By PAMELA WOOD | In a ceremonial room at the historic State House on International Transgender Day of Visibility, Lee Blinder stepped to a lectern and did something rare: They called out Gov. Wes Moore for failing to back up his words with action.

Over the course of five minutes, Blinder laid out how the Democratic governor has let down transgender Marylanders by not putting money in the budget and not backing needed policy changes.

“We know who you, Gov. Moore, can be for us. And I am begging you to do it,” Blinder said.

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

D.C.’s Rainbow History Project has announced details of its WorldPride 2025 exhibition called  “Pickets, Protests, and Parades: The History of Gay Pride in Washington.”

The non-profit, all-volunteer group, which has been chronicling LGBTQ history in the D.C. area for the past 25 years, says its World Pride Exhibition will be set up from May 27 through July 6 in Freedom Plaza, which is located on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. between 13th and 14th streets.   

RHP spokesperson Emma Cieslik said the multi-display exhibition would be open 24 hours every day during that seven-week period with full all-weather and security protection, including illumination for night-time viewing.

“From 1965 to the present day, the exhibition divides D.C.’s LGBTQ+ history into 10 eras that are explored in a visual timeline wall along Pennsylvania Avenue,” according to a statement released by Rainbow History Project. “Alongside the timeline wall are 10 large cubes with archival photos of pickets, protests, and parades, as well as portraits of Community Pioneers who championed each era called the Hero Cubes,” the statement says.

“The exhibition disrupts the popularly held belief that the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement began with the Stonewall Riots in 1969 in New York,” the statement points out.

It adds that while the  riots in response to the NYPD raid at the Greenwich Village gay bar Stonewall was a “vital” boost to the LGBTQ rights movement, another historic LGBTQ action in D.C. pre-dates Stonewall – the April 17, 1965 “Picket for Homosexual Rights” in front of the White House that was organized by the Mattachine Society of Washington and its then leader, D.C. gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny.

“RHP recognizes this picket, four years before the Stonewall Riots, where 10 members of the Mattachine Society of Washington marched with signs in front of the White House – as the start of D.C.’s rich queer history,” the statement says. 

It says RHP will hold a re-enactment of the 1965 White House homosexual rights picket at 4:15 p.m. on April 17, 2025, on its 60th anniversary.

“This exhibition is the culmination of 25 years of RHP’s work and is the largest in RHP’s history,” the statement added regarding the Freedom Plaza exhibition.

RHP spokesperson Cieslik said the application by Rainbow History Project for a permit for use of Freedom Plaza for the RHP exhibition is in the final stages of approval but had not yet been approved.

Ryan Bos, executive director of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, which is the lead organizer of WorldPride 2025, has said the permit application process for use of U.S. Park Service controlled federal parks and land, such as Freedom Plaza and the National Mall, were moving ahead as planned. Rainbow History Project official Vincent Slatt said RHP, which will have the permit for use of Freedom Plaza, may share some of the plaza space with other WorldPride related events or organizations. 

A spokesperson for the U.S. Park Service didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for the status of the Freedom Plaza permit application.

Full details of the Rainbow History Project’s WorldPride exhibition, including photos of the specific exhibits, can be accessed at rainbowhistory.org.

A group of more than 100 supporters gathered outside of Luther Jackson Middle School in Falls Church, Va., on Thursday, March 27 to show appreciation for the passage of a Transgender Day of Visibility proclamation by the Fairfax County School Board. The board unanimously passed the proclamation in its general meeting held in the auditorium of the middle school that evening.

Karl Frisch, Fairfax County School Board chair, introduced the proclamation recognizing March 31 as Transgender Day of Visibility in Fairfax County Public Schools.

The Fairfax County School Board passed the proclamation, which “encourages all to promote a caring culture of equity, inclusivity and respect for transgender people, not only on this special day but throughout the entire year as well.”

Vanessa Hall, co-chair of FCPS Pride, was among the speakers and organizers of the Transgender Day of Visibility rally preceding the school board meeting.

“In this world right now, this world which feels so chaotic and threatening — which really seems to be overly focused on trans children, removing their rights — we need to take this opportunity to gather our community, to celebrate joy, to see each other and to gather our strength for the next attack, frankly,” Hall told the Blade.

Rev. Emma Chattin of the Metropolitan Community Church of Northern Virginia was among the speakers at the rally.

“We have to be visible — all of us — friends, family, allies, speak up!” Chattin called out to the crowd. “To do otherwise does a disservice to the strong souls that came before us. For the struggles that they faced are now ours. The spirits of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera look to us now. Because liberation is a long, long struggle. We are not helpless and we cannot be hopeless. Our time is now. We are a powerful people. We leave a mark and we will not be erased.”