Local
GLAA blasts prostitution crackdown
‘Absurd’ sting operation leads to 50 arrests
Donovan House Hotel (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington characterized as “scandalous” and “absurd” a D.C. police sting operation in which police are placing ads on websites inviting people to hotel rooms to engage in sex for money and then arresting them for solicitation for prostitution when they show up.
The Washington Post reported that police have arrested more than 50 unwitting customers on prostitution-related charges in the past several weeks at hotels at or near Thomas Circle, including the upscale Donovan Hotel.
Police have said they initiated the sting in response to complaints by nearby residents, businesses and clergy affiliated with churches in the area.
“GLAA’s position is that the law should be changed, and that alternatives to incarceration should be pursued in the meantime,” said GLAA President Rick Rosendall. “Criminalizing sex work helps no one, and is an absurd waste of police resources.”
Over the past several years GLAA has released detailed position papers pointing out that transgender women are sometimes forced into sex work to survive after being denied more traditional employment due to discrimination. The group has said that arresting LGBT people and others in that situation makes it more difficult for them to find other forms of employment.
When asked by the Blade whether gay male or transgender sex workers or customers were being targeted in the sting, police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump said only that the operation was a response to community concerns.
“Our enforcement of prostitution offenses targets community-related complaints,” she said. “We do not ask arrestees their sexual orientation. All arrest information is public record. We don’t comment on operational matters,” Crump said.
“In the case of sex behind closed doors, whether in homes or hotel rooms, the fact that someone is paying for it is no more a legitimate basis for police involvement than if the transaction is a more informal one involving dinner and a show,” GLAA said in a policy brief first published in 2008.
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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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