District of Columbia
Hundreds in D.C. rally for ‘trans dignity and justice’
‘We bow down to your charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent’
Before any visible signs of political protest or activism appeared in “America’s Front Yard,” the sounds of cheers, applause, and the faint melody of Madonna’s Vogue echoed through the air, audible from blocks away. As the Capitol came into view and the crowd neared 3rd Street, small groups of people adorned in bright pink, blue, and white gathered along the pebble-covered pathways and the soft, lush grass of the National Mall. The sun peeked in and out of the clouds as the Transgender Day of Visibility Rally began.
Since its official designation in 2009, March 31 has marked International Trans Day of Visibility. This year, with one of the most anti-trans administrations ever holding power in the White House (and in Congress), the urgency of visibility has never been more keenly felt. For those gathered, holding signs and standing in solidarity, this moment was a call to make trans people seen and heard.
The rally, organized by the Christopher Street Project, a trans advocacy group and PAC, brought together nearly 20 Democratic lawmakers on the National Mall to speak out against the Trump-Vance administration’s efforts to erase the trans community.
Tyler Hack, executive director of the Christopher Street Project and one of the driving forces behind the event, took the stage first. The tall, curly haired redhead was perfectly framed against the dome of the Capitol and the increasingly darkening sky — a fitting backdrop to the growing frustration with the lawmakers inside.
As the crowd settled, Hack took a deep breath and began.
“Thank you to the hundreds of people who showed up,” Hack said. “We have buses on their way, we have people who are coming after work, and we’ll make room for those folks as they keep joining us. And thank you to all of you for showing up to celebrate, to make your voices heard and to fight together for trans dignity and justice.”
Hack founded the Christopher Street Project in January as a direct response to President Donald Trump and the far-right’s growing influence — and their attempts to erase the transgender community. As Hack spoke, it became clear that the fight for trans rights was, at its core, a fight for survival.
“We at Christopher Street Project believe that being a Democrat means more than just your party affiliation,” Hack said. “It’s about unapologetic defense of trans people wherever they’re being attacked, and in the face of this massive threat to all of our rights, in the face of what Trump and his billionaire cronies are unleashing. We demand more from the people we elected to protect us. We deserve more, and we say with all of the power that we have, powers have no place in Congress.”
Hack continued, “Our guiding principle is courage; 56 years ago, that courage was demonstrated by the queer and trans people who led the Stonewall riots. My great uncle, Mark Scheer, was one of them. Beaten up in the Stonewall Riots for standing up for people like himself and standing side by side with his trans siblings. It was his courage and the courage of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera that ensured we would never be erased.”
The crowd, now slowly filling the grassy lawn, erupted in cheers and clapping as Hack introduced the next speaker. Behind them, members of Congress began to exit their cars, re-reading their speeches for a final time while Christopher Street Project volunteers worked to keep the rally moving.
Rabbi Abby Stein, a trans activist and author, took the stage next. Her passionate speech felt like a sermon and a call to action against the transphobic forces in power.
“It is our moral obligation to make sure that we are visible, so that all the people who came before us and the people coming after us will know that who they are is beautiful, that being trans isn’t just OK,” Rabbi Stein said. “It is something that is worthy to celebrate, and it is something that no one in the world can ever take away from you, regardless of how much military or police or physical abuse they try to use on us. A world without trans people never existed and never will, no matter how much they try. We have defeated fascist titans before and we will defeat them again.”
Several speakers at the rally also highlighted the current administration’s disturbing parallels to fascist leaders of history. Democratic Whip Katherine Clark was one of those who called out transphobia and provided the crowd with insight into the Republicans’ strategy.
“Republicans are trying to divide us and distract us so they can funnel more money and more power to a select few,” said Clark, the House Minority Whip (D-Mass). “We’ve been in these moments before, we know the playbook, whether it’s the ’30s in Berlin or the ’60s in New York or right now in Washington, D.C. They distract and divide and scapegoat so they can tear everybody down. This time they’re using this community, our trans community. They want Americans to believe that our LGBTQ neighbors are to blame for the challenges we face as a country. They hope that if we’re focused on all of us, we won’t notice that the Republicans are closing our public schools that they’re defunding Social Security, slashing our health care, firing veterans, increasing costs of housing and groceries and starting trade wars with our allies. And what is the point? What is the point of this reckless agenda to enrich the billionaire class? And it’s all part of one corrupt plot in MAGA America. The 1% have access to wealth, freedom, power and voting rights, but not for the rest of us.”
Other members of Congress addressed Trump’s escalating attacks on the trans community.
“The reason they’re attacking all of these things is because they know what every authoritarian knows: Organized people, organized workers, marginalized people with autonomy and without fear, that’s a threat to their power,” Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) explained. “That’s why they’re coming for our books, our doctors, our teachers, our workers, and especially our trans youth. But they’re not just a talking point.”
“I want to say what’s happening right now, especially to our trans siblings, is cruel,” Lee continued. “It’s bullshit. It is not normal, and we will stand up against it. But this is not just a policy disagreement, it’s not a debate. It’s by design. It’s targeting. And they are purposely going after some of the most marginalized people in our society.”
Lee went on to address the chilling effects of Trump’s anti-trans executive orders on transgender Americans’ lives, particularly in places like Pittsburgh.
“This is what Trump’s anti-trans agenda looks like,” Lee added. “Even without a national ban, the fear, the pressure and the silence they create is doing the work for them. It’s making health care providers hesitate. It’s making institutions retreat. It’s making families feel isolated or abandoned or unsafe, and I just want to say it here, when you make it harder for children to be seen, to be loved, to be treated with dignity. That’s not just a policy failure. That is a moral failure.”
Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) bluntly stated that Trump’s policies will lead to the deaths of LGBTQ people both in the U.S. and abroad, citing the severe consequences of his cuts to foreign aid programs like PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
“His actions and those of Republicans who bend the knee have severe consequences,” Kelly said. “It threw global healthcare programs into chaos, especially PEPFAR. For over 20 years, PEPFAR saved over 26 million lives worldwide, and has been a lifeblood and a lifeline for LGBTQ plus people in the face of stigma and discrimination in many countries, especially in places where being true to yourself comes with immense risk. PEPFAR is the only program that provides HIV prevention, treatment, and care.”
“We are just five years away from ending the HIV/AIDS pandemic,” she added. “Our progress cannot stop.”
The rally ended with an unexpected but powerful appearance by actress, director, and producer Lena Dunham, who spoke about her experiences living with her trans sibling, Cyrus Dunham.
“When I asked my sibling what he might want to hear me say today and what he did not want me to say, which included phrases like ‘boots the house down, mama,’ he made it clear that there would be enough dialogue about what impossible odds are faced right now for the trans community, especially trans youth and trans people of color, and enough conversation about the horrific abuses that the government is attempting to commit and the rights they’re attempting to take away and already in the process of doing,” Dunham shared. “He said, my only job is to express how special, sweet, fab, fun, delightful and divine it is to be embraced by trans people, to live in proximity to trans lives, and to call this community our community.”
“We love you, we see you. We bow down to your charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent, and we are so lucky to love you and to fight with you and for you, to learn from you and to ensure that our rights are inseparable from yours,” the “Girls” star added. “Trans lives don’t just matter. They transform the world into a place of possibility, joy, and discovery.”
As the sun began to set and the rally wound down, Hack reflected on the significance of the event.
“Being resilient in this moment is about continuing to be yourself and continuing to exist, because being a trans person in this moment is, in and of itself, resistance,” they said. “Making sure that folks have the support that they need, being a good ally to those people is resistance and making sure that trans people in your life know that they have your support is critically important, and is the number one way that we can resist these attacks.”
For more information on the Christopher Street Project, visit christopherstreetproject.org.
District of Columbia
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day set for May 18
Whitman-Walker joins nationwide recognition of efforts to develop vaccine
Whitman-Walker Health, the D.C.-based community healthcare center that specializes in HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ-related health services, will join health care advocates from across the country to support efforts to develop an HIV vaccine on HIV Vaccine Awareness Day on May 18.
“HIV Awareness Day, observed annually on May 18, was established to recognize and thank the volunteers, scientists, health professionals, and community members working toward a safe and effective prevention HIV vaccine,” Whitman-Walker said in a statement.
“Led by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the day is also an opportunity to educate communities about the critical importance of preventive HIV vaccine research,” the statement says.
It adds, “The reality is that any new vaccine discovery must be built community by community, institution by institution, and then it must reach everyone – especially the communities who have carried the heaviest burden of this epidemic.”
On its own website, the National Institutes of Health says HIV Vaccine Awareness Day also highlights its longstanding efforts, coordinated by its Office of AIDS Research, to support researchers’ efforts to develop an HIV vaccine.
“Researchers are making promising headway in efforts to develop a safe, effective HIV vaccine,” it says in a statement on its website.
A Whitman-Walker spokesperson said Whitman-Walker was not holding a specific event to observe HIV Vaccine Awareness Day, but it will recognize the day as a way of encouragement for its ongoing work to address the AIDS epidemic and support for vaccine research.
“Today, no one has to die from HIV,” said Whitman-Walker’s Health System division’s CEO, Dr. Heather Aaron in the Whitman-Walker statement. “We have the treatments, the technology, and the research to change outcomes, and yet people in our community are still dying from HIV//AIDS,” she said in the statement.
“That is unacceptable, and it is exactly why our work continues,” she added. “Here in D.C. with more focus on Southeast D.C., the Whitman-Walker Health System remains committed to making a difference through cutting-edge research, policy advocacy, and philanthropy, because fair access to life-saving treatment is not a privilege. It is a right.”
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats endorses Janeese Lewis George for D.C. mayor
Group also backed D.C. Council, Congressional delegate, AG candidates
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization, announced on May 14 that it has endorsed D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) for mayor in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary.
Lewis George along with former D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (D-At-Large) are considered by political observers to be the two leading candidates among the seven candidates competing in the Democratic primary election for mayor.
Both have strong, long-standing records of support on LGBTQ issues, indicating Capital Stonewall Democrats members, like LGBTQ voters across the city, are likely choosing a candidate based on non-LGBTQ related issues.
In a May 14 statement, the group announced its endorsements in seven other Democratic primary races, including D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who is running unopposed in the primary. Also endorsed is D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At-Large), who is one of five Democratic candidates competing for the position of D.C. delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.
D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) is among the four candidates competing with White for that post, and who like White has a strong record of support on LGBTQ issues.
In the At-Large D.C. Council race for which incumbent Anita Bonds is not running for re-election, Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed community activist and LGBTQ ally Oye Owolewa in a nine candidate race.
For the Ward 1 D.C. Council election, in which five LGBTQ supportive candidates are competing, the group did not make an endorsement because none of the candidate received a required 60 percent of the endorsement vote cast by Capital Stonewall Democrats members, according to the group’s former president, Howard Garrett.
The statement announcing its endorsements shows that it decided to list its “Preferred Ranking” of each of the Ward 1 Democratic candidates as part of the city’s newly implemented ranked choice voting system. It lists gay candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo as first, bisexual candidate Aparna Raj second, Jackie Reyes Yanes third, Rashida Brown fourth, and Terry Lynch fifth.
In the remaining ward Council races, Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsed Councilmember Matt Fruman (D-Ward 3), who is running unopposed for re-election; Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member who is being challenged by two opponents; and Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who is running unopposed for re-election.
The group also chose not to make an endorsement in the special election for another At-Large D.C. Council seat that became vacant when then-Independent Councilmember McDuffie resigned to enable him to run for mayor as a Democrat. Under the city’s Home Rule Charter adopted by Congress, that at large sweat is restricted to a “non-majority party” candidate, meaning a non-Democrat.
The three candidates running for the seat, all Independents, include incumbent Doni Crawford, who was appointed to the seat earlier this year; former D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman; and Jacque Patterson. All three have expressed support on LGBTQ related issues.
“The organization’s endorsement process included candidate questionnaires, public forums, and direct voting by active CSD members,” the statement announcing its endorsements says. “Each endorsement reflects the collective voice of 173 LGBTQ+ Democrats who voted in the process and are committed to building lasting political power in the District,” according to the statement. “Candidates that reached 60 percent support received the endorsement.”
Garrett, the group’s former president, acknowledged that with nearly all candidates running in D.C. elections expressing strong support for the LGBTQ community, many if not most of the group’s members most likely chose a candidate based on issues other than LGBTQ related issues.
He said he believes Lewis George, who he is supporting and is viewed as a progressive candidate who self-identifies as a Democratic Socialist, compared to McDuffie, who is viewed as a moderate Democrat, captured the group’s endorsement based on the view that she is the best person to lead the city going forward.
“I believe that Capital Stonewall members voted for Janeese Lewis George because we’re tired of the status quo and we need a new, bold leader to not only move our city forward but also to stand up to Donald Trump and his administration,” Garrett told the Washington Blade.
McDuffie’s LGBTQ supporters, including former Capital Stonewall Democrats presidents David Meadows and Kurt Vorndran, have argued that McDuffie’s positions on a wide range of issues, including LGBTQ issues, show him to be the best candidates to lead the city at this time and In future years.
The group’s endorsement of Lewis George comes one week after GLAA DC, a nonpartisan LGBTQ advocacy group, awarded her its highest candidate rating of +10.
District of Columbia
Pride faith services in Washington, D.C.
Almost half of all LGBTQ adults in the U.S. are religious
Are you an LGBTQ person of faith or someone exploring spirituality? It is more common than people realize. According to a Williams Institute study published in October 2020, almost half of all LGBTQ adults in the United States are religious. This may seem counterintuitive as any LGBTQ people have complicated relationships with faith because of very real histories of abuse, trauma, and violence.
This violence still continues in the United States, especially following the Supreme Court’s March 2026 decision in Chiles v. Salazar, who ruled Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors violates the First Amendment, but not everyone has encountered this violence, nor do people who have faced it, separate themselves completely from religion. Many people may seek out affirming faith traditions which are prevalent in the DMV area.
For individuals seeking out faith services during Pride 2026, please check out the list below, which will be updated as more events are publicized.
Memorial Service for SaVanna Wanzer
May 17th at 1 pm
Westminster Presbyterian Church (400 I St SW, Washington, DC 20024)
Westminster Presbyterian will host a celebration of life for legendary DC trans rights activist and founder of DC Trans Pride and Black Trans Pride SaVanna Wanzer who was a long-time member of the church. Live music will begin at 12:15 pm before the start of the memorial service. The service will be livestreamed on the Westminster DC Facebook page. A meal will follow the Sunday service.
There will also be a celebratory vigil held on Saturday, May 16th from 6:30-8 pm for friends and family at the church led by LGBTQ organizer Rayceen Pendarvis.
May 23th at 11 am
Downtown Westin (999 9th Street NW, Washington, DC 20001)
This intimate conversation is hosted by Janeé Lee, founder of Queer Ministry, between Black trans and queer people who are surviving religious trauma and navigating their relationship with the church. The workshop, hosted as part of Trans Pride DC, is a chance for people to share their stories at the intersection of queerness and spirituality and to walk away with a spiritual healing guide with affirming scriptures and inclusive theology.
DC Black Pride Worship Service
May 24th at 10 am
Remnant Christian Center (120 West Hampton Avenue, Capitol Heights, MD)
Hosted by The Community Church of Washington DC-UCC, this service will feature speakers and sessions on Black queer faith and unity, including host and speaker Robert D. Wise Jr. for a powerful Pentecost Unity Service. Attendees are encouraged to come dressed in and white.
June 5th at 7 pm
Sixth & I (600 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001)
Join Rabbi Jenna will be leading an inclusive, musical service celebrating the diversity of Jewish life in Washington, DC. Happy Hour, which is limited to people 21 and older, will start at 6 pm. The service will start at 7 pm, with dinner at 8:15 pm. The service is free but registration is required, and the kosher-style pescatarian meal does cost money. Register online here.
June 14th at 5 pm
Black Cat (1811 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20009)
Muslim Pride is a community-led and funded grassroots performance series centering queer and trans Muslim artists through music, drag and dance. The series was originally founded in 2020 as a way to create affirming spaces where faith, culture, and queerness can coexist. This year’s series features Mercedes Iman Diamond. This year, Muslim Pride expands to Washington, DC, New York City, and Los Angeles. Buy tickets here.
Pride Celebrations and Sunday Worship Service
June 14th all day
Riverside Baptist Church (699 Maine Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20024)
Join Riverside Baptist Church for a day-long Pride celebration beginning with Pride Weekend/Musical Theater Sunday worship service at 10 am. Later that morning and early afternoon, from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm, the church will be hosting a Pride Pageant, a technicolor celebration featuring a runway showcase, line dancing, food, and refreshments.
June 22nd at 7 pm
St. Mark’s Episocpal Church (301 A Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003)
Join this interfaith service celebrating affirming faith traditions and intertradition dialogue hosted by queer and trans faith leaders. The interfaith service has been hosted annually for over 40 years, and first began back in the 1980s with faith leaders and queer people of faith coming together to mourn and pray at the site of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the National Mall. Learn more about the history of the interfaith service here.
June 23rd at 6 pm
Holy Trinity Catholic Church (3513 N St NW, Washington, DC 20007)
Holy Trinity will be hosting its 6th annual Pride Mass. After its debut this past summer, the Pride Mass choir will be singing at the Pride Mass in June, and following the Mass, there will be an annual reception with ice cream and other goodies. Learn more about attending the reception and Holy Trinity’s LGBTQ+ Ministry.
‘The Inheritance’ is most-nominated at this year’s Helen Hayes Awards
HIV Vaccine Awareness Day set for May 18
DC Black Pride is around the corner
United Night Out set for Saturday
Calendar: May 15-21
America’s broken pipeline of mental healthcare for trans youth
Senate Democrats press DOJ over anti-trans prison directives
Anti-LGBTQ violence prevention efforts highlighted at D.C. community fair
Celebrated performer Rose Levine plays Rehoboth on May 15
Washington Blade’s Pride on the Pier returns June 13 to kick off D.C. Pride week
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National4 days agoAmerica’s broken pipeline of mental healthcare for trans youth
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Federal Government5 days ago
Senate Democrats press DOJ over anti-trans prison directives
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District of Columbia5 days ago
Anti-LGBTQ violence prevention efforts highlighted at D.C. community fair
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Rehoboth Beach5 days ago
Celebrated performer Rose Levine plays Rehoboth on May 15
