Maryland Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery Co.) officially announced her selection of the Rev. Delman Coates as her running mate in her bid to become Maryland's first female governor and country's first out lesbian governor at a campaign rally in Silver Spring Wednesday night.

Coates, the pastor of the 8,000-member Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Md., brings racial, gender and – perhaps most importantly – geographic balance to Mizeur's ticket, potentially allowing the campaign to better compete in vote-rich Prince George's County, which is the home base of Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, one of Mizeur's rivals for the Democratic nomination. Mizeur's other Democratic opponent, Doug Gansler, made a similar play for the county's voters by selecting Del. Jolene Ivey (D-Prince George's Co.) as his running mate.

Mizeur insisted, however, in her Wednesday speech before a packed room at the American Legion Post 41 headquarters that she did not choose Coates based on a campaign calculation.

''I am not just picking a running mate for an election season,'' Mizeur said. ''This wasn't a calculation based on how do you win a campaign. I am choosing a partner who is best situated to help me deliver on a shared vision for the future of Maryland.''

Praising Coates as a friend and confidant with a ''brilliant mind and a strong and caring heart,'' Mizuer emphasized Coates's dedication to progressive causes and record of defending social justice throughout his life – including, most prominently, his willingness to stand up for marriage equality, even appearing in ads in late 2012 for the Marylanders for Marriage Equality coalition that urged voters to approve Question 6, the ballot initiative allowing same-sex couples to obtain Maryland marriage licenses.

''[Coates] is known as a charismatic leader, an innovative thinker, and a risk-taking change agent,'' Mizeur said. ''Our efforts to pass marriage equality in the state Legislature had one pivotal moment: the moment that Pastor Coates led a group of ministers and faith leaders to testify in favor of the legislation.''

''This is a man who knows how to move mountains by word and action,'' Mizeur continued. ''And every candidate for statewide office in the state of Maryland comes before Pastor Delman Coates seeking his blessing. I asked for his partnership.''

Both Mizeur and Coates mentioned a number of progressive causes on which their campaign is based, including universal preschool, child care affordability, an end to high-stakes educational testing, environmental safeguards against ''fracking,'' support for small businesses, the imposition of a ''millionaire's tax'' and stopping the ''war on drugs.'' Mizeur implored those present to become actively involved in the campaign and become part of the ''grassroots army'' they would need to beat their well-known and well-funded opponents.

Taking the stage to chants of ''Delman! Delman!'' Coates said he was joining Mizeur's campaign with ''great enthusiasm'' in the hope of bringing about ''transformational change.'' Noting that he is the only member of the three Democratic slates that does not have a background in politics, Coates said he was nonetheless qualified to serve as the state's lieutenant governor.

''I don't come bearing a political title, or long history in elective office,'' Coates said. ''But while I have not been elected to public office, that does not mean I have not been serving the public. My life's work has been on the front lines of our biggest community issues, working with families impacted by foreclosures, advocating for individuals reintegrating into society after a prison sentence, and fighting for equal marriage rights for all Marylanders.''

Coates also took what could be interpreted as a swipe against Mizeur's rivals for the nomination, as Brown seeks to become Maryland's first African-American governor and Ivey seeks to become the first female African-American lieutenant governor.

''You already know that every candidate in this race is historic, and that's important,'' Coates said, adding in a joke that he believes he would be the first ''completely bald'' lieutenant governor. ''It's what makes being a part of a pluralistic democratic society exciting. But people care mostly about results, not identity politics.

''When Heather first approached me about her campaign and told me she was running, the first thing she said to me was, 'Delman, this campaign is not about making history. It's about making a difference,''' Coates recounted. ''This campaign is about transformational change, and not transactional politics.''

Though Mizeur trails significantly in polls – a Gonzales Research poll from October showed Brown leading Gansler and Mizeur by a 41-21-5 margin – her supporters think she still has potential to become a viable alternative to the other two Democrats running, particularly if she can increase her name recognition and solicit funding or endorsements from outside groups, such as the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which has not yet made an endorsement in the governor's race.

Kevin Walling, a former staffer with LGBT rights organization Equality Maryland and a candidate for the House of Delegates in District 16 in Montgomery County who considers Mizeur a mentor and friend, handicapped Mizeur's chances.

''I think she's right in it,'' Walling said. ''If you look at the percentage of women who vote in Democratic primaries, it's 62 percent. … You're going to see a lot of time and effort spent between the lieutenant governor and the attorney general, spending a lot of time taking each other on head-to-head, and Heather's got a real good shot of running right up the middle with a positive campaign.''

Walling pushed back against narratives that claim that the candidates for governor – through their running mate selections – have snubbed or abandoned the Baltimore area. He noted that Mizeur is frequently holding events in and traveling back and forth between Baltimore City and the other areas of the state. He also warned not to underestimate Mizeur's chances, saying she impresses wherever she goes.

''I was in a meeting today with some people from the labor community, and they said she was a total rock star when she spoke to the building trades,'' Walling said. ''When she's out there in the community, connecting with people, she can't be beat. And neither can Delman. There's no question, when I was at Equality Maryland, Delman was an integral part to speaking to the African-American church community about the need for marriage equality. He helped lead the fight. … He was the boots on the ground that really carried the day and pushed us forward in those communities on marriage. So I think it's a great team.''

The trial of Michael Poth, a former Marine accused of fatally stabbing fellow Marine Philip Bushong following an altercation involving the yelling of anti-gay epithets in the Barracks Row neighborhood of Southeast D.C., began Thursday in D.C. Superior Court.

On Tuesday, lawyers for Poth, who faces a charge of second-degree murder while armed for allegedly stabbing Bushong in the 700 block of 8th Street SE during the early morning hours of April 21, 2012, succeeded in getting Judge Russell Canan to approve a motion to suppress some of the ''spontaneous'' statements allegedly made by Poth, because he made them after being asked what happened by an officer of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

Another MPD officer testified, however, that none of the MPD officers at the scene had asked Poth a direct question, prompting Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Liebman to argue that Poth was not being interrogated. Canan ruled that the first officer – even though his memory of the event was hazier than the second officer's – had interrogated Poth without reading him his Miranda rights and moved to suppress those statements in question, namely: ''Call me boots and the fight started''; ''The Marine Corps controls my mind. I don't control my mind''; ''He was talking shit, so I stabbed him''; and ''He punched me in the face, so I stabbed him.'' As a result, the jury will not hear evidence that Poth made such statements.

Liebman was successful in arguing that the search of Poth's belongings – including the knife presumed to have been used in the homicide – seized from him after his arrest be included as evidence at trial. Canan also ruled that prosecutors could raise a separate statement by Poth – ''Good, I hope he dies'' – that was uttered after Poth overheard someone say the victim was being transported to a hospital.

In his cross-examination of a witness, a Marine who had been on post nearby at the time of the stabbing, Poth's chief defense lawyer, Bernard Grimm, used video footage from surveillance cameras along with prior witness testimony to raise the possibility that Poth had been defending himself against an attack by Bushong, who was seen pursuing Poth in at least one of the video frames. The witness insisted the victim had already been stabbed when seen walking past the surveillance camera. The witness said he and his fellow Marines had shadowed Poth and Bushong after seeing the men interact – which he interpreted as hostile due to the body language of the two men – and that they heard Poth threaten to stab Bushong. Grimm continued to question the witness, focusing on whether Poth may have felt threatened by Bushong and may have acted in self-defense.

Afterward, Canan recessed the trial until Nov. 18. Poth remains held without bond at the D.C. Jail.

Before Thursday's opening arguments, Poth's trial had twice been postponed due to a change of defense counsel and complications on the part of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia in coordinating with the Marine Corps to make witnesses available.

According to charging documents, as well as video surveillance, Poth was acting erratically as he walked around the Barracks Row neighborhood brandishing an object thought to be the knife eventually confiscated from him. Poth is seen on camera passing by an 8th Street venue where Bushong, who was straight, is seen embracing his friend, who is gay.

None of the surveillance footage shows the fatal stabbing, though witnesses – mostly Marines on duty – previously testified in pre-trial hearings that Poth called Bushong a ''faggot'' and threatened to stab him. The witnesses say Bushong grabbed Poth's shoulder and cocked a fist as if he was going to punch Poth, but never followed through. Those witnesses say Poth stabbed Bushong in his chest, Bushong walked on for a bit, not realizing the extent of his injuries, then lifted his shirt to look at his wound and fell to the ground. He was transported to an area hospital and pronounced dead later that morning. It was later revealed in pre-trial testimony that Poth had tested positive for artificial marijuana, also known as ''spice,'' at the time of his arrest.

Virginia state Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath, Alleghany, Rockbridge, Nelson, Albemarle counties, Covington, Lexington, Buena Vista, Charlottesville), a longtime legislative ally to the LGBT community, is in critical condition after being stabbed at his home, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. His son, Gus, is reported dead from a gunshot wound.

Law enforcement officers told the paper earlier this morning that the senator had been hospitalized at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. Authorities told the Times-Dispatch they are still trying to piece together the sequence of events related to the stabbing and the shooting.

Deeds, who defeated Gov.-elect Terry McAuliffe and state Sen. Brian Moran for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2009, but lost in the general election to Gov. Bob McDonnell, has long supported pro-LGBT bills such as employment nondiscrimination and anti-bullying legislation, earning perfect scores of 100 for the past two sessions on the Equality Virginia Advocates legislative scorecard.

He also voted against anti-gay measures such as a bill that would have allowed student groups at public universities to discriminate against prospective members based on their sexual orientation and the so-called ''conscience clause'' bill that would allow adoption and foster placement agencies to discriminate against LGBT prospective parents. In 2005 and 2006, he voted to put Marshall-Newman Amendment – which banned recognition of same-sex relationships – on the ballot, though he said he voted against the amendment on Election Day.

D.C. LGBT clubgoers will have the chance to donate to a cause larger than themselves this Friday, Nov. 22, at Cobalt. Andrei Smith is organizing a fundraiser to benefit the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, which crashed into the Philippines Nov. 8, killing about 4,000 people and leaving millions homeless.

All proceeds from fundraiser, which will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. during the time Cobalt typically holds its happy hour, will be donated to the United Nation's World Food Program, which is providing food assistance and potable water to those affected by the disaster, according to organizer Smith.

Smith, who was born in China and grew up in Taiwan with many Filipinos, says the impact of the storm ''hit close to home.'' Because he felt a connection to the area affected by the typhoon and wanted to do something to help, Smith approached Mark Rutstein, vice president of Cobalt, and asked if the club could play host to the fundraiser.

Smith says he would like to set up an arrangement where some of the donations would go to the American Red Cross, but has not finalized any agreement with the Red Cross, which cannot directly participate in the fundraiser because it involves the sale of alcohol.

Those wishing to donate may do so at the door during the fundraiser. There is no cover fee or suggested amount, Smith says, because he wants people to donate whatever they see fit as opposed to limiting themselves to a minimum contribution amount.

During the event, organizers will raffle off gift cards, spa services and other prizes that have been donated by area businesses. Proceeds from the sale of $1 ''Jell-O shots'' will also go directly to benefit those impacted by the typhoon.

''We're not looking to make a profit off of this event,'' Smith says. ''It all goes to the victims.''

Cobalt is located at 1639 R St. NW. For more information, call 202-232-4416 or visit cobaltdc.com.

Angela Peoples, the current vice president for political and legislative affairs for the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city's main LGBT political organization, won her bid to become president of the club by a margin of 25 votes Monday night, beating back a challenge from longtime Stein member and local transgender activist Jeri Hughes.

Peoples, who ran as part of a five-person slate seeking spots on Stein's executive committee, received 49 votes to Hughes's 24 votes. In the race for vice president of administration, newcomer Diana Bui, a member of Peoples's slate, beat out incumbent Secretary Jimmie Luthuli, who was endorsed by Hughes, by a margin of 40-31.

The three other executive committee races were uncontested, with incumbent Stein Club President Martin Garcia becoming the new vice president for political and legislative affairs, Terrence Laney becoming treasurer, and Bobbi Strang becoming secretary as part of the Peoples slate. Strang, the first openly transgender person to work at the Department of Employment Services, and who previously worked in the Office of Latino Affairs, also earned an endorsement from Hughes for her ''engagement with the diverse populations that comprise the LGBT community, and her passion for full equality.''

In her bid for the presidency, Hughes said she hoped to use the Stein Club as a vehicle to fight LGBT discrimination in the District and reach out to marginalized populations. She said her experience advocating for less powerful LGBT District residents – and in getting things accomplished by applying pressure to stakeholders and various government officials – made her a good choice to lead the Stein Club to make a difference in people's lives.

''I see this club as an instrument of progress, as an instrument of change, promoting equality for this community,'' Hughes said. ''But Stein Club is not just about the people in this room. Let's make that clear: It's about the people on North Capitol Street, it's about the people in Columbia Heights, in Trinidad, and across the river. … I've fed them, I've listened to them. … I've worked in those areas. I know their problems.''

Peoples emphasized her efforts on the executive committee to recruit and engage new members and said she'd like to focus on ''advocacy at the intersections,'' or expanding Stein's fight to issues that affect LGBT people but are not specifically geared toward them, such as wages, unemployment, affordable housing and immigration.

''Leadership is more than just having the experience or having a long résumé,'' Peoples said. ''Leadership is about finding that person who is not a member, or maybe has never heard of the Stein Club, or maybe was part of the Stein Club and has become disengaged, finding that person, finding their skills and bringing them into the fold.''

While the two traded veiled barbs at each other in the course of their statements and responses to audience questions, both kept the tone of the conversation civil, with Hughes even joking at one point: ''My opponent, Miss Peoples, she's young, bright, beautiful and articulate. I probably don't want to beat her as much as I want to be her.''

In the vice presidential race, Bui emphasized her fearlessness to tackle tough issues and her desire to build coalitions with other groups, such as the LGBT Asian-American/Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, while Luthuli took a more technocratic approach, emphasizing her experience in two terms as the secretary for the club and her knowledge of the planning and logistics needed to successfully manage the website and events like Stein's political endorsement forums.

Following her victory in the presidential race, Peoples said she was ''humbled and honored'' to receive the support of the members.

I mean what I say, I want to continue to grow the membership, to strengthen the membership, and find new ways to engage, not just in the elections, but in policy and advocacy, and in reaching out to more and different communities, to show the force of the LGBT community,'' Peoples said. ''It really is growing. I think we're really going to be a powerhouse in 2014, and we're going to have an impact on [next year's] election.''

Hughes also thanked her supporters following the vote.

''I appreciate the support I received,'' Hughes said. ''It was a fair election, and Angela won. I will support the club and I will support her. There are a lot of issues that need attention, a lot of work to do. I'll be seeking assistance from the club to get some things done.''

Courtney Snowden, a seventh-generation D.C. resident and longtime Stein Club member who had become inactive, said she was very excited about the victories of Peoples and Bui, whom she supported.

''I have been involved in the community for a really long time and have had the opportunity to see a lot of leadership be recycled over and over again,'' Snowden said. ''I think it's a new day in Stein. We're going to see fresh, young leadership, with new ideas about how the club should be run in the future.''

Paul Kuntzler, a founding member of the Stein Club, who nominated Hughes, said he expected the final outcome but stressed the importance of the new board reaching out to veteran members of the club, who may feel slighted, or as if they're being disregarded in favor of the priorities of newer members who control the entire executive committee. Peoples and Garcia were part of an insurgent slate last year that unseated then-President Lateefah Williams, who was supported by many ''old guard'' members who felt disenfranchised when the insurgents won narrow victories, propelled chiefly by the votes of new or first-time members personally allied with Peoples and Garcia.

''I was sort of expecting the so-called 'machine' to win. We weren't optimistic,'' Kuntzler said. ''I think that we give a lot of lip service to this issue of transgender, and I think [Jeri's] election would make a big difference, and that's why I supported her. She's a very good spokesperson. … I think leadership should try to make a better effort to bring back the old members. They need to make a better effort to reach out.''

It's hard being the family gay. When you're the first in your family to come out — meaning the active choice to live your life openly to your family, rather than pretend to be a confirmed bachelor or spinster — you have to chart new territory for both yourself and your relatives. For us 40-something Gen Xers, we did that amid a culture that was far more averse to us and with few safety nets to catch us.

And you learn that sometimes love isn't enough.

Mary Cheney

(Photo via Wikipedia/ Susan Sterner)

No matter how accepted we are by our families, many of us have a relative — mother or father, aunt or uncle, sibling or cousin — who's not fully on board, particularly on things like marriage equality. Sometimes it's just an unspoken tension that everyone politely ignores, sometimes it's an open wound that drives a family apart. Either way, it hurts.

I wanted to make that clear before getting to why I don't feel sorry for Mary Cheney. In fact, I'm skating right up to the edge of schadenfreude.

Now that Mary's big sister, Liz Cheney, has doubled down on opposing marriage equality, Mary and her wife have taken to Facebook and the press to criticize Liz's hypocrisy. The sudden and very public Cheney civil war is rightly taken as an example of how radically the politics of gay rights have changed in the past decade.

For years, the one thing you could cite as an example of Vice President Dick Cheney's humanity behind his puppet-master, torture-approving, warmongering exterior was his support of marriage equality, support that grew out of obvious love for his lesbian daughter and daughter-in-law.

At least until his other daughter decided it's her birthright to be a United States senator, pretended to be from Wyoming, and promptly took the position that her little sister's marriage isn't real. Now that it's about getting a Cheney back into Congress, parents Dick and Lynne have taken Liz's side, lauding her kindnesses to her little lesbian sister even if she is campaigning on a platform that would keep her sister as a lesser person in the eyes of the law.

Power first. Family second. Nothing else at third.

I'm glad that Mary Cheney and her wife, Heather Poe, lashed out publicly. It must hurt to have your sister turn her back on you as part of a carpetbagging campaign quest that can best be described as quixotic. But in 2004, when gay marriage was the electoral wedge Karl Rove and his then-closeted henchman Ken Mehlman pounded into the nation, Mary Cheney kept her mouth firmly shut. Even as that wedge created dozens of constitutional amendments banning any recognition of her own relationship, she said nothing that might interfere with the re-election of her father.

Power first. Family second. Everyone else, in the words of her father, can go fuck themselves.

Ken Mehlman publicly recanted his 2004 anti-gay role and worked to undo the damage he did. Mary Cheney wrote a book about how angry she was to have her personal life targeted during the campaign and then got married in D.C. when those hated Democrats made it possible. She has not been a profile in courage. All of which makes it hard to shed a tear now that she finds herself on the wrong side of her family's knife-fight political style.

Power first. Perhaps Mary Cheney truly understands now that nothing else comes close.

Sean Bugg is the editor emeritus of Metro Weekly. He can be reached at seanbugg@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at @seanbugg.

A Silver Spring man seeking to become the first openly gay person elected to the Montgomery County Council announced his candidacy for the Council's 5th District seat Wednesday, making him the first announced candidate in this Maryland race.

Evan Glass, a civic activist, a member of Equality Maryland's board of directors and a former CNN producer, spent several weeks prior to his announcement discussing a possible run with Montgomery County residents. Incumbent 5th District Councilmember Valerie Ervin has not yet plans to run for re-election, an at-large Council seat or higher office. The 5th District covers an area along the southeastern border of Montgomery County, running from Burtonsville through White Oak and into Silver Spring and Takoma Park.

Evan Glass

''For the last seven weeks I have been on a listening tour throughout the district engaging in conversations with hundreds of residents in their living rooms, on their doorsteps and at community meetings about the challenges and opportunities facing Montgomery County,'' Glass said in a statement. ''What I have heard loud and clear is that residents enjoy living in this corner of Montgomery County because of our diverse and vibrant neighborhoods, but more importantly there is a need for responsive leadership that drives progress in our communities.''

In addition to serving with Equality Maryland, Glass serves as chair of the Silver Spring Citizens Advisory Board, as president of the Indian Spring Citizens Association, and on the boards of several other civic organizations. He previously served on the county's Nighttime Economy Task Force and is the co-founder and former president of the South Silver Spring Neighborhood Association, where he is credited with organizing the first South Silver Spring Street Fest, an annual event since 2007; working on a number of safety initiatives; and helping – along with others, including Ervin – to create the King Street community garden, the first community garden to open in Montgomery County as a public-private collaboration between the county's Department of Parks, 7-Eleven and the Maisel-Hollins Development Company.

''From Burtonsville to Colesville to South Silver Spring and Takoma Park, I am committed to working 24/7 when I become the next councilmember from District 5,'' Glass said. ''We all benefit when we work together.''

The mood of a franchise film matters. Consider the effect it can have on character, story and purpose. What would Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy be without its suffocating gloom? Try to imagine the Harry Potter series without magical whimsy -- or the darker threats each chapter adopted as it matured. You can't. One is inseparable from the other. The mood becomes the movie, refracting everything through itself.

A good franchise film needs a temperament that complements and enhances its story. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire does this very well. Maybe even too well. In spite of a pitch-perfect tone, the dystopian sequel doesn't quite dig into the questions it encourages. It's an almost-baked potato, stored inside a nine-figure warming dish.

Hunger Games: Catching Fire

When we last saw Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), she had survived a sadistic annual ritual called The Hunger Games, which pits children against each other in a kill-or-be-killed reality-television show. The games are a tool of the dictatorial oppressor of Panem, President Snow (Donald Sutherland), who "reaps" two children from each of his country's 12 districts to assert power and dissuade revolutionaries. But Katniss, dear ponytailed Katniss, beat the system -- and now she's a threat.

Catching Fire opens with Katniss back in her Appalachian home of District 12, still unable to digest the trauma of her recent past. She's due to go on a "victory tour" around the country, which means she'll have to abandon her friend Gale (Liam Hemsworth), and face Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the doe-eyed boy she saved and manipulated during the games. The public believes them to be star-crossed lovers, who would rather sacrifice themselves than kill each other. President Snow fears that their story -- their true story, which creeps between the lines of tabloid coverage -- could inspire a revolution.

Even before Katniss and Peeta are inevitably forced into another round of games, Catching Fire manages to pull off a rare trick among blockbuster sequels. It raises the stakes without undoing the purpose of the first, lesser Hunger Games movie, while developing new themes that foreshadow Panem's impending rebellion. When Katniss and Peeta tour the country, we're first shown the smoldering resentment of the lower class, then the grotesque opulence of the elite. Unlike in the first movie, the games aren't presented as a competition to win as much as they're a struggle to survive. Catching Fire deals with villains of bigger concern. True villains, not just muscled psychopaths who know hand-to-hand combat.

What makes Catching Fire succeed is its compelling thoughts about public performance, celebrity, media and society. This movie is largely concerned with the merits of sacrifice, as represented by Katniss and her allies. Is there a difference between individual and shared sacrifice? How do people change when they risk their lives for the greater good? When a person becomes a symbol, does she lose her inner self and agency? These are thoughtful, difficult questions that turn a mediocre dystopian fantasy into a self-actualized nightmare. It's jarring to see a blockbuster, in this day and age, grapple with such a complex philosophy. By the time Katniss actually steps foot into a new arena for the games, her mind is swirling with a conflict much more captivating than any sort of outrageous murder sport.

Catching Fire should've gone further, though. Director Francis Lawrence pulls off a difficult trick by baking subtext into this blockbuster, but it's done so subtly, it's drowned out by the movie's more bombastic moments. (That is, anytime it lingers on the dull love triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale.) Lawrence goes to great lengths to show the horrors of Panem, so why can't he own the message he so clearly favors?

Catching Fire isn't the most eminently quotable movie, but its missteps call to mind a pep talk given to Katniss: "You've given people an opportunity. They just have to be brave enough to take it." I'm glad for the opportunity to see this movie as it is, but I can't help but wonder how a braver version might have looked.

The holidays are approaching, but events are making it hard to get in the festive spirit. Not only is a friend spamming me with polls showing that Obama is finished (I answer by agreeing that he'll never win a second term); not only is Speaker John Boehner providing meeting space to a group that promotes anti-gay persecution overseas; and not only is global warming suspected of causing murderous superstorms. What kills me is that Alec Baldwin keeps hurling homophobic threats at the paparazzi.

It will not do, my dear lackey to the coming socialist hegemony, to say, "But Alec is pro-gay, so he gets to talk trash," or, "How would you fancy being followed by frightening photographers?" The problem is not just that Baldwin thinks he can embrace liberal causes and then talk as if cocksucking were a bad thing. It is that he seems to be pro-gay only so long as he gets to be the top. How sporting is that?

Another big downer is the resurgence of Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorists using the 50th anniversary to tout their pet theories. I simply put on my pink pillbox hat and ignore them. There's plenty else to look at. For example, conservative columnist Cal Thomas notes that author and Christian apologist C.S. Lewis died on the same day as JFK 50 years ago.

Thomas approvingly quotes Lewis declaring that one cannot embrace Jesus as a moral teacher while denying his divinity. Lewis wrote, "A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg -- or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice."

I rise from my poached eggs in protest: I must do no such thing. To paraphrase an old joke, the fact that Jesus thought his mother was a virgin and she thought he was God only proves that he was Jewish.

With apologies to fans of Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, I couldn't get past the talking lion and the wicked queen. (I did make it through Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials despite the talking polar bears, but in those books the big evil organization is the Magisterium.)

Don't get me wrong. I am a great admirer of Pope Francis, who was recently scolded by famous Catholic Pat Buchanan for surrendering in the culture war. A friend brought me back a pope keychain from Rome, so when the War on Christmas gets me down I can take it out and be comforted by the Holy Father's gentle face reassuring me, "Who am I to judge a cocksucking fag?" (Sorry, I get my celebrities confused.)

The trick is to banish unpleasantries. The world may be out of joint, but the servicemembers at Bagram Airfield will get their Thanksgiving turkey with all the trimmings. There is no disputing in matters of taste. So do not argue with your right-wing brother-in-law, just pass the Viognier.

Similarly, the gospel according to the Christian right may seem boorish and lacking in charity, but it suits them. Theirs is a world without science, without porn or birth control, where canceling crappy health insurance plans is an outrage, but denying coverage altogether to tens of millions is fine. American exceptionalism means accepting God's gift of other people's sacrifices.

Just as we make excuses for those in our circle of warmth, we rationalize our disregard for the wretches outside. If they merited our concern, they would have been born privileged like us. Didn't Jesus say the poor will always be with us? Drown your guilt in eggnog.

Richard J. Rosendall is a writer and activist. He can be reached at rrosendall@starpower.net.

Of all the adjectives you could use to describe Beaches, the maudlin movie from 1988 starring Bette Midler as C.C. Bloom, it's doubtful ''inspiring'' would be one.

And yet inspiring is exactly what it was to a young Patina Miller.

Patina Miller

(Photo by Joan Marcus)

''The scene in the movie where C.C. wants to go to New York and be a Broadway star,'' Miller says, ''that kind of got me curious as to what New York was and what Broadway was.''

Raised in a small town in South Carolina, Miller eventually earned a musical theater degree from Carnegie Mellon University. Earlier this year Miller won her first Tony Award, for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.

''It's a dream come true for me,'' the 29-year-old says of her work in the Tony-winning revival of Stephen Schwartz's Pippin. ''As an actor, I get to do everything that I've ever wanted to do in one show. I get to sing, act, dance and do little circus stuff.'' Miller stars as the charismatic, gregarious Leading Player, a role originally written for a man and famously played by Ben Vereen, who also won a Tony for the part.

The first Friday in December Miller takes a rare night off from the show for an event at the Kennedy Center, where last year she appeared in the Kander and Ebb revue First You Dream. ''I'm really excited because it's my first solo concert professionally.'' The cabaret, part of the Barbara Cook Spotlight series, will find Miller singing songs from Pippin as well as Sister Act, for which she earned her first Tony nomination in 2011. But it will also include gospel, which Miller was weaned on, as well as pop. ''It'll be a little bit of everything,'' she says. ''I'm going to sing songs that people would not expect me to sing.''

Next year Miller will make her Hollywood debut with a small part in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. But don't worry, Miller reassures, ''Broadway is my first love, so I'll always find ways to continue doing it.'' '

Patina Miller appears Friday, Dec. 6, at 7:30 p.m., at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. Tickets are $60. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org. You can also see Miller in Pippin at Broadway's Music Box Theatre, 239 W. 45th St., New York. Tickets are $59 to $157.50. Call 212-239-6200 or visit pippinthemusical.com.

In an extraordinary combination, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Appropriate is funny, unflinchingly honest, and awful in the best possible way. Somewhere in the neighborhood of Tracy Lett's August: Osage County, Jacobs-Jenkins offers another dysfunctional extended family who do their best to feint, dive and provoke one another while he herds them toward the difficult, elusive and messy truths they both want and dread. And not unlike the works of Tom Stoppard, Jacob-Jenkins's process is as intellectual as it is emotionally intuitive: a complex construct of motives, wants and needs in which every knot and loose end has its purpose – even if the purpose is to stay tangled or unresolved. And unlike so many dramas with a ''dark secret,'' this one delivers because the secret is not the be all and end all; it is, far more authentically, lubricant to a bigger, older process.

Having said that, the secret here is well worth keeping and thus some circumspection is required. Suffice it to say that the action begins with the members of an extended and somewhat estranged family arriving from disparate corners to sell the large ramshackle house and hoarder's stash of their recently deceased father. As they come to terms with his loss, his confusing array of possessions, and their own newly unanchored dynamic, tensions, to put it mildly, mount.

''Appropriate'' at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Photo by Stan Barouh

And though this premise may sound clichéd, it is anything but. The wonderful originality of this production starts with Clint Ramos's spectacularly rendered set evoking the ancient, now dilapidated, Southern house on the verge of being reclaimed by the dank and moldy flora that surrounds it. Filled with a cleverly curated collection of the detritus of an eccentric old man, there are also the well-placed and gradually revealed vestiges of his recent decline. Hanging like a smell in the big room is the gloomy reckoning that comes with the death of an ambiguous and difficult person. In full complement, the lighting of Colin K. Bills brings the subtle grey-greens of the swampy light, the warm yellows of candlelight, and in scene segues, the patterns and ever-so-subtle colors of the imagination. And yet despite all this potent atmosphere and attention to detail, the set never intrudes, even though it does offer its own silent story.

And it is a story that comes like silent commentary as the family begins to grapple with the memory of the departed and all manner of family legacies. Coming out swinging is the angry, damaged Toni, daughter and sometime caregiver to her now deceased father and her adult yet wayward brother Franz. In a brilliant performance that carries the tortured heart (and plenty of the humor) of this play, Deborah Hazlett captures superbly the unrelenting blend of rage, hurt and confusion born of powerful, if mundane, pressures that have turned the screw long before the dark secret emerges. The question for Toni is what she will do with her inner chaos: let it lash her nearest and dearest like a whip (donning, perhaps, her father's mantle); let it consume her; or something altogether else.

And this is what makes Jacobs-Jenkins a cut above. Toni is laid bare, but she is never boxed. She remains changeable, reactive and organic. She has been written to express, not to teach, and it's inestimably refreshing.

Counterpoint to Toni's volatility is brother Bo, the one who got away – from his Southern roots and, apparently too, his father. David Bishins's Bo is credible and understated, oozing the quiet self-possession of the educated East Coast inner-suburbanite, and yet he is a strong enough presence to keep Hazlett's Toni in balance. Hers is not the only perspective on this family and Bishin's ability to keep Bo ''in the frame,'' physically and expressively, shows this as much as Jacob-Jenkins tells it. And although there is not quite enough in the way of long-married chemistry between Bo and his wife Rachael, Beth Hylton gives her uncomfortable in-law some giggle-worthy traits and holds her own with a quivery outrage when the fur begins to fly.

Bringing much color are Tim Getman as repenting ne'er-do-well Franz and Caitlin McColl as his ridiculously precious girlfriend, River. Although they are perhaps the most caricatured of the characters, both Getman and McColl have the skill to bring the inherent humor in these two to the fore and yet move just as easily into the real and palpable. As Toni's teenaged son Rhys, a chronically overlooked and misunderstood kid who is already his own worst enemy, Josh Adams offers a beautifully understated, pitch-perfect guileless pathos that leaves one rooting for him and his diminished expectations. Convincing and possessed of some great comic timing, Maya Brettell as Bo and Rachael's tween daughter Cassie, is a memorable symbol of all that is morally unhinged in the 21st century young. She plays well against Adams's Rhys and it is her ebullient innocence that tells us much of what Rhys has lost.

Yet it is in some ways a disservice to put these performances into relief because, as much as Toni drives this train, this is truly an ensemble piece. There is an entirety here - a family in emotional vivisection - and credit must go to the actors for their collective cohesion, intensity and shared vision. And such is the skill of director Liesl Tommy who ensures the emotional momentum and pace, even when briefly threatened by some overdone mayhem (which nevertheless sets up one of the plays funniest moments).

And, indeed, there may be a few other odd moments here where the axis wobbles, but they fade into insignificance in the face of Jacob-Jenkins's incisive and uncompromising quest for so many truths. And whatever one makes of these truths, for he does not dictate it, there is one universal: No matter how elaborate one's personal myth, there is always someone there to level it – and more often than not it's family.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, and right now every arts organization and venue in the Washington area is gearing up to offer shows and events -- many, many shows and events, to an almost overwhelming degree -- toasting the jolly, joyous spirit of the winter holiday season. That’s true whether the show is ballet or symphony, a carol sing-along or a stage show, religious or non-religious.

The 2013 holiday season officially launches Wednesday, Nov. 27 -- the first day of the eight-day Jewish holiday Hanukkah. Among Hanukkah-themed events, there’s a live performance of Hanukkah Lights Reading, the popular radio broadcast by NPR’s Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz, set for Monday, Dec. 2, at Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital. There’s also the Jewish reggae/rock musician Matisyahu, whose Festival of Light concert plays Monday, Dec. 9, at the 9:30 Club. Also of note is the annual concert by Rob Tannenbaum and David Fagin, who comprise the comedic rock band Good for the Jews and who perform specifically for Jews on Christmas Eve, Tuesday, Dec. 24, at this now annual event at Jammin Java.

This season brings an eclectic assortment of holiday shows with specific appeal to the LGBT community. The standard-bearer, of course, is the annual holiday show from the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, this year titled “Sparkle, Jingle, Joy” and featuring the great gay singer-songwriter and former Chanticleer Matt Alber. The GMCW show runs Friday, Dec. 20, and Saturday, Dec. 21, at Lisner Auditorium. Meanwhile, Baltimore’s zaniest filmmaker and certain hilarious raconteur returns for the annual A John Waters Christmas, an evening of stand-up and storytelling set for Wednesday, Dec. 18, at The Birchmere.

And then there are at least two other zany shows, starting with Shi-Queeta Lee’s special Xmas edition of “A Drag Salute to the Divas” called Dreamgirls Twisted. The show features Lee and fellow drag queens and kings lip-synching right along to the soundtrack of that Tony-winning musical, for a performance Tuesday, Dec. 3, at the Howard Theatre. The other zany -- and downright queer -- production this season is the Best of Burlesque(er)’s Down & Dirty Holigay Blues Burlesque, an event hyped as offering “some of the hottest queers taking it all off for you,” and set for Friday, Dec. 6, at the Black Cat.

Washington will see no less than three live versions of The Nutcracker ballet this year. There’s the D.C.-centric version from The Washington Ballet, opening Thursday, Dec. 5, and running to Dec. 29 at the Warner Theatre. Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet comes to town, featuring live music from the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra and the Arlington Children’s Chorus, starting Wednesday Nov. 27, and running to Dec. 1 at the Kennedy Center Opera House. And there’s Moscow Ballet’s Great Russian Nutcracker featuring 40 Russian artists performing Olympic-like feats in the holiday classic, on Monday, Dec. 16, at Strathmore.

Even more than The Nutcracker, it just wouldn’t be Christmas without Handel’s Messiah. This year offers the choice between the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorale and soloists set for Saturday, Dec. 15, at Strathmore, or Rossen Milanov leading the National Symphony Orchestra and the Choral Arts Society and soloists for a weekend run starting Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Kennedy Center.

But, naturally, there are plenty more choral options beyond the Messiah in what is regarded as the choral capital of the country. Among these: Robert Shafer’s City Chorus of Washington offers The Holly and The Ivy: Music for Christmas Sunday, Dec. 15, at the National Presbyterian Church; The Washington Chorus presents several performances of A Candlelight Christmas, starting Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, as well as performances Thursday, Dec. 19, and Monday, Dec. 23, at Strathmore; The Choral Arts Society of Washington presents the Italian-themed An Enchanted Christmas, a collaboration with the Italian Embassy in performances starting Monday, Dec. 16, at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall.

For even more multi-culti twists on holiday traditions, there’s the 31st annual Christmas Revels from The Washington Revels, featuring folk music, dance and drama from Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, and presented over two weekends starting Saturday, Dec. 7, at Lisner Auditorium. There’s also the Folger Consort, whose holiday show this year focuses on Christmas in New Spain: Early Music of Mexico and Peru, with performances starting Friday, Dec. 13, and running to Dec. 22 at the Folger Theatre.

You have three options if your taste runs more Celtic/Irish: The Celtic Tenors offer A Celtic Christmas Friday, Dec. 6, at Rams Head Center Stage at the Maryland Live! Casino in Hanover, Md.; The Celts present Christmas with the Celts Sunday, Dec. 15, at the Bethesda Blues and Jazz Supper Club; and The Irish Tenors sing hits and holiday classics in “the Premiere Irish Holiday Celebration Tour” Saturday, Dec. 21, at Strathmore.

Also this season the Washington National Opera debuts a world premiere holiday family opera, an adaptation of the children’s book about the biblical Nativity tale, The Lion, the Unicorn, and Me. The production opens Saturday, Dec. 14, and runs to Dec. 22, at the Kennedy Center.

Three big-band jazz ensembles swing into action this season: the Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra ventures from its U Street home base to reprise last year’s sold-out holiday concerts that included performance of Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker at Strathmore, Sunday, Dec. 8; the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans offers “A Creole Christmas” on Monday, Dec. 2, at the Birchmere; and the Boston Brass and the Brass All-Stars Big Band presents the tribute show, A Stan Kenton Christmas, featuring jazzy orchestral holiday favorites, on Sunday, Dec. 1, at Strathmore. Meanwhile, the National Symphony Orchestra’s Happy Holidays! Pops program, put together by Steven Reineke, features Broadway veteran Brian Stokes Mitchell and runs Thursday, Dec. 12, through Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Kennedy Center.

Every year Ford’s Theatre stages a production of Charles Dickens’s perennially popular classic A Christmas Carol, now onstage and running to Jan. 1 at the historic venue. There’s also the return of an alternate version, A Commedia Christmas Carol, which the local Commedia dell-Arte-focused theater company Faction of Fools first produced last year. The show, which visually ramps up the spookiness, humanity and humor in Dickens’s text, gets restaged starting Friday, Nov. 29, and running to Dec. 22, at Gallaudet University’s Elstad Auditorium. But wait, there’s still more: The Kennedy Center will present the stage version of the Hollywood hit Elf the Musical, starting Tuesday, Dec. 17, and running to Jan. 5.

And then there are those shows that are hard to describe, or can’t be pinned down to just one arts category. These “Above and Beyond” offerings include Holiday Cirque from the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, a show featuring holiday favorites played by the BSO while awe-inspiring aerial artists and mind-boggling contortionists perform. Performances start Wednesday, Dec. 11, at the Meyerhoff, and Thursday, Dec. 12, at Strathmore.

Kevin Walling, the out gay man running for Maryland's 16th District in the House of Delegates, has been endorsed by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, the organization whose goal it is to help elect qualified, out LGBT candidates to public office.

Walling received the organization's endorsement Oct. 29, but only recently begun touting it in fundraising emails.

When candidates ask to be endorsed by the Victory Fund, the organization's campaign board – which meets monthly – determines whether they meet the specific criteria, including being able to demonstrate political viability, an ability to raise money, and whether the office a candidate is seeking is suitable to that individual's experience, according to Jeff Spitko, the chief marketing officer for the Victory Fund, which is also ''bundling'' for Walling, meaning it will pool contributions from multiple donors via a link on Victory Fund's website for Walling's campaign.

''Kevin would showcase as a role model for LGBT youth, and would be the youngest openly gay delegate at 28,'' Spitko said of the reasons leading to the Victory Fund's endorsement. ''His work on transgender issues, his work on marriage equality at Equality Maryland, is incredibly impressive for someone so young.''

Spitko also noted that Walling went through the Victory Fund's training for prospective candidates a few years ago, and then took a refresher course this year. The organization provides a three-day intensive boot camp for candidates three to four times a year that teaches attendees about dealing with fundraising, press, bolstering their name recognition and other concerns they may have running as an openly LGBT candidate. The next boot camp will be held in Denver from Dec. 5 to 8, in conjunction with the LGBT Leaders Conference, a four-day long professional development and networking event run by the Victory Institute, an arm of the Victory Fund.

''I feel really good. It's one of the earliest endorsements for next cycle, and they are prioritizing our race, because it is important to elect the next generation of LGBT leaders,'' Walling told Metro Weekly about securing Victory Fund's backing. ''This investment in me early means the world. I think that it says that we are going to be really competitive in this race, and they're putting a stake in the ground, saying this is someone they truly believe in for this campaign.''

It's been a hard-knock life for us here in Capital City. From the government shutdown to "Obamacare" and even Miley Cyrus, everything just seems broken. To help right some wrongs this holiday season we have assembled a gift guide that will help to fix some of what's wrong with – I mean in – your friends' and families' lives. So dig in and find the perfect gift for everyone on your list.

HOME/FOOD

1. Washington Post Delivery Bag Wine Carrier

$20Trohv202-829-2941232 Carroll St. NWtrohvshop.com

Shop local, recycle local. Artisan Peter Banson has created a beautiful and useful solution for delivering one of the holidays most sought-after gifts. The soft durable plastic easily covers your precious cargo and the recycling of Washington Post delivery bags will make the baby Jesus smile. It's a Christmas miracle.

2. Mason Jar Shaker

$29Trohv

The perfect gift for the 007 in your life. The innocuous Mason jar leads a double life as an undercover drink shaker. Unlike metal on metal shakers the glass bottom ensures your top always pops when ready to pour.

3. Nest Protect Smoke + Carbon Monoxide Detector

$129amazon.com(Pre-Order Only)

Protect your nest with the next generation of smart smoke detectors. This little powerhouse can push notifications to your phone that let you know if an alarm is going off or if the batteries are low. Amateur cooks will rejoice, as a simple wave of the hand will silence the wailing alarm – assuming it's nothing serious. Sorry, no fix for the burnt toast on this year's model.

4. Obama Birther Certificate Tray

$23Homebody202-544-8445715 8th St. SEhomebodydc.com

Short on cash but longing for some holiday entertainment? We've got your fix right here. Invite over you favorite birther for a delicious serving of humble pie. Fireworks not included, but sure to ignite.

5. Epicurean Capital Cutting Board

$28Hills Kitchen202-543-1997713 D St. SEhillskitchen.com

You many not be able to do much about capital gridlock, but this board makes a great gift for any master chef to julienne vegetables into working order. It's dishwasher-safe, heat-resistant, knife-friendly and comes with a lifetime warranty.

6. Joseph Rocker Garlic Crusher

$15Home Rule202-797-55441807 14th St. NWhomerule.com

Add a little rock-n-roll to any kitchen with this garlic crusher. Easily and evenly crush garlic by simply rocking back and forth. Rhythm, big hair and zebra-print tights not necessary, but highly recommended.

7. Lékué Perfect Ice Cube Maker

$20Home Rule

Great for the perfectionist in your life. Simply fill, freeze and – Bam! – perfectly formed cubes of ice ready to serve with any drink. The trays are made of a flexible rubber, so not only are they pretty to look at but make extraction of the ice simple and easy.

TECH

8. Simplicity Kit

Eraser $3, Pencil $2, Brass Sharpener $4Redeem202-332-74471810 14th St. NWredeemus.com

Who doesn't make mistakes? Prepare the faux-pas-prone person in your life with a low-tech solution for erasing away errors. This Simplicity Kit includes the original word processor, a sharpener and, of course, an extra-big eraser able to handle years of mistakes.

9. Garmin HUD (Head-Up Display)

$150garmin.com

Thoughts of your awkward family holiday dinner may bring you down, but this season this novel navigation unit will help to keep your eyes up and on the road. Garmin's portable unit displays turn indicators, distance to the next turn, current speed and speed limit, and estimated time of arrival all on your dashboard. Sorry no turn-by-turn help to get through the actual family feast.

10. Tile App

$20 (Pre-Order – Ships Spring 2014)thetileapp.com

Forget me not! The perfect solution for the memory-challenged. Sure, it won't help you remember birthdays, but finding keys or maybe kids (not an approved use) is a good start. Simply attach, stick or drop it on any item you might lose and the mobile app will help you find it if you do. Now if they just had one to help find our dignity.

11. 3M Streaming Projector Powered by Roku (SPR1000)

$190amazon.com

The Tardis of tiny gadgets, this amazing little palm-sized projector makes everything bigger. Stream movies or use the included Roku stick to watch Hulu, Nextflix, Amazon or any of the other 100-plus channels on a 720dpi HD projection, up to 120-feet wide. It's also portable and has 2.5 hours of battery life for media on the go.

MEN

12. Squeaky Clean Green Solid Shampoo and Jungle Solid Conditioner

Shampoo $12, Conditioner $9Lush202-333-69503066 M St. NWlush.com

Keep it clean this holiday season with travel-friendly solid shampoo and conditioner. These pucks of joy deliver all the benefits of their liquid, vegan, environmentally friendly cousins without the hassle of a cavity search when going through TSA checks. Don't worry: The liquid form is still available if that's your thing.

13. Herschel Packable Daypack and Stanley Classic Thermos

Daypack $30, Thermos $40Federal202-518-33752216 14th St. NWfederalstore.com

Help your own Dr. Livingstone conquer the urban jungle with style. The gold standard of drink bearers will keep their morning libations' temps just right as they set out to seize the day. At the end of the long hunt they can unpack their pocket-sized daypacks to store the day's kill. Um… or just groceries and booze.

14. Nickel Morning-After Rescue Gel

$42Universal Gear202-319-01361529B 14th St. NWuniversalgear.com

A shock treatment for those mornings when waking up is too tough. Whether you were working real hard or partying way too late, this product will bring radiance and softness back to your skin. As an added bonus, it also delivers a stretching and firming effect. Caffeine, menthol, wheat extract.

15. John Varvatos Black Suede Vest and Band of Outsiders Tie

Vest $1,295, Tie $155Lost Boys202-333-00931033 31st St. NWlostboysdc.com

Dress up that someone special with something very special. The suede vest is not only a limited-edition runway piece from the legendary John Varvatos, but with a bevy of buttons and cinch in the back it will keep you feeling svelte after any feast. The green-and-red tie adds a dash of color and keeps the focus above the waistline. Holiday camouflage at its best.

16. Jon Wye Pancake Plates

$45uncommongoods.com

After a lifelong love affair with breakfast, Wye pinpointed the crux of satisfaction: syrup. Designed with a raised edge, which gently slopes the plate toward the diner, and an ingenious reservoir for pooling syrup, this plate was made for slicing, dipping and delighting in each bite of pancake goodness. 

WOMEN

17. Wolverine Socialite Wedge Boot

$280Redeem202-332-74471810 14th St. NWredeemus.com

Drive a wedge between beauty and pain. These black beauties are more Sassy as a 1980s magazine, but with aBazaar-refined edge that can easily be dressed up or down. Tassel, buckle, suede, leather…. We could celebrate them till spring.

18. Legacy East/West Universal Case in Glitter

$68Coach202-333-30053259 M St. NWcoach.com

Forget form over function, it is and always will be fashion above feature. Thankfully for those who disagree there is Coach deftly combining both. This case not only glitters more than a Kesha concert, but acts as a wallet that can store your phone, cards, cash and – of course – extra glitter.

19. Midnight Recovery Concentrate

$46Kiehl's202-333-51013110 M St. NWkiehls.com

The perfect gift for the workaholic in your life. Sure, they think the weekend Metro schedule is great only because they can stay at the office longer, but they still want to wake up looking refreshed. Kiehl's has a fix to ease the tension on her face quicker then a flask of whiskey hidden in her desk. Simply apply, sleep and let the special formula do all the repair work.

20. Eco Gift Set

Decomposition Book $6-$12, Marlowe Lunchbag by Peg and Awl $56, Seltzer Goods Seven Year Pen $9

Proper Topper202-842-30551350 Connecticut Ave. NWpropertopper.com

Give the gift of green this year. Match up this notebook made of 100 percent post-consumer waste with a pen good for writing in it for seven years. Place both in the reusable waxed-canvas bag and you'll have a ready-to-give gift that would make Captain Planet proud. Earth, Wind, Fire, Heart.

21. Native Union Power Link Knot USB Keychain

$50Universal Gear202-319-01361529B 14th St. NWuniversalgear.com

Give the power player in your life the best gift ever: more power. This keychain not only delivers top-notch (or knot) style, but also doubles as a quick-and-easy cable to charge all you mirco USB devices. Clip it on your bag or belt loop for easy access to all your power needs throughout the day… or night. 

PETS

 22. My Dog Toy Tuffy Dragon

$81The Big Bad Woof202-291-2404117 Carroll St. NWthebigbadwoof.com

Do you know a dog tough enough to take on the dragon? The Bruce Lee of dog toys is ready for anything. It has reinforced seams, multi-sewn interior layers and a tough fabric exterior that can take a punch (or bite) from any four-legged friend. 

23. Spray-N-Play Cleansing Spritz

$13Kiehl's202-333-51013110 M St. NWkiehls.com

No time or patience to fetch Fido a shower? Is the washing machine starting to look like a viable option? Step back and check out Kiehl's two-step cleansing spray. Simply spray, rub in, pray for forgiveness for actually considering putting your dog in a washing machine, and then towel off. 

24. Gourmet Organic Dog Donuts

$3Howl To The Chief202-544-8710733 8th St. SEhowltothechief.com

Forgot the dog owner on your list? Doh! Head over to Capital Hill for a quick dog-friendly doughnut fix. Made of apple, rye and oats, it may do you good to trade in your Dunkin' and join your best friend in doggy heaven.

25. Found My Animal Collapsible Dog Bowl and Ombre Leash

Dog Bowl $32, Leash $58Salt and SundryUnion Market202-556-18661309 5th St. NEshopsaltandsundry.com

Got a Cujo who thinks he is king? Keep your canine companion in line with this durable, handmade leash and attachable, collapsible canvas dog dish. Profits from Found My Animal products also go back to help support a mission of encouraging animal adoption over purchase.

More than a hundred District activists, members of the LGBT community and others rallied at the Metropolitan Community Church of Washington, D.C., Wednesday night, Nov. 20, to mark the Transgender Day of Remembrance, an annual event honoring transgender victims of violence.

The internationally recognized day, started in 1998, is a rallying call to counter the transphobia that has led to such violence, often fatal. At Wednesday's event, while the Rev. Abena McCray poured water into a bowl, various people stood up and read aloud the names and short descriptions of deceased transgender people from around the world, including how they were killed.

While D.C. has not had any such deaths in 2013, other high-profile U.S. cases include the deaths of Kelly Young in Baltimore, Cemia ''CeCe'' Dove in Cleveland, and Islan Nettles in New York. Activists such as Nico Quintana, speaking for both the D.C. Trans Coalition and TransLAW, also reminded people of the physical violence and harassment facing many transgender people.

Mayor Vincent Gray, who has attended past Transgender Day of Remembrance events, made remarks at the service and presented organizers with an official proclamation. Noting, ''We have a long ways to go,'' Gray vowed to defend the safety and rights of the District's transgender community and celebrated some of the progress that has been made through legislation passed by the D.C. Council, through policy changes made by some of his political appointees, and through programs such as Project Empowerment.

''The Transgender Day of Remembrance really marks another year in the struggle to be able to protect the rights of people who are transgender in the District of Columbia,'' Gray said in his speech. ''Hopefully, we will institutionalize rights so firmly into the District of Columbia that even if we get somebody who wants to change it, we're not going to let that happen. Rights are going to be here for the future of the people in this room and across our entire city.''

Wednesday's event also included a segment for special recognition, recognizing the contributions of longtime area LGBT-rights and sexual-freedom activist Dan Massey, who died in January, and Allison Gardner, his surviving partner. Organizers also celebrated the passage of the JaParker Deoni Jones Birth Certificate Equality Amendment, which allows transgender people to obtain new birth certificates that reflect their appropriate gender and names; recognizing the families of Deoni Jones and Nana-Boo Mack, two transgender women who were killed in recent years; as well as the contributions made by the Metropolitan Police Department's Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.

A panel of LGBT advocates specializing in health and social welfare, moderated by MSNBC's Thomas Roberts, met Thursday, Nov. 21, as part of a webcast briefing for gay media on what can be done to combat a resurgence of HIV infections among young gay or bisexual men – technically termed ''men who have sex with men'' (MSM) – highlighting a need for better education and for LGBT social-justice efforts to include countering HIV among young people.

Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of New York's Ali Forney Center, which works with homeless LGBT youth, was frank in his assessment of the factors contributing to higher incidence of HIV among youth. He pointed to homophobia and rejection by their families often forcing LGBT teens to the streets, where they turn to sex work for survival. They may also find themselves trading unprotected sex with older people for housing and other necessities. Siciliano said about 20 percent of youth seeking help at his center are HIV-positive.

''If we are not willing to find housing for homeless youth, we are consenting that they will be infected with HIV,'' he said bluntly. ''Protecting young people must become part of the 'gay rights' movement.''

Jeff Krehely, the vice president and chief foundation officer at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), called for better messaging and moving beyond a focus on marriage equality. Tasked with overseeing HRC's public outreach and education programs, Krehely explained that the organization had some success with a recent HIV-education campaign, but that it paled in comparison to the response HRC's ''Turn the Web Red'' marriage-equality campaign received.

Organizations doing outreach around HIV-related issues, he said, must find the right messaging to reach LGBT youth. Activists also need to pay greater attention to lower-profile legislative issues, such as budget battles, Krehely added, in that initiatives aimed at halting HIV are being underfunded or cut altogether.

Panelists also cited the role of alcohol and drugs in poor decision-making or engaging in riskier sexual behavior. Daniel Driffin, chair of the Young Black Gay Men's Leadership Initiative and a project manager with the Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention (CHIP) at the University of Connecticut, said youth often use substances to cope with homophobia or depression when coming out.

Driffin also said higher HIV-infection rates, particularly among young black MSM, aren't due to riskier behavior than other demographic groups, but rather that the community is smaller and many aren't aware that they are HIV-positive.

Internalized homophobia making gay or bisexual youth uncomfortable talking to their doctors about their sexual orientation also entered the conversation. Jonathan Mermin, director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explained that if a person's sexual orientation is not shared with a medical professional, HIV may not be addressed. Examples of this, he noted, would be whether a patient is comfortable enough to approach his doctor after potential exposure to go on post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), or asking about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prior to sex with a positive partner.

Both Mermin and Krehely said few medical professionals are sufficiently trained in LGBT cultural competency.

Siciliano added that there's been too little attention given to the intersection of homophobia and poverty, particularly with regard to youth.

''We need to mobilize and demand a safety net for LGBT kids,'' he urged.

Despite regional differences between the Tidewater and Northern Virginia exurbs, Democrats and Republicans – so far – seem to be adopting a traditional ''red-blue'' divide when it comes to LGBT issues in two upcoming special elections that will determine control of the Virginia Senate.

Wayne Coleman

Thursday, Republicans in District 6 – which covers the Eastern Shore counties of Accomack and Northampton, Mathews County, a sliver of Virginia Beach and a substantial portion Norfolk – selected Wayne Coleman as the party's nominee to replace Lt. Governor-elect Ralph Northam. According to results published in the Hampton Roads area newspaper The Daily Press, Coleman won 1,643 votes, or 54 percent of all votes cast, over rivals Richard Ottinger and John Coggeshall.

Coleman, CEO of the Norfolk-based CV International shipping, freight and transportation company, has touted his opposition to marriage equality on the campaign trail. He also donated to several anti-gay Virginia GOP candidates in 2013, including $2,500 to Mark Obenshain's attorney general campaign; $1,500 to E.W. Jackson, infamous for his anti-gay rhetoric, the failed candidate for lieutenant governor; and $1,000 to anti-gay Sen. Jeff McWaters (R-Virginia Beach), chief patron of the so-called ''conscience clause'' bill that allows adoption and foster agencies to discriminate against LGBT prospective parents.

Lynwood Lewis

Coleman will face off against Del. Lynwood Lewis (D-Accomack, Northampton counties, Norfolk) in a special election, the date of which has not yet been scheduled by outgoing Gov. Bob McDonnell (R). Lewis was selected by Democrats as the party's nominee to replace Northam on Nov. 16, winning overwhelmingly in the Eastern Shore counties, beating former Del. Paula Miller (D-Norfolk) and Andria McClellan, a businesswoman who served as Northam's campaign treasurer and as chair of the Small Business Advisory Board under former Gov. Mark Warner (D), with 55 percent of all votes cast.

Lewis, an LGBT legislative ally, has earned Equality Virginia PAC scores of 75 in the past two legislative sessions, indicating a mostly pro-LGBT record. In 2012, he voted in favor of an amendment to the so-called ''conscience clause'' bill that would have prevented LGBT or questioning youth from being placed with families that believe homosexuality ''is a behavior rather than an in-born immutable characteristic.'' He has signed statements attesting that he does not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender identity in hiring legislative staff, and he co-sponsored a bill to prohibit such discrimination in state employment.

District 6

At the other end of the state, in Loudoun and Fairfax counties, Democrats will hold a caucus Saturday, Nov. 23, to determine the party's nominee to replace state Sen. Mark Herring, who faces a recount in his extremely tight attorney general's race win. Herring won a 164-vote edge over state Sen. Mark Obenshain of Harrisonburg ahead of the recount, after which a special general election date will be set to replace whichever candidate is the victor.

Republicans insist that Obenshain will be able to reverse Herring's lead, but have not set a date to hold a caucus to select a nominee for the 33rd District. Two likely candidates, however, are former Del. Joe May (R-Loudoun, Clarke, Frederick counties), who lost to a primary challenger earlier this year; and John Whitbeck, an attorney and the Republican Committee chairman of Virginia's 10th Congressional District. Whitbeck ran for the House of Delegates in 2011, but lost to Del. Randy Minchew (R-Loudoun, Clarke, Frederick counties) in the primary. Whitbeck was a strong supporter of the GOP ticket this year, and May amassed an anti-gay record during his years in the General Assembly, even voting against confirming openly gay judge Tracy Thorne-Begland to the Richmond District Court.

In contrast, the Democratic candidates running in Saturday's caucus, Herndon Town Councilmember Sheila Olem and attorney Jennifer Wexton, support LGBT rights, following in the footsteps of Herring, a longtime ally to the community.

Jennifer Wexton

Olem said she got involved in politics after her husband disappeared while overseas in 1994 and was presumed dead. After going through a difficult and legally complicated process to have her husband declared dead, the commonwealth of Virginia would not recognize the declaration by the U.S. State Department. With the help of her local legislators, she pushed for a change in the law that would make Virginia recognize similar State Department declarations. As a result of the complicated process she was forced to go through, she decided to become involved in politics to help others solve their problems.

''There needs to be some working together, coming up with solutions to real problems,'' she told Metro Weekly of her campaign.

Sheila Olem

Olem, who has primarily worked on health, environmental and transportation issues during her time on the Town Council, says she would support legislation to allow same-sex couples to have visitation and insurance rights, as well adoption rights, noting that she raised her children by herself, disproving conservatives' claims that children will be irreparably harmed without two opposite-sex parents. She also supports legislation to ban discrimination in state employment based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity.

''Absolutely I support that,'' she said. ''What century are we in? I don't see why we should discriminate against someone. It's just not right.''

Wexton, who previously ran to be commonwealth's attorney for Loudoun County in 2011, coming up short while winning the portions currently comprising the 33rd District, told Metro Weekly she believes she is better positioned – politically and ideologically – to win the seat and keep it in Democratic hands. She notes that both of the presumptive Republicans who might run for the seat are extremely conservative, particularly on social issues.

Some Republican bloggers have accused Wexton of living outside the district, attacking her because she appears to be the presumptive nominee due to geography. (Almost three-quarters of the district is in Loudoun County.) But she has pushed back against those accusations.

''I live in the district proper,'' she said. ''They can check my voter status as well as anyone else can, and I'm sure they have been … I'm sick of Republicans peeking in our bedroom windows, and, ironically, now I have a lot of Republicans peeking in my bedroom windows to see if I live here. So make of that what you will.''

District 33

Wexton said she supports the expansion of Medicaid in Virginia, as well as closing loopholes on mandatory background checks and repealing the ''Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers'' (TRAP) laws passed in recent years by the Republican-led General Assembly. She also enthusiastically threw her support behind efforts to ban employment discrimination against LGBT people, repeal the statewide ban on same-sex marriage and, in the meantime, while the ban is still in place, work to extend visitation rights, adoption rights and insurance benefits to same-sex couples and families.

''We need somebody in Richmond who's going to follow in the tradition of Sen. Herring, engaging in pragmatic problem-solving while protecting the rights of our citizens,'' Wexton said. ''And that means all of our citizens.''

Because Virginia does not register by party, voters wishing to cast a ballot in Saturday's Democratic caucuses may do so, but will be required to sign a pledge promising to vote for the Democratic Party's eventual nominee, according to Virginia Democratic Party press secretary Ashley Bauman. Voting will occur at three locations: at the Herndon Community Center, in Meeting Room 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; in the Group Study Room at the Rust Library in Leesburg from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and at the Cascades Library in Potomac Falls, in Conference Room B, from 12:30 to 5 p.m.

The Virginia State Board of Elections today certified Democrat Mark Herring as the winner in the commonwealth's attorney general race, giving Herring, an LGBT-supportive candidate, a narrow 165-vote lead out of more than 2.2 million votes cast.

Due to the closeness of the race, both candidates declared victory at points during the days following the election, as a re-canvass of votes throughout the state turned up various human or machine errors that affected the count. Election observers via Twitter also pointed out discrepancies in the return rate of absentee ballots for the state's 8th Congressional District, after which local election officials in Democratic-leaning Fairfax County – the state's most populous county – discovered nearly 3,000 missing absentee ballots.

Following the re-canvass of votes, Herring gained a slim lead. Fairfax County then allowed voters who had cast provisional ballots to come in person and attest to the validity of their ballots. The Fairfax county election board – controlled by Republicans 2-1 – counted 271 of 493 provisional ballots, expanding Herring's lead.

According to The Washington Post, even though the Republican-run state election board's decision to certify the results was unanimous, Chairman Charles E. Judd said he was ''concerned about the integrity of the data,'' noting a lack of uniformity in counting votes that occurred between most locations – which reported their results by the Friday following the election – and Fairfax County, which had delayed the counting of the county's provisional ballots to the Tuesday following the election and after the Veterans Day holiday weekend.

Following the certification, the Obenshain campaign released a statement saying it was reviewing the results.

''With the completion of the State Board of Elections vote tally, this initial count show the narrowest percent vote differential of any U.S. statewide race in the 21st century and the closest statewide election in modern Virginia history,'' Obenshain's campaign manager Chris Leavitt said in the statement. ''As it currently stands, the 165 vote margin out of more than 2.2 million votes cast is well within the margin that could be potentially closed in a recount. There have been four statewide elections in the U.S. since 2000 that finished within a 300-vote margin. In three of those four statewide elections, the results were reversed in a recount.''

''Over the next few days, we will continue to review these results. Margins this small are why Virginia law provides a process for a recount,'' Leavitt continued. ''However, a decision to request a recount, even in a historically close election, is not one to be made lightly. Virginia law allows ten days to request a recount. We will make further announcements regarding a recount well within that time, in order to ensure the closure and confidence in the results that Virginians deserve.''

Under Virginia law, if the margin of victory of an election is within a point, the losing candidate has 10 days after certification to demand a recount. If the results remained unchanged, the losing candidate – in this case, Obenshain – has three days to file a formal protest contesting the election results.

The Herring campaign declared victory following the certification of the results, releasing a statement thanking the board, local voter registrars and election officials for their professionalism in overseeing the election.

''I am gratified that the State Board of Elections today certified me the winner of a close but fair election,'' Herring said in the statement. ''I look forward to serving the people of Virginia as Attorney General.''

''Today, we move forward to tackle some of the unique challenges of our era which fall under the auspices of the next Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia,'' Herring continued. ''Our guiding principle will be to put the law and Virginians first, instead of adherence to extreme ideology. In the areas of public safety, veterans services, civil rights, consumer and small business protections, and ethics in our public sphere, significant progress can and will be made for Virginians.''

Four days before Thanksgiving, Nov. 25, an audience at the downtown D.C. headquarters of the Center for American Progress (CAP) listened to a story that would likely make anyone thankful not to be a detained immigrant.

''When the police arrived to settle the dispute, they arrested Krypcia and placed her in detention, because they learned that she had fallen out of legal-immigrant status,'' Jessica Jeanty told the midday crowd of about 50 people. Jeanty, policy counsel at the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), was relating the story of a transgender woman who fled her native El Salvador in hope of finding a safer environment in the U.S. to express her gender identity, who'd simply been overcharged by a cab driver. Though Krypcia had been in the U.S. for nearly a decade, that minor dispute over cab fare turned into nearly eight months of suffering.

''She spent this time in solitary confinement, because detention authorities refused to house her with other women, and they knew she would not be safe in the male population,'' Jeanty continued. ''The long periods of isolation Krypcia spent in solitary confinement led her to be so distressed and emotionally distraught that she eventually resigned to signing a voluntary order for her own deportation. After months of isolation, she would've rather risked her life by returning to El Salvador and facing violence, than to waste away indefinitely in U.S. immigration detention.''

While Krypcia, who also received help from D.C.'s Casa Ruby multicultural LGBT community center, was eligible to apply for asylum as a transgender immigrant from El Slavador, Jeanty pointed out a one-year filing deadline on such a request.

''Because she never heard of the deadline, she never filed for asylum within the one-year period,'' Jeanty said. ''She missed it and that was not available for her.''

Krypcia may also be giving thanks this Thanksgiving with a thought to the immigration judge who refused to send her back to El Salvador, granting a status short of permanent residency, but that nonetheless returned Krypcia's U.S.-based freedom to her.

''Her story really illustrates how our current system locks up too many people, for too long, in harsh conditions that can really be very severe for transgender people, and for LGBT people overall,'' Jeanty concluded. ''It's a really good example of how the immigration system and the asylum provisions can have a very disproportionate effect on LGBT immigrants.''

The occasion for Jeanty sharing Krypcia's story was the Monday release of ''Dignity Denied: LGBT Immigrants in U.S. Immigration Detention,'' a report penned by Sharita Gruberg, policy analyst for the LGBT Immigration Project at CAP, a progressive think tank. And after Jeanty shared that story, she turned the program over to Gruberg, who introduced three panelists to discuss the topic: Christine Fialho, co-founder and executive director of Community Initiatives for Visiting Immigrants in Confinement (CIVIC); Royce Murray, policy director at the National Immigrant Justice Center; and Olga Tomchin, Soros fellow at the Transgender Law Center.

''While the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, does not keep data on the sexual orientation or gender identity of people in its custody, reports of treatment of LGBT detainees obtained through Freedom of Information … requests and through complaints filed by immigrant rights groups reveal that much like the general prison population – where LGBT inmates are 15 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than the general population – LGBT immigrants in immigration detention facilities face an increased risk of abuse in detention,'' reads a portion of the introduction to Gruberg's report. ''The U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment went as far as finding the treatment of LGBT immigrants in the U.S. detention facilities in violation of the Convention Against Torture after it received information on gay and transgender individuals who had been subjected to solitary confinement, torture, and ill-treatment – including sexual assault – while detained in U.S. immigration facilities.''

The report comes as the immigration-reform debate again heats up on Capitol Hill, and as many activists hope recent marriage-equality advances will allow focus to turn to other LGBT-related issues.

A number, courtesy of the Williams Institute at the School of Law at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, was also an important part of the conversation: 267, 000 – at least – representing the number of LGBT undocumented immigrants in the U.S.

Panelists discussed an array of disproportionate challenges facing this population, from problems with police and immigration overlap, as illustrated by Krypcia's story, to how homophobia and transphobia have worked against LGBT immigrants accessing services.

Fialho shared a story of how the system has also worked against those attempting to advocate on behalf of LGBT detainees.

''One particular woman at the Santa Ana (Calif.) City Jail who had been denied hormone therapy asked us to speak with ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) on her behalf to get her hormone therapy,'' Fialho shared. ''Unfortunately, attempts to do that failed. … So, one of the things I did was write a blog on the Huffington Post, not mentioning this woman by name, but just mentioning this one instance of this denial of hormone therapy, as well as some of the other problems we were seeing at this facility. And within 48 hours of posting this blog on the Huffington Post, ICE responded, not by trying to fix the problem but by shutting down our visitation program – not only at this particular facility, but at the other two facilities in Southern California where we were operating. ICE basically blacklisted our volunteers at one of the facilities … and prevented me as an attorney from doing a legal visit to these facilities as well. The problem that we faced was trying to get back into the facilities.

''However, what was great about this was that even though ICE responded by shutting down our visitation program, they did get the hormone therapy to this woman within a week.''

Tomchin, who has also represented transgender clients, stressed how vulnerable this population is, particularly transgender women of color, offering that one such client was arrested simply for jaywalking.

Among a ''wish list'' of items for improving the situation for LGBT immigrants in U.S. detention were suggestions for alternatives to detention, such as community support programs; a hope for eliminating the one-year deadline for filing a request for asylum; and a prohibition on police making immigration arrests so that LGBT immigrants not fear arrest when seeking police assistance.

Tomchin, however, likely put the strongest point on the Monday discussion.

''I very much take the position that ICE simply cannot house trans people safely, within a prison context,'' she said bluntly. ''This is an LGBT issue. In terms of governmental homophobia and transphobia and actual suffering caused by the U.S. government because of people's gender identity and sexual orientation, this is about as bad as it gets.''

There is something electric about being in an LGBTQ space. The spark, the sizzle of energy, compassion and willingness to both question and listen fills the air. Though I grew up in a lesbian-headed household my whole life, it was not until I was 13 that I was in a consciously LGBTQ space. I had joyfully joined the end the Boston Pride Parade a few years earlier, tossing candy to kids on the parade route with, at times, a little too much enthusiasm. Though this was a fun memory, it was not until I joined COLAGE programming at Family Week in Provincetown, Mass., that for the first time I was in a room filled with youth who also had LGBTQ parents. I felt safe, I felt understood and I felt home. That feeling has influenced my activism and personal choices ever since.

Knowing the deep impact LGBTQ advocacy and LGBTQ-inclusive spaces have had on my life, it deeply saddens me to know that my experience is somewhat unique. There are people throughout the U.S. who have not yet felt that current of acceptance and there are people around the world who are legally and socially barred from ever creating that space.

In a country like Belarus, where non-governmental organizations (NGO) are required to be registered with authorities, LGBT activists face discrimination, threats and other abuses at the hands of the police. Just this year, Ihar Tsikhanyuk, an openly gay man and LGBT-rights activist, was physically and verbally abused by police after he tried to register the Human Rights Center Lambda, an NGO that supports the rights of LGBT people in Belarus.

Not long after first registering the NGO, Ihar was taken from the hospital, where he was being treated for a stomach ulcer, to the police station. There police officers repeatedly punched and taunted him, demeaning him for being gay and threatening him with more violence. When police officers returned Ihar to the hospital, he asked for his injuries to be documented, but the hospital staff refused.

Those responsible for beating and threatening Ihar Tsikhanyuk have yet to be held accountable. Other activists connected to the Human Rights Center Lambda also remain at risk of further threats and abuses due to their sexual orientation or gender identity and continued LGBT activism. When silence accompanies abuse, it both condones and perpetuates the violence.

Other human rights activists in Belarus face similar harassment and intimidation from authorities. While it is important to recognize that LGBT activists are not alone in the crackdown on freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in Belarus, the unique reality faced by LGBT activists targeted for their identities matters.

Most people have, at some point in their lives, felt isolated or alone. For some, this alienation is brief and a community or individual embraces that person and changes their life. But imagine that you are isolated from other individuals or communities who share your identity. LGBT people in countries like Belarus are trying to create that space to demonstrate to themselves and others that they are not alone. Every person has the human right to a life of dignity free from discrimination, but this is a distant reality for many who face grave personal risk just for expressing their identity.

This year, Amnesty International's Write for Rights campaign is standing with Ihar Tsikhanyuk and the members of the Human Rights Center Lambda. In December we will come together to send messages of solidarity by urging the government of Belarus to initiate a thorough, independent and impartial investigation into the ill-treatment and threats that Ihar suffered at the hands of police officers.

Activists like Ihar must be protected from further violence and humiliation. By joining us in writing to the Belarusian government, you can join millions of activists from around the world calling for change, so they too can create welcoming spaces without risk and advocate for their rights. This is our moment to echo around the world that LGBT activists and individuals are not alone.

Emily McGranachan is the social media lead for Amnesty International's LGBT Rights Coordination Group. This spring she will complete a master's degree in Ethics, Peace, and Global Affairs at American University.