Local
Comings & Goings
Rouse takes senior role at Victory Fund
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 Martin Rouse on being chosen to serve as Victory Fund’s Senior Director of Political Programs. On accepting the position, he said, “Thanks to a solicitation from Victory Fund, I wrote my first check to a queer candidate running for office near my hometown on Long Island over 20 years ago. It is an honor to be a part of their team and help them continue to build and flex the political muscle of LGBTQ people.”
Rouse has more than 20 years of experience as a respected practitioner of civil society leadership resulting in landmark public policy victories for oppressed minorities.
He works with Catamount Consulting in North Bethesda. He served in a number of different positions with the Human Rights Campaign, including: Senior Adviser and National Field Director, Policy & Political Affairs; and as National Field Director. Prior to that he worked as Campaign Director with MassEquality. He has also served as Director of Scheduling and Advance for Secretary Donna E. Shalala at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and in a number of other political positions including Director of the Office of Gay and Lesbian Affairs, City of New York, under Mayor David Dinkins.
Congratulations also to Frederick Appel Isasi, named one of the top lobbyists of 2021 by The Hill. Isasi is the lead author of the new report “Patients, Families, and Communities COVID-19 Impact Assessment: Lessons Learned and Compelling Needs” reported in Politico, which wrote, “Life expectancy in the U.S. has fallen partly because of Covid-19, but drops were significantly greater for Black and Latinx populations than white people, according to a National Academy of Medicine report co-authored by Families USA Executive Director Frederick Isasi.”
Isasi said, “I am proud to lead Families USA as we work to achieve our vision for a nation where the best health and health care are equally accessible and affordable to all. As someone who was raised in an activist, Catholic and Cuban family, it is an honor to represent so many different people like the LGBTQ+, communities of color, and low-income communities.”
Congratulations also to Justin Nelson, co-founder and President of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, on his reappointment to the Council on Underserved Communities in the Small Business Administration. Initially established in 2010, the Council on Underserved Communities provides advice, ideas, and opinions on SBA programs, services, and issues of interest to small businesses in underserved communities. The 20-member federal advisory committee serves as an essential connection between the SBA and underserved small businesses to work toward creating new initiatives to spur economic growth, job creation, competitiveness, and sustainability across all communities.
On his appointment, Nelson said, “I am honored to be reappointed to the SBA’s Council on the Underserved Communities to ensure that America’s 1.4 million job creating, industry innovating entrepreneurs are well-represented during this critical time for small business investment. Working in close collaboration with our diverse business partners is at the core of who we are at NGLCC.”
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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