Metro Weekly

04/28/2025

June Crenshaw, the executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, has stepped down from her position after nearly a decade.

The organization provides support services and operates transitional housing programs for LGBTQ young people experiencing homelessness.

“When I first joined the foundation, I was facing the real possibility of closing our shelters,” Crenshaw said in a statement. “But thanks to the unwavering support of the LGBTQ+ community and strong, steady leadership of our Board, nearly a decade later, we’ve not only kept our doors open — we’ve expanded our impact. As I pass the torch, I’m filled with pride in the organization’s next chapter.”

Crenshaw will continue serving the LGBTQ community as the interim deputy director of Capital Pride Alliance and DC WorldPride 2025.

“June’s nearly decade of service transformed the lives of hundreds of LGBTQ+ youth in the nation’s capital,” Darrin Glymph, the board chair of the Wanda Alston Foundation, said in a statement. “She led with heart, vision, and an unshakeable commitment to our most vulnerable youth. We are immensely grateful for her service and look forward to her continued leadership in the community.”

The foundation's board has named Cesar Toledo, a veteran of the Harris presidential campaign, as Crenshaw's successor.

04/28/2025

"In recent years, [David] Cronenberg, known for nightmarish ’80s staples like Videodrome and The Fly, has been dealing with heartbreak of a different sort: the 2017 death of his second wife, Carolyn Zeifman, from cancer," writes critic Zach Schonfeld. "His own grief clearly animates his 23rd feature, The Shrouds, an unflinchingly morbid meditation on loss, decay, and the vulgar nature of remembrance in a digital world — a project that the 82-year-old director has called “my most autobiographical film.”

"Maybe that’s an unnerving proclamation to make about a movie whose protagonist soothes his grief by monitoring a livestream of his wife’s corpse decomposing in the grave, but Cronenberg, a director who could credibly be called the godfather of body horror, isn’t known for keeping things light."

THE SHROUDS (2025) is playing in select theaters nationwide.

With "The Shrouds," master of body horror David Cronenberg creates an unsettling mediation on loss and decay.

04/28/2025

In new guidance posted to its website, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that healthcare workers, clinic staff, and third parties could file complaints against medical providers thought to be providing people under age 19 with hormones, puberty blockers, and gender-affirming surgical procedures.

LGBTQ advocates are deriding the online portal as a “snitch line.”

The guidance is intended to align with an executive order signed by President Donald Trump prohibiting the provision of gender-affirming care to people under the age of 19 and barring federal funds from being spent on medical treatments meant to assist a person of any age in transitioning genders.

The guidance seeks to assuage the concerns of so-called “whistleblowers” of being prosecuted for violating the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which prohibits the disclosure of confidential medical information.

The online portal encourages healthcare workers to report doctors, hospitals, and clinics providing gender-affirming care to trans youth.

04/28/2025

George Santos, one of the few politicians to ever be expelled from Congress, has been sentenced to 87 months in prison for aggravated identity theft and wire fraud charges stemming from an alleged misuse of campaign donations from his successful 2022 race.

On April 25, Senior Judge Joanna Seybert, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, handed down the more than 7-year sentence against the gay former congressman from New York, ordering that he surrender to federal authorities by July 25.

The 36-year-old Republican was sobbing as the sentence was issued, noting in a brief statement that he had “betrayed the confidence entrusted in me” by his political supporters and allies.

“I cannot rewrite the past, but I can control the road ahead. I have tried my best,” he said.

The gay former congressman from New York has been sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to identity theft and fraud charges.

04/28/2025

John Reid, a stalwart Trump defender, will be part of a history-making ticket this fall as he campaigns alongside Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is seeking to become the first Black woman elected governor in the commonwealth.

If elected, the Richmond resident would become the first openly gay Republican elected to any statewide office in the country.

Reid’s path to the nomination was cleared after Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield) dropped out of the primary, citing health reasons.

As reported by The Washington Post, Herrity had been leading in fundraising but was struggling to recover after receiving heart surgery last month.

With his exit, the Republican Party will not have any primaries for its top statewide offices.

John Reid, a gay conservative talk show host, is running unopposed for the Republican nomination for Virginia's next lieutenant governor.

04/28/2025

Extremely sad news. RIP Jiggly Caliente.

The drag performer and actress was beloved by fans following her stint on Season 4 of "RuPaul's Drag Race."

04/28/2025

The 32nd Annual Chef’s Best Dinner & Action is Wednesday, May 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Marriott Marquis DC, 901 Massachusetts Ave. NW.

“Chef’s Best is an opportunity to come together for the sake of something good, and focus on the great work that’s happening locally — taking care of our neighbors, being there for each other, which is something that this community does so well — and celebrate that while having a lot of fun,” says Carrie Stoltzfus.

Stoltzfus is the executive director of Food & Friends, a local nonprofit that delivers medically-tailored meals and nutritional counseling, free of charge, to people in the D.C. metro area who are living with HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other serious illnesses. Chef’s Best is their biggest — and most popular — annual fundraiser of the year.

The event brings together chefs and mixologists from dozens of local restaurants, bars, and eateries, who set up banquet-style stations throughout a ballroom where they offer samples of their food and drink.

The 32nd annual Food & Friends event on May 7 aims to raise $1 million to help nutritionally support people living with serious illnesses.

04/27/2025

Win Tickets to Grace Jones & Janelle Monae at !

We're giving away a pair of free tickets to Grace Jones & Janelle Monae at The Anthem in Washington, D.C. on June 5.

04/26/2025

The new DC LGBTQ+ Community Center opens its doors to the public today with an OPEN HOUSE from noon to 4 pm! We have your EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK with John Riley's deep-dive interview with Executive Director Kimberley Bush and gorgeous photographs by our own Todd Franson!
https://magazine.metroweekly.com/books/nisa/

04/25/2025

Honestly, 7 years is not long enough for this griftbag.

The gay former congressman from New York has been sentenced to 87 months in prison after pleading guilty to identity theft and fraud charges.

04/25/2025

The Human Rights Campaign PAC has endorsed Democrat Abigail Spanberger to be the next governor of Virginia.

The endorsement by the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization comes at a time when some Democrats are urging members of their party to distance themselves from the LGBTQ community.

Spanberger, one of the more conservative members of the Democratic House Caucus during her six years in the U.S. House of Representatives, has been praised by some pundits for her criticism of left-leaning voices within the Democratic Party, especially on issues like public safety, national security, and support for Israel.\

But Spanberger has not sought to distance herself from her past support of legislation that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in employment, credit, housing and public accommodations, or her support of marriage equality, as evidenced by her vote for the Respect for Marriage Act.

The campaign arm of the Human Rights Campaign is endorsing Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is seeking to become Virginia's next governor.

04/25/2025

Aidan Maese-Czeropski, the former Capitol Hill Senate staffer fired for allegedly filming and sharing video of a sexual encounter in a U.S. Senate hearing room, says the fallout from the scandal traumatized him, prompting him to leave the country and start a life anew abroad.

Maese-Czeropski, infamously known online as the “Senate Twink,” told Gay Sydney News that the sex tape scandal led to emotional turmoil, requiring temporary hospitalization.

“Mentally, I spent a little bit in the psych ward after the fact because it was just… it’s overwhelming to realize and to know that tens of millions of people literally despise you,” he told the news outlet.

Maese-Czeropski later bought a one-way ticket to Cape Town, South Africa. While there, he met a traveler from New Zealand, who convinced him to move to Sydney, Australia.

Aidan Maese-Czeropski, the gay former Senate staffer fired at the center of an online sex scandal, is much happier living in Australia.

04/25/2025

A former firefighter has been awarded $1.75 million in damages as part of a lawsuit alleging she was retaliated against — after filing a separate lawsuit alleging she was discriminated against.

Lori Franchina, who identifies as a lesbian, first began working for the Providence, Rhode Island, fire department in 2002. She quickly rose through the ranks, ending up as lieutenant, but claims she was mistreated due to her gender and sexual orientation.

She claims to have been subjected to a host of abusive behaviors at the hands of fellow firefighters.

Examples included being called lewd nicknames, such as “Fran-gina,” ignored in life-or-death situations, and even having a bloody glove snapped in her face, splashing another person’s brain matter into her eyes, nose, and mouth.

A federal jury found that the city of Providence retaliated against Lt. Lori Franchina, who previously sued for on-the-job discrimination.

04/23/2025

Nick Cave’s playful spirit and formal adventurousness breathe life into all his works, be they needlepoint or reclaimed metal. But the joy and vitality the works project belie the painful emotions igniting the artist.

“The work has always been set within really very hard and difficult issues that have always been built and based around violence on the Black body,” says the winner of the 2025 Smithsonian Visionary Artist Award. In fact, the Missouri native created his first wearable fabric and flora Soundsuit — of which he’s since fabricated more than 500 similar forms — in response to the 1992 police beating of Rodney King.

Although, as he points out, the trauma is ongoing.

Police violence against Black bodies “is not something that is a one-time thing,” he notes. The issues persist in the world and in Cave’s psyche, and thus, in his art. “So it’s always been rooted in this heavy despair and very painful assault. And within that, I’ve got to f**king work it out,” he says, his voice rising.

Smithsonian Visionary Artist Award winner Nick Cave leads the way forward sculpting visions in fabric, beads, and bronze.

04/22/2025

BAD BOOKS runs through May 4 at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Maryland.

"A concerned mom in Sharyn Rothstein’s Bad Books raises a hell of a ruckus over a library book she deems obscene, but, in truth, neither her ensuing crusade nor Rothstein’s juicily enjoyable play are about bad books, whatever those might be," writes critic André Hereford.

"The book in question — bearing an amusingly suggestive title which won’t be spoiled here — seems only incidental to what’s really upsetting this Mother.

"Still, that won’t stop her from raising a self-righteous army of fellow concerned moms in her campaign to have the supposedly offensive tome removed from the shelves of her town’s public library.

"The battle over the bad book begins with a crackling one-on-one confrontation between the Mother and the head Librarian, brilliantly played, respectively, by Holly Twyford and Kate Eastwood Norris in Round House Theatre’s world-premiere production and part of the National Capital New Play Festival."

A provocative library book sparks a town-wide culture war in Round House's blazing and timely world premiere, "Bad Books."