Local
City poised to approve gay marriage bill
Council member David Catania called on the Archdiocese to adopt what has been dubbed the ‘San Francisco-Georgetown’ compromise over how the Catholic Church could provide health insurance and other benefits to same-sex partners of employees. (Photo by Michael Key)
The D.C. City Council drew national attention this week as it made final preparations for the first of two votes on a same-sex marriage bill next Tuesday that observers say was expected to pass by a margin as wide as 11 to 2.
Council insiders said there was no surge in phone calls or e-mails to the Council over the past week in response to national media reports about a warning about the bill from the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington.
Archdiocesan officials said they would stop operating city funded social service programs that help as many as 68,000 needy people unless the Council makes changes in the bill allowing the group Catholic Charities to deny same-sex spousal benefits to its employees.
“I hear everybody in the press talking about it, but we haven’t heard anything at all,” said Jason Shedlock, chief of staff to Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), who chairs the committee that approved the bill earlier this month.
In a separate development, opponents of the same-sex marriage bill, led by a Maryland minister, filed suit against the city in D.C. Superior Court to contest a decision two weeks ago by the city’s election board rejecting a proposed voter initiative to ban same-sex marriage in the District.
The election board ruled that the proposed ballot initiative would violate the D.C. Human Rights Act, which bars discrimination based on sexual orientation. Same-sex marriage opponents say they have the funds to appeal the ruling all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court should they lose in Superior Court.
Shedlock said Mendelson and Council member David Catania (I-At-Large), the author of the bill, had yet to receive an answer as of Monday to a letter they sent to Archbishop Donald Wuerl, head of the Washington Archdiocese, suggesting a compromise solution to the church’s objection to the marriage bill.
In statements last week, Archdiocesan officials said providing spousal benefits to their employees’ same-sex married spouses would violate church teachings that marriage must be restricted to a man and a woman. Church officials have asked the Council to add a provision in the marriage bill to amend the city’s Human Rights Act to exempt groups like Catholic Charities from having to provide equal employee benefits to same-sex couples.
The Council has refused the request, saying it would be unfair to single out gay or lesbian employees for discrimination.
Story continues at
www.washingtonblade.com.
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.
Dolly Parton dies at 80
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
Trump-Vance administration’s LGBTQ brain drain: what you need to know
UPDATE: Impulse Group’s ‘PrEP Pool Party’ cancelled
Not all trans people are the same
Calendar: August 21-27
