Local
D.C. gay Republican hosts luncheon with RNC chair
One of several gay members of the D.C. Republican Committee was scheduled to host an “intimate lunch” on Thursday at his Dupont Circle area home for Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus
One of several gay members of the D.C. Republican Committee was scheduled to host an “intimate lunch” on Thursday at his Dupont Circle area home for Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus, which was to double as a fundraiser for the DCRC.
Jose Cunningham, chief marketing and business development officer for the D.C.-based law firm Crowell & Moring, offered his home as the place where the fundraising event was to be held, according to DCRC spokesperson Paul Craney.
The event was being billed as an “intimate” gathering with RNC Chair Priebus because it was limited to just 15 people who were asked to contribute $500 each to help finance the activities of the DCRC, which serves as the governing body of the D.C. Republican Party.
Robert Kabel, a gay Republican activist and former board chair for the national group Log Cabin Republicans, serves as the elected chair of the DCRC. The committee has been supportive of LGBT rights issues for many years, placing it at odds with the national Republican Party.
Kabel has lobbied Republican members of Congress in support of D.C.’s same-sex marriage law.
The platform of the national party, as adopted at the 2008 Republican National Convention, opposes nearly all LGBT rights initiatives, including the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy.
Kabel said R. Clarke Cooper, executive director of Log Cabin Republicans, was expected to attend Thursday’s luncheon with Priebus. He said he wasn’t sure whether Cooper or Cunningham would bring up LGBT-related issues with Priebus, including whether the national party might adopt a less hostile platform on gay issues at next year’s Republican convention.
“He has been the most welcoming chairman for LGBT Republicans that the RNC has ever had,” said Kabel, who noted that he meets regularly with Priebus in his role as head of the D.C. GOP.
Baltimore
The fight to save one of Baltimore’s last gay bars
Leon’s closed in July after its owner’s death
By JULIE SCHARPER and WESLEY CASE | Soon after Jim Becker came out as gay in 1967, he ducked into a Mount Vernon bar called Leon’s.
In the dark, smoky bar, men used pseudonyms for fear of being outed, as homosexual acts were illegal in Maryland. Bartenders, wary of vice squad raids, would blow a whistle if couples leaned in for a kiss.
But to Becker, arriving at Leon’s was a kind of homecoming. He could explore his identity, connect with other gay men and build community in the anxious years before the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a pivotal moment in the LGBTQ rights movement.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Gay-owned pizzeria in Dupont Circle burglarized
Protest Pizza owners say community has expressed support
Gay activist Randy Downs said he and his business and life partner Ricky Bennett are grateful for the support they have received from the Dupont Circle community after they released a video showing a suspect breaking into their recently opened pizza shop and taking money from a cash register shortly before 3 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 21.
The surveillance video shows a man wearing black clothing with his face covered, smashing the glass front door of Protest Pizza, located at 1633 ½ P St., N.W. The video, which Downs and Bennett provided to D.C. police, also shows the suspect climbing over the bar to get to a cash register, which he opened to take out cash.
A D.C. police report obtained by the Washington Blade lists the incident as a Burglary in the Second Degree and says the owners reported “approximately $78 in cash” was taken from the cash register. The report says the incident is not listed as a suspected hate crime.
Downs told the Washington Blade that after he and Bennett reported the break-in and theft on social media, they received an overwhelming showing of support from neighbors and others, including business owners, from across the nation.
“The break-in was upsetting, but it is not what will define Protest Pizza,” Downs said. “What defines us is how quickly people showed up,” he told the Blade. “One person came looking for a cash register; our community saw a gathering place worth protecting. The response reminded us that Protest’s real value was never in the register.”
Downs said he and Bennett, who live around the corner on the section of 17th Street, N.W., near several other bars and restaurants, including the gay bar JRs are located, opened Protest Pizza in November 2025.
“Ricky and I built Protest Pizza as a positive, welcoming, queer owned neighborhood restaurant and bar — a space for protest and joy,” he said.
A D.C. police spokesperson said police offer a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of a suspect responsible for the type of burglary and theft that occurred at Protest Pizza. Police say anyone with information to help solve this type of crime should call the police tipline at 202-727-9099.
District of Columbia
Advocates honored at Engendered Spirit Awards
Annual ceremony held at conclusion of Trans Pride DC
The 2026 SaVanna Wanzer Engendered Spirit Awards ceremony took place at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in D.C. on Saturday. The ceremony was held at the conclusion of the day-long Trans Pride DC: Encore.
Honorees included D.C. Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs Deputy Director Vida Rangel; the LGBT+ Counseling Collaborative, Inc.; and Connor Keuntje, CLP, CLPC.
Trans Pride DC: Encore was held throughout Saturday with several workshop sessions and a virtual conversation with actress and advocate Dominique Jackson.
The annual Engendered Spirit Awards were renamed the “SaVanna Wanzer Engendered Spirit Awards” in honor of SaVanna Wanzer, founder of D.C. Trans Pride. Wanzer died on April 24 of this year.
Speakers at the ceremony included Japer Bowles, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and Bianca Sprague, executive director of D.C. Trans Pride.
“The intent behind this award and honoring members of our communities, organizations, and allies, is to really elevate all of the work that they’re doing to provide resources, tools, learning opportunities and connections: centering trans folks, gender non-conforming, and gender diverse individuals,” Sprague said.
Monument to LGBTQ Canadians officially unveiled
The fight to save one of Baltimore’s last gay bars
When home becomes a journey: migration, memory, and the African diaspora
Gay-owned pizzeria in Dupont Circle burglarized
Advocates honored at Engendered Spirit Awards
Trump-Vance administration’s LGBTQ brain drain: what you need to know
NYC lawmakers seek to repeal bathhouse ban
UPDATE: Impulse Group’s ‘PrEP Pool Party’ cancelled
Not all trans people are the same
