District of Columbia
From synagogue to Stonewall: LGBTQ Jewish stories in D.C.
Capital Jewish Museum exhibit showcases resiliency of local LGBTQ Jews
From clandestine Shabbat dinners with chosen family in Dupont Circle in the 1950s to proudly marching in the world’s biggest Pride celebration in 2025 under the Bet Mishpachah banner, LGBTQ Jews are deeply intertwined in the queer history of Washington. Despite their consistent presence in the fight for equality, LGBTQ Jews have not, historically speaking, received their flowers.
One museum in Judiciary Square is trying to change that by highlighting the historic contributions LGBTQ Jews have made to D.C. The Capital Jewish Museum officially opened its doors to its “LGBTQ Jews in the Federal City” exhibit in May and has been educating the community — and history fans — since.
The Washington Blade sat down with the two major forces behind bringing the exhibit to life at the Capital Jewish Museum to discuss some often-neglected parts of D.C.’s queer history.
The exhibit begins with a timeline of important moments in both Judaism, like the establishment of the six genders mentioned in ancient rabbinical writings, and in America’s LGBTQ history, like the Stonewall Riots. As you walk further in, the timeline begins to highlight important events for LGBTQ Jews in Washington, spanning from the 1800s to the current day.
When asked why produce an exhibit on LGBTQ Jews, Sarah Leavitt, the director of Curatorial Affairs, was quick with an answer and a smile. Aside from teaching the detailed ways LGBTQ Jewish icons—like Frank Kameny, for example, who led the fight for gay and lesbian people to work openly in the federal government—alongside other spectacular histories, it was clear it was also meant to inspire.
“‘Why not?’” Leavitt said. “This is an important story to tell. We wanted to tell it, so that’s what we did… It encourages people to do the work of the next stage, as whatever that is.”
Jonathan Edelman, collections curator at the Capital Jewish Museum, explained that for him, the exhibit was more than showcasing the revolutionary work of LGBTQ Jews in D.C.—it was also about making the museum’s archives more accurately reflect all colors of the Jewish rainbow.
“My number one responsibility… is to help enhance our archives, so that it’s a collection that more accurately reflects the Jewish community we claim to represent,” Edelman said. “This exhibit helped us start to fill one gap… But we have a lot more work to do.”
That work began at kitchen tables across the DMV — and took off from there.
“I sat at a lot of kitchen tables and listened to people tell their stories,” he said. “When we started collecting, I really got the sense, especially from LGBTQ Jewish elders, that people were just waiting for someone to ask about their story… a button from a protest in 1979 that meant so much to them… was also empowering.”
In addition to the multitude of political buttons that announce “LOUD PUSHY JEW DYKE” and the piece of the AIDS memorial quilt hung on the wall with a square highlighting some of the Jewish people who died alongside a sewn synagogue, there is an astonishing number of artifacts in the exhibit. The two creators of the exhibit shared their favorite artifacts for all to see. Edelman’s favorite is one of the earliest editions of the Washington Blade (known as the Gay Blade back in 1969). Leavitt’s is a copy of meeting minutes from Bet Mishpachah, Washington’s LGBTQ Jewish congregation—both representing queer resilience in Washington.
Jocelyn Kaplan was one of those people who shared their special objects and stories with Edelman and Leavitt. She gave the museum stacks of old “Gay Blade” prints from when they were a single sheet of paper.
“She thought she was the only one who had these feelings,” Edelman explained. “One night she was at a bar or a restaurant, and saw copies of the Blade, and she picked one up, and discovered community for the first time. And so this very ordinary piece of paper may have saved her life. And the power that this publication had in helping people find community before the internet is meaningful.”
Leavitt’s favorite piece, the meeting minutes, was made more special after a member of Bet Mishpachah found herself in the notes.
“Several of the people at the meeting were listed without their last name because it was the early ’90s,” Leavitt said. “They were worried that somehow their boss was gonna get a copy of these meeting minutes from their synagogue… she remembered that fear. … That was a moment from 35 years ago that kind of stabbed her in the heart again.”
The exhibit is eye-opening, to say the least. Touching on cultural icons of D.C. history like Esther Goldberg, a well-known Jewish drag queen—complete with a disco ball and gown—to signs of progress toward a more inclusive space for LGBTQ Jews, like the Hebrew workbook on display without gender-specific pronouns for non-binary Hebrew learners.
While sitting on the couch in the middle of the exhibit, next to rotary phones that have LGBTQ Jewish elders sharing their stories with the spin of the wheel, Leavitt admitted that the exhibit wouldn’t do justice to LGBTQ history if it were a perfect balance of struggle and success. One struggle some Jewish people had internally wrestled with was the inclusion—or rather lack of inclusion—of the history of gay men in the Holocaust. Some wanted these museums and memorials to honor only the Jewish people who suffered the most during the time. Others wanted gay men who died alongside Jewish people to be memorialized and recognized.
“It’s not always a pretty story, but it can be one,” Leavitt said about the twisting of LGBTQ and Jewish histories. “I think grief weaves its way through all of our stories… But we can’t do a show like this without talking about trauma.”
On the opposite side, there are remarkable accounts across the exhibit floor that show the relationship between the LGBTQ community and the Jewish community supporting each other. Bet Mishpachah, for example, has been marching in D.C.’s Pride celebrations since the 1970s.
“Some felt that this was holy work—their activism,” she added.
When asked what they hoped visitors to the museum would take away from the exhibit, they gave different answers, but both put LGBTQ Jews at the center.
“I hope queer Jewish elders feel seen, like their story is finally being told,” he said. “I hope younger queer people learn the history of this movement… and then I hope our non-queer visitors understand that queer history is Jewish history.”
“I hope it shows we can do it, and that the community can trust us with their stories,” she finished. “Hopefully this is just the beginning.”
Admission to the Capital Jewish Museum’s LGBTQ exhibit is $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 65+ and students with valid ID, and free for children 12 and younger.
District of Columbia
Ruby Corado jailed after sentencing is postponed
Former Casa Ruby director pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2024
A federal judge on Oct. 14 ordered Ruby Corado, the founder and former executive director of the now closed D.C. LGBTQ community services organization Casa Ruby, held in jail while she awaits sentencing on a charge of wire fraud to which she pleaded guilty in July 2024.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden postponed the sentencing hearing, which had been scheduled for the next day on Oct. 15, after Corado’s court appointed public defender attorney withdrew her representation of Corado.
The attorney, Elizabeth Mullin, stated in a court motion that her reason for withdrawing from the case was an “irreconcilable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”
After calling Corado and Mullin to speak with him at the judge’s bench in a private conversation, McFadden told Corado he was revoking her release status while she awaited sentencing because he was concerned she would not return to court for her sentencing.
Corado disputed the judge’s concern, saying she has always returned to court for previous hearings and would return to court for the sentencing. McFadden refused to reverse his order that she be held until sentencing.
He said he would postpone the Oct. 15 sentencing to give Corado time to retain another lawyer. Corado told the Washington Blade prior to the Oct. 14 hearing outside the courtroom that she planned to retain her own attorney rather than use another court appointed attorney. She said she disputes the charge to which she pleaded guilty but declined to discuss the matter on grounds that she was restricted from publicly discussing her case
The judge’s postponement of the sentencing, which he did not reschedule, marked the seventh time Corado’s sentencing hearing has been postponed. Court records show the previous postponements came mostly at the request of Corado’s attorneys, with one caused by a medical issue faced by Corado.
Online court records posted later in the day on Oct. 14 show Judge McFadden scheduled a follow-up hearing for Dec. 15 at which time arrangements would be made for a new defense attorney to represent Corado.
The charge to which she pleaded guilty is based on the allegation that she diverted at least $180,000 “in taxpayer backed emergency COVID relief funds to private offshore bank accounts for her personal use,” according to an earlier statement released by prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C.
Court records show that FBI agents arrested Corado on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Md., shortly after she returned to the U.S. from El Salvador, where authorities said she moved in 2022. Prosecutors have said in charging documents that she allegedly “fled” to El Salvador after “financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public,” and the LGBTQ organization ceased operating.
Shortly after her arrest, another judge agreed to release Corado into the custody of her niece in Rockville, Md., under a home detention order until the time of her trial.
As part of a plea agreement with prosecutors, additional charges filed against her at the time of her arrest, including bank fraud, laundering monetary instruments, monetary transactions in criminally delivered proceeds, and failure to file a report of foreign bank accounts, were dropped at the time she pleaded guilty.
Under the federal wire fraud law Corado could be sentenced to a possible maximum penalty of 30 years in prison. But in a 16-page sentencing memorandum filed in court on Oct. 8, Assistant U.S. Attorney John W. Borchert, the lead prosecutor in the case, called for a sentence of 33 months of incarceration.
“The defendant and Casa Ruby received no less than $1.2 million in taxpayer-backed funds during the COVID-19 global health crisis,” the sentencing memo states. “But rather than use those funds to support Casa Ruby’s mission as the defendant promised, the defendant further contributed to its demise by unlawfully transferring no less than $180,000 of those federal emergency relief funds into her own private offshore bank accounts,” it says.
“Then when media reports suggested the defendant would be prosecuted for squandering Casa Ruby’s government funding, she sold her house and fled the country,” the memo says. “Meanwhile, the people who she had promised to pay with taxpayer-backed funds – her employees, landlord, and vendors – were left behind flat broke.”
In an Oct. 10 interview with WUSA-9 news, Corado disputed the claims that she used the funds she took from Casa Ruby to El Salvador for personal use. WUSA reports that Corado said she was working on a project to establish a Casa Ruby in El Salvador to help LGBTQ migrants avoid a “dangerous journey” to the U.S.
“At the time there was a huge crisis with immigration,” Corado said in an on-air interview. “We helped them. That was my mission,“ she said. When asked by WUSA if she left the U.S. as Casa Ruby folded, she replied, “There was a famous tweet that said it appears she has left the country. No, I was on and off.”
She added, “The first thing I want to say to people, mainly clients, I am sorry. I am sorry that I have not been there to support you the way I always have. That is something that is part of my healing.”
District of Columbia
Bet Mishpachah welcomes release of last hostages from Gaza
President Donald Trump helped broker ceasefire between Israel, Hamas
Bet Mishpachah on Monday welcomed the release of the remaining hostages in the Gaza Strip as part of a ceasefire agreement that President Donald Trump helped broker.
“As we enter into the holy days of Shmini Atzeret and Simhat Torah, we are flooded with a mix of emotions,” said Jake Singer-Beilin, the Washington LGBTQ Jewish congregation’s chief rabbi, in a message to members. “The great joy of these holy days was smashed two years ago on Oct. 7, 2023. Hundreds were murdered on that day, and many — alive and dead — were taken hostage.”
“Today, as the last living hostages return back to Israel, we find great relief as well as pain for what has happened to them up to this point,” he added. “This year, we will celebrate with exuberance knowing that a ceasefire is holding, and that the captives have been redeemed. We will also hold within us the grief that we feel for Israelis and Palestinians who died on that day and since. With these swirling emotions, we offer thanks to the peacemakers and to the One who makes peace on high. We pray that peace will reign in the region, and that those who have endured so much will find healing and hope.”
The Israeli government says Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including upwards of 360 partygoers at the Nova Music Festival near Re’im, a kibbutz that is a couple miles from the Gaza Strip, when it launched its surprise attack on the country. The militants also kidnapped more than 200 people.
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says Israeli forces have killed more than 67,000 people in the enclave since Oct. 7. Karim Khan, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, has said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who the Israel Defense Forces killed last October, are among those who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and Israel.
The Israeli government has strongly denied it has committed genocide in Gaza.
The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect on Oct. 10.
The last 20 living hostages returned to Israel on Monday, while the Jewish State released 1,968 Palestinians who had been in Israeli prisons. Hamas on Monday released the bodies of four hostages who died while in captivity.
Trump, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Monday signed the ceasefire agreement in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Trump earlier in the day spoke at the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem.
“This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East,” said Trump in his Knesset speech.
The ceasefire and its implementation remains tenuous, but one Israeli LGBTQ activist with whom the Washington Blade spoke on Monday celebrated the hostages’ return.
“Emotions are high and everyone is with their loved ones or celebrating in the streets,” they said. “It’s definitely a historic and joyful day for the Israeli people.”
Ga’ava, an LGBTQ group that is affiliated with the Toronto-based Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, on its Instagram page proclaimed the “hostages are free, war is over.” A Wider Bridge — a group that “advocates for justice, counters LGBTQphobia, and fights antisemitism and other forms of hatred” — described Monday as “a joyful day.”
District of Columbia
D.C. college students still reeling from Trump’s police takeover
‘Feeding into the racist, homophobic conceptions of crime’
LGBTQ college students in Washington, D.C. are still reeling from President Donald Trump’s decision two months ago to take over the local police force and deploy National Guard troops to patrol the city’s streets.
But to hear two students at Georgetown University tell it, queer students at the school don’t just fear the possibility of being profiled by police officers on campus. Queer students have also become apathetic toward the city’s law enforcement mechanisms, particularly as news reports show that Trump’s decision has led to an increase in racial profiling and disproportionately affected immigrants.
“It’s been upsetting in the sense that there’s more police presence near our university. The police on our campus, [Georgetown University Police Department], is a lot more active,” Allie Gaudion, a senior at Georgetown and advocacy director of Georgetown University Pride, said in an interview. “It feels suffocating, almost.”
Gaudion recounted an incident where “students felt unsafe” during a club fair after spotting National Guard and Drug Enforcement Agency officers walking through Georgetown’s campus. Gaudion added that there were concerns about whether students were being targeted or not.
“For a lot of students, it’s about international students being harassed or having their immigration status threatened,” Gaudion said.
Trump in August deployed the National Guard to the nation’s capital, claiming that Washington had been overrun by “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth” — even though violent crime in the city has been declining and D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department reported a 30-year low in 2024 with rates dropping by an additional 26 percent in early 2025, and homicides down 12 percent year-over-year.
Initially, the White House said Trump’s takeover would last 30 days. However, the Army extended orders for the National Guard to remain deployed in the city until late November.
LGBTQ groups have publicly opposed Trump’s decision, arguing that an increased police presence in the city only escalates tensions. As Capital Stonewall Democrats President Howard Garrett put it back in August, “Flooding our neighborhoods with federal forces and seizing control of our police department will not make us safer – it will undermine trust, escalate tensions, and strip away D.C.’s right to govern itself.”
Devin Weil, a sophomore at Georgetown and communications director for Georgetown University Pride, emphasized how D.C. has become “scary” for “more vulnerable groups and queer students, especially international students.” (Over 4,500 students at Georgetown were international students in the fall of 2024, according to the college’s data.)
“Especially with the mass ICE deportations that have been occurring and the presence of federal agents, they’re going to attack marginalized groups without reason,” Weil said of the concerns some of his peers have shared with him. “[ICE] was literally detaining GrubHub drivers. It’s insane.”
“It’s feeding into the racist, homophobic conceptions of crime,” Weil added.
Despite the concerns around the impact of increased police presence in the city, queer students have begun contributing to efforts to make their campuses safer. Georgetown’s broader student association is drafting a resolution that would bar ICE agents’ presence on their campus, Weil said. Georgetown’s student association is also teaming up with organizations at other colleges to push university leadership to “send federal agents off of campuses,” Weil added.
For Gaudion, nothing demands more investment into Georgetown’s queer community than the current moment. Gaudion helps host weekly social events with the goal of connecting queer students and building a supportive environment. These events are “chill” and for “students to be able to just complain about whatever is going on in their lives or just have a cup of tea and a snack and feel better.”
“We’re trying to highlight queer voices and support queer voices and make sure that we’re cognizant and aware of what’s going on in our communities even if we’re [at Georgetown] temporarily,” Gaudion said.
Is she afraid that these gatherings could become an easy target for police officers?
Gaudion said no changes will be made to Georgetown University Pride’s programming.
“I don’t think being less present would be helpful to anyone,” she said. “ So we’re advertising and doing all of our programming as normal.”
Trans rights activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy dies at 78
Five HIV/AIDS activists arrested outside Susan Collins’s D.C. office
Ruby Corado jailed after sentencing is postponed
‘This is not the military I gave my life for’: LGBTQ veterans respond to Hegseth
Bet Mishpachah welcomes release of last hostages from Gaza
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