado’s attorney and was not opposed by prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C.

Corado pleaded guilty on July 17, 2024, to a single charge of wire fraud as part of a plea bargain deal offered by prosecutors. The charge to which she pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for D.C. says she allegedly diverted at least $150,000 “in taxpayer backed emergency COVID relief funds to private offshore bank accounts for her personal use,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Under the federal wire fraud law, for which Corado is being prosecuted, she could be subjected to a possible maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and restitution requiring her to repay the funds she allegedly stole.

Court observers, however, have said that due to Corado’s decision to waive her right to a trial and plead guilty to the lesser charge, prosecutors will likely ask the judge to hand down a lesser sentence than the maximum sentence.

An earlier criminal complaint filed against Corado, which has been replaced by the single charge to which she has pleaded guilty, came at the time the FBI arrested her on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Md., shortly after she returned to the U.S. from El Salvador.

At the request of her attorney and against the wishes of prosecutors, another judge at that time agreed to release Corado into custody of her niece in Rockville, Md., under a home detention order. The release order came seven days after Corado had been held in jail at the time of her March 5 arrest.

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District of Columbia

Harvey Fierstein says he was banned from Kennedy Center

Gay icon called out President Donald Trump

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Harvey Fierstein (Photo courtesy of Knopf)

Gay icon and film legend Harvey Fierstein, 72, announced in an Instagram post on Tuesday that he was banned from the Kennedy Center as a result of President Donald Trump’s sweeping anti-LGBTQ measures in the performing space. 

Fierstein, who is a longtime fixture of queer storytelling both on screen and on stage, took to social media to criticize Trump for his recent decisions to take control of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and to hide — if not erase — LGBTQ art, and sounds the alarm for the future of the United States. 

In the picture posted on Instagram, Fierstein alongside LGBTQ rights activist Marsha P. Johnson is walking in the Christopher Street Liberation Day parade in 1979, with the caption beginning with “I have been banned from THE KENNEDY CENTER.”

The multiple Tony Award-winning artist, who may be best known for “Torch Song Trilogy,” “La Cage aux Folles,” and “Kinky Boots,” to name a few, went on to explain his thoughts on Trump’s very public takeover of the national cultural center.

“A few folks have written to ask how I feel about Trump’s takeover of The Kennedy Center. How do you think I feel? The shows I’ve written are now banned from being performed in our premier American theater. Those shows, most of which have been performed there in the past, include, KINKY BOOTS. LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, TORCH SONG TRILOGY, HAIRSPRAY, SAFE SEX, CASA VALENTINA, SPOOKHOUSE, A CATERED AFFAIR, THE SISSY DUCKLING, BELLA BELLA and more.”

“I have been in the struggle for our civil rights for more than 50 years only to watch them snatched away by a man who actually couldn’t care less,” the post continued. “He does this stuff only to placate the religious right so they’ll look the other way as he savages our political system for his own glorification. He attacks free speech. He attacks the free press. He attacks America’s allies. His only allegiance is to himself – the golden calf.”

Fierstein then issued a warning for Americans, remarking that removing works that don’t align with Trump’s personal agenda represents a slippery slope that can lead to the erosion of democracy and emergence into fascism.  

“My fellow Americans I warn you – this is NOT how it begins. This is how freedom ENDS!”

He finished the post with a call to action for Americans to recognize and confront Trump’s injustice. 

“Trump may have declared ‘woke’ as dead in America. We must prove him wrong. WAKE THE HELL UP!!!!!”

The post seemingly also pushes back on the Trump administration’s choice to remove any mention of transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument’s website by including Marsha P. Johnson in his post. 

Since its upload on Tuesday, the post has gained more than 14,000 likes and 300 comments supporting Fierstein.  

Trump’s reported banning of Fierstein from the Kennedy Center comes amid the president’s drastic overhaul of the cultural venue after calling out “woke” programming on its stages, including a drag show. His actions signal a broader effort to reshape the nation’s artistic landscape to align with his administration’s ideology.

The Kennedy Center couldn’t immediately be reached to confirm Fierstein’s claims. This post will be updated.

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District of Columbia

Town nightclub lawsuit against landlord dismissed in September

Court records show action was by mutual consent

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The former St. Phillips Baptist Church at 1001 North Capitol St., N.E., was slated to be the new home of Town 2.0. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

A lawsuit filed in April 2024 by Town 2.0, the company that planned to reopen the popular LGBTQ nightclub Town in a former church on North Capitol Street that accused its landlord of failing to renovate the building as required by a lease agreement was dismissed in a little-noticed development on Sept. 6, 2024.

A document filed in D.C. Superior Court, where the lawsuit was filed against Jemal’s Sanctuary LLC, the company that owns the church building, shows that a “Stipulation of Dismissal With Prejudice” was jointly filed by the attorneys representing the two parties in the lawsuit and approved by the judge.

Jemal’s Sanctuary is a subsidiary of the Douglas Development Corporation, one of the city’s largest real estate development firms. 

An attorney familiar with civil litigation who spoke to the Washington Blade on condition of not being identified said a stipulation of dismissal indicates the two parties reached a settlement to terminate the lawsuit on conditions that are always confidential and not included in court records.

The attorney who spoke with the Blade said the term “with prejudice” means the lawsuit cannot be re-filed again by either of the two parties.

The public court records for this case do not include any information about a settlement or the terms of such a settlement. However, the one-sentence Stipulation Of Dismissal With Prejudice addresses the issue of payment of legal fees.

“Pursuant to Rule 41(a) of the District of Columbia Superior Court Civil Rules, Plaintiff Town 2.0 LLC and Defendant Jemal’s Sanctuary LLC, by and through their undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate that the lawsuit be dismissed in its entirety, with prejudice, as to any and all claims and counterclaims asserted therein, with each party to bear its own fees and costs, including attorneys’ fees.”

The Town 2.0 lawsuit called for the termination of the lease and at least $450,000 in damages on grounds that Jemal’s Sanctuary violated the terms of the lease by failing to complete renovation work on the building that was required to be completed by a Sept. 1, 2020 “delivery date.”

In response to the lawsuit, attorneys for Jemal’s Sanctuary filed court papers denying the company violated the terms of the lease and later filed a countersuit charging Town 2.0 with violating its requirements under the lease, which the countersuit claimed included doing its own required part of the renovation work in the building, which is more than 100 years old.

Court records show Judge Maurice A. Ross, who presided over the case, dismissed the countersuit at the request of Town 2.0 on Aug. 20, 2024, on grounds that it was filed past the deadline of a three-year statute of limitations for filing such a claim.

Neither the owners of Town 2.0, their attorney, nor the attorney representing Jemal’s Sanctuary responded to a request by the Washington Blade for comment on the mutual dismissal of the lawsuit.

Town 2.0 co-owner John Guggenmos, who also owns with his two business partners the D.C. gay bars Trade and Number Nine, did not respond to a question asking if he and his partners plan to open Town 2.0 at another location.

What was initially known as Town Danceboutique operated from 2007 to 2018 in a large, converted warehouse building on 8th Street, N.W., just off Florida Avenue. It was forced to close when the building’s owner sold it to a developer who built a residential building in its place.

It was the last of the city’s large LGBTQ dance hall nightclubs that once drew large crowds, included live entertainment, and often hosted fundraising events for LGBTQ community organizations and causes.  

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