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Comings & Goings
Meet head of DNC’s new LGBTQ engagement effort
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: [email protected].
Congratulations to Mathew S. Nosanchuk the DNC’s new Senior Advisor and Political Organizer for Jewish Outreach and LGBTQ Engagement. Upon accepting the position, Nosanchuk said, “I am thrilled to join great colleagues at the DNC, including Chair Tom Perez, LGBT Caucus Chair Earl Fowlkes, and many others to lead the party’s engagement with the LGBTQ and Jewish communities. Trump has cruelly targeted the LGBTQ community with a succession of policies that undermine our rights. The Democratic Party is firmly committed to advancing rights for the LGBTQ community so that the arc of the moral universe once again bends towards justice.”
Matt is co-founder of the New York Jewish Agenda, created as a liberal, left-of-center voice on advocating for domestic issues in New York, supporting Israel as a Jewish, democratic state, backing a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and combatting anti-Semitism wherever it arises. He is also vice president and senior advisor with Quadrant Strategies in D.C.
Prior to this, Nosanchuk held numerous positions in the Obama administration. They included positions in the State Department as Associate Director Office of Public Engagement/Director of Outreach, National Security Council in the White House; and positions in the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. He was legislative counsel to Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and prior to that was counsel with Collier Shannon Scott, PLLC in D.C.
Nosanchuk has his bachelor’s in history with honors from Stanford and his J.D. from Stanford Law School. He has written extensively and won numerous awards including the American Bar Association’s Inaugural Stonewall Award recognizing contributions to LGBT civil rights. He is an adjunct professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center.
Congratulations also to Gabrielle Claiborne on her new TEDx talk “Building your courage muscles.” Upon its release, she said, “As it relates to my TEDx talk and my own personal experience, I’ve learned that authenticity is a journey, not a destination. We have to take each scary step, as it presents itself, without necessarily knowing our exact destination. And with each step we take, we get a little stronger, more courageous, less stuck, more authentic.”
Gabrielle Claiborne is co-founder and CEO of Transformation Journeys Worldwide, an inclusion training and consulting firm with a transgender focus. She travels extensively, helping cutting-edge organizations position themselves to attract and retain the best talent, foster collaborative working environments, thus maximizing innovation and directly impacting the bottom line by creating fully trans-inclusive cultures. Her clients have included Home Depot, Sun Life Financial, Royal Bank of Canada, Comcast, Mercedes Benz, and UPS.
Transformation Journeys Worldwide was chosen as the Out Georgia Business Alliance 2018 Small Business of the Year, and received the Atlanta Hawk’s prestigious 2019 True Comes in All Colors award. Claiborne is proud to be a trans-owned NGLCC certified LGBT Business Enterprise. She has been an out and active trans woman since 2010.
Claiborne holds a bachelor’s in mathematics from Emory University and pursued a degree in Civil Engineering at Georgia Tech. She is the proud parent of three adult children and lives in Atlanta.
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)
a&e features
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
Washington Blade’s unique archives chronicle highs, lows of our movement
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of LGBTQ Pride in Washington, D.C., the Washington Blade team combed our archives and put together a glossy magazine showcasing five decades of celebrations in the city. Below is a sampling of images from the magazine but be sure to find a print copy starting this week.
The magazine is being distributed now and is complimentary. You can find copies at LGBTQ bars and restaurants across the city. Or visit the Blade booth at the Pride festival on June 7 and 8 where we will distribute copies.
Thank you to our advertisers and sponsors, whose support has enabled us to distribute the magazine free of charge. And thanks to our dedicated team at the Blade, especially Photo Editor Michael Key, who spent many hours searching the archives for the best images, many of which are unique to the Blade and cannot be found elsewhere. And thanks to our dynamic production team of Meaghan Juba, who designed the magazine, and Phil Rockstroh who managed the process. Stephen Rutgers and Brian Pitts handled sales and marketing and staff writers Lou Chibbaro Jr., Christopher Kane, Michael K. Lavers, Joe Reberkenny along with freelancer and former Blade staffer Joey DiGuglielmo wrote the essays.
The magazine represents more than 50 years of hard work by countless reporters, editors, advertising sales reps, photographers, and other media professionals who have brought you the Washington Blade since 1969.
We hope you enjoy the magazine and keep it as a reminder of all the many ups and downs our local LGBTQ community has experienced over the past 50 years.
I hope you will consider supporting our vital mission by becoming a Blade member today. At a time when reliable, accurate LGBTQ news is more essential than ever, your contribution helps make it possible. With a monthly gift starting at just $7, you’ll ensure that the Blade remains a trusted, free resource for the community — now and for years to come. Click here to help fund LGBTQ journalism.
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