The What, When and Who of 2013
The Year in Review 2013
APRIL
Youth Pride Day in Dupont Circle
(Photo by Ward Morrison)
April returned the familiar. With the Cherry blossoms, so came the Cherry Fund’s annual fundraising party. Another old favorite to return to D.C. in April was Tracks, in the form of a reunion weekend for the storied gay nightclub that closed its doors in 1999. Sadly missing was beloved longtime bartender Jay Schmidt, who died in late 2012.
Sadder still was the April 3 murder of Kelly Young, a 29-year-old transgender woman in Baltimore. The community also feared killers of a microscopic sort in April, with Whitman-Walker Health erring on the side of caution and advising that men meeting certain criteria get vaccinated for bacterial meningitis following deaths in New York and Los Angeles.
In bad news that could’ve been prevented, the Republican National Committee on April 12 unanimously approved an anti-gay marriage resolution. ”This resolution was motivated by anti-gay bigotry and brought forward by RNC members who just don’t like gay people,” offered GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia. Other Republicans, however, were seeing the light: Rob Portman of Ohio, a month prior, became the first GOP senator to come out for marriage equality, thanks in large part to his son coming out as gay.
The community got an April boost with the NBA’s Jason Collins coming out in a Sports Illustrated exclusive. A more quantifiable boost — $25,000 — was made by Crew Club’s D.C. Allen in support of The DC Center’s effort to relocate to the Reeves Center. And as it usually does, weather permitting, the Youth Pride Alliance closed out the month with its annual Youth Pride celebration. In 2013, that celebration featured another out athlete, Wade Davis of football fame.
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