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D.C. won’t lift travel ban to North Carolina after HB2 deal
Compromise plan fails to impress big-city mayors
Mayor Muriel Bowser won’t lift her travel ban to North Carolina despite the HB2 replacement. (Washington Blade photo by Daniel Truitt)
The District of Columbia has joined the growing number of cities that have refused to lift their travel bans to North Carolina over anti-LGBT House Bill 2 despite the governor signing into law a replacement measure.
D.C. won’t lift its ban on state-sponsored travel to North Carolina that D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed last year banning official travel by city employees to North Carolina as a protest against House Bill 2, a spokesperson told the Washington Blade Wednesday.
“At this time, Mayor Bowser has no plans to lift the ban,” said Susana Castillo, a Bowser spokesperson.
Bowser is keeping her executive order in place after North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a fellow Democrat, signed into law a replacement for House Bill 2 that he says alleviates discrimination in the state, but LGBT rights supporters say it doubles-down on discrimination.
The new law, House Bill 142, is a compromise deal Cooper worked out with Republican leaders in state legislature amid ongoing economic boycott of the state as a result of the initial anti-LGBT law.
HB 142 prohibits municipalities, state agencies and the University of North Carolina from the “regulation of access” to bathrooms, locker rooms and showers without the legislature’s permission. It also bans municipalities from enacting LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination measures that would apply to private employment or public accommodations until 2020.
According to the Human Rights Campaign, other cities that have refused to lift their travel bans to North Carolina despite the new law are New York City, Oakland, Seattle, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Salt Lake City and Cincinnati.
Angela Dallara, a spokesperson for the coalition known as Mayors Against LGBT Discrimination, said the voices of mayors against the new law in North Carolina will have an impact.
“I think, honestly, taxpayer dollars should never be spent on discrimination, and when the mayors put these travel bans in place, it sends a message of support and inclusion to LGBT people,” Dallara said. “And it’s effective. We know that HB2 cost North Carolina about a billion dollars because of companies and sports team that withheld business from the state, and I think that these mayors know that discriminating against LGBT people is costly.”
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PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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