Local
2 gay men uninjured after car plunges into Anacostia River
Two gay men leaving Ziegfeld’s/ Secrets received only minor injuries early Sunday morning after their car plunged into the Anacostia River behind the club, where the street leads to the riverbank without a warning sign or guard rail.
D.C. police identified the two men as John Orr, 49, of Arlington, Va., and John Knew, 39, of Alexandria, Va.
“Fortunately, we were able to swim out OK,” Orr told the Agenda in a telephone interview.
A spokesperson for the D.C. Fire & Emergency Medical Services Department said fire trucks and an ambulance rushed to the scene after guards stationed at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security building, located near where the car entered the river, called 911 for help.
“Units arrived on the scene at the site where a small car went into the water,” said spokesperson Pete Piringer. “Reportedly, there were two occupants in the vehicle. One managed to get out. Fire rescue crews were able to quickly remove the other victim from the car safely.”
Orr told the Agenda that he and Knew managed to get out of the car and onto the riverbank just as rescue workers arrived.
Orr said neither he nor Knew were familiar with the warehouse district known as Buzzard’s Point, where the gay entertainment complex Ziegfeld’s/Secrets and a straight club named Crucible, are located.
Orr said he was driving the car and made a wrong turn onto a side street that he thought would take him out of the warehouse area and onto a main street.
Acknowledging that he may have been distracted, he said he continued driving until it was too late to avoid going into the river.
When visited Sunday by a reporter, the site showed no sign or guard rail at the foot of T Street, S.W., which leads into the riverbank, to indicate the river is located about 10 feet from the paved street.
Additionally, a bright light shining from a guard shack next to the Department of Homeland Security building made it difficult to see that the riverbank and a 10-foot drop into the water lies a short distance away — directly in the path of the street.
Asked if a sign or road barrier might have alerted him to the fact that he was headed toward the river, Orr said, “It probably would have helped. Yeah, it probably would have helped.”
A spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Public Works, which is responsible for street maintenance, could not immediately be reached.
Orr said rescue workers offered to take him and Knew to a hospital for observation, but the two men declined the offer. Instead, he and Knew arranged for someone else to take them home.
Piringer said a D.C. police boat and a diver arrived on the scene shortly after other emergency responders arrived. He noted the diver searched the river as a precautionary measure to determine if other people were in the car, even though the two men who emerged from the water said they were the only ones in the vehicle.
In a statement released Sunday afternoon, Piringer said D.C. police were conducting a follow-up investigation into the incident.
Commander David Kamperin, who heads the First District Police station, said an officer on the scene was expected to complete a full report on the incident after Agenda deadline.
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
