[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 164 (Thursday, October 17, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1300-E1301]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF LOUIS M. CHIBBARO, JR.

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 17, 2019

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, during the 50th anniversary of the 
Stonewall Riot, it is my honor and pleasure to rise today to ask the 
House of Representatives to join me in recognizing my friend, Ward 6 
neighbor and Washington institution Louis M. Chibbaro, Jr. Chibbaro is 
the Senior News Reporter for our nation's LGBTQ newspaper of record, 
The Washington Blade.
  Washington, D.C. contains one of the largest LGBTQ communities in the 
United States. Among the thousands of LGBTQ Washingtonians, two names 
stand out: the late Dr. Franklin Kameny, who made the headlines, and 
Lou Chibbaro, Jr., who wrote the bylines.
  Chibbaro is a native New Yorker who came to D.C. in 1971 as a college 
student with the State University of New York at Brockport Washington 
Semester Program. Upon graduation, he returned to work for the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency. He continued his studies at American 
University before beginning his career as a reporter for several 
Washington-based independent newsletters, Environment Report, Energy 
Today and Science Trends.
  Chibbaro became a public information representative for the American 
Public Power Association in 1975. Chibbaro volunteered as a freelance 
news writer and co-host for the then D.C. gay radio program 
``Friends.'' He soon began freelancing for The Washington Blade. The 
Blade hired him in 1982 part-time and later promoted him to full-time 
staff in 1984.
  Chibbaro pounds the LGBTQ beat. He has covered the panoply of 
national and local LGBTQ interests of social, religious, and 
governmental institutions: the White House, Congress, the U.S. Supreme 
Court, the military, law enforcement agencies and the Catholic Church. 
Chibbaro began reporting on D.C. local politics with the 1978 mayoral 
and council elections. He commenced his chronicles of the Democratic 
and Republican conventions as a credentialed reporter in 1984.
  Chibbaro has covered HIV and AIDS since the 1980s. He reported on the 
Matthew Shepherd trial from Laramie, Wyoming. Chibbaro filed radio news 
repo1ts on LGBTQ developments for the Sirius XM Radio Network's ``OutQ 
News'' program from 2013 to 2019.
  Chibbaro has received accolades for his contributions to journalism. 
The Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia 
presented him with the 1998 Justice for Victims of Crime Award. The 
Office cited his ``outstanding service to crime victims and their 
families'' through his news reporting. His colleagues at Society of 
Professional Journalists

[[Page E1301]]

D.C. Professional Chapter (SJP D.C. Pro) have awarded Chibbaro several 
Dateline Awards for Excellence in Local Journalism, most recently in 
2016. Chibbaro became the first out-LGBTQ inductee to SJP D.C. Pro's 
Hall of Fame, where he joined such journalistic greats as Nina 
Totenberg and Bob Woodward.
  This Friday, October 18th, The Washington Blade celebrates its 50th 
anniversary with a gala at Washington's Wharf. Madam Speaker, I ask the 
House of Representatives to join me in recognizing Lou Chibbarro's 
accomplishments and his contributions to journalism, The Blade and our 
Nation's Capital.

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