By David Hoffman
Washington, D.C. (The Hollywood Times) 1/8/26 – Veteran journalist and media advocate Comito addressed members and guests of the Woman’s National Democratic Club (WNDC) during a powerful and timely program titled Working the Press as LGBTQ+, held at the Club’s historic headquarters, The Whittemore House.
Founded in 1922 by suffragist women who fought tirelessly for the right to vote, the WNDC was born in the aftermath of a hard-won victory: the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. The organization has since stood as a living testament to civic engagement, progressive values, and the enduring struggle for equality.
In 1927, the Club purchased its permanent home, the iconic 1890s Arts-and-Crafts-style brick mansion known as The Whittemore House, which continues to serve as a gathering place for political dialogue and activism. It was there that Comito convened with roughly 40 Club members, alongside a dozen additional participants from across the country who joined via Zoom.
The event was billed as both an opportunity to hear from, and to honor, two of the Washington metropolitan area’s most respected journalists: Lou Chibbaro Jr., senior reporter at the storied LGBTQ weekly Washington Blade, and Nick Benton, founder, editor-in-chief, and prolific author behind the Falls Church News-Press, which he launched in 1991.
Benton spoke with unmistakable urgency, warning that the United States is facing what he described as a “clear and present, and growing, danger.” “It’s a constitutional crisis entirely due to the Trump Administration’s assaults, their almost daily outrages, against the entire intersectional community of progressives,” Benton said. “It’s a brutal attack not only against immigrants, but also women’s rights, LGBTQ rights, academic freedom, universities, health care, public schools, organized labor, environmentalists, and civil liberties advocates.”
He did not mince words as he described the current political landscape, calling it “a national crime scene,” and thundered for the urgent need for a mass movement to arise and organize to protect democratic freedoms and hard-won rights. Among those rights, he emphasized, are marriage equality and transgender protections, particularly vital to the greater Washington, D.C. region, which he noted leads the nation in the percentage of residents who identify as non-cisgender.
Lou Chibbaro Jr. joined the discussion at multiple points throughout the evening, reinforcing the necessity of continued resistance to what he described as the Trump administration’s fascistic and sustained attacks on independent journalism, including the former president’s repeated branding of the press as “enemies of the people.” Chibbaro pledged that the Washington Blade will continue its mission both in print and online, underscoring the critical importance of LGBTQ-focused journalism during a time when truth, visibility, and accountability are increasingly under threat.
Held within the walls of a building steeped in the legacy of women’s suffrage, Working the Press as LGBTQ+ served as both a warning and a call to action, a reminder that democracy, like journalism itself, requires vigilance, courage, and collective engagement to survive.
