Local
Hubbard, Day earn high ratings
Republican Day overall liked, but lost points over support of vouchers for Religious schools
Republican Timothy Day. (Courtesy photo)
Democratic activist and attorney Drew Hubbard and gay Republican Timothy Day, an accountant, received the highest ratings on LGBT-related issues from the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance in their race for the city’s Ward 5 City Council seat.
Eleven candidates – nine Democrats, one Republican, and one independent – are competing in a special election scheduled for May 15. The election was called to fill the seat after incumbent Council member Harry Thomas Jr. (D-Ward 5) resigned earlier this year after being indicted on an embezzlement charge.
Hubbard received a GLAA rating of +5.5. Day received a +5.0 rating. GLAA rates candidates on a scale of +10, the highest possible rating, to -10, the lowest rating.
The group bases its ratings on candidates’ responses to a questionnaire and their record on LGBT-related issues.
In a statement released with the ratings, GLAA said Hubbard agreed with GLAA on every issue it raised in its questionnaire but added, “He did not display the depth of knowledge in his responses that we like and he does not have a strong record; but the content of his responses was better than that of his rivals. This is a good rating for a first-time candidate.”
The group said Day generally agrees with GLAA on most issues and his record on issues of concern to GLAA is “mixed, but overall positive.” But GLAA said Day lost points by expressing support for publicly funded vouchers for private schools, something GLAA opposes on grounds that private religious schools are exempt from the city’s human rights law and are free to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
GLAA said Day also lost points for “openly” opposing medical marijuana cultivation centers in Ward 5 under the city’s recent action legalizing medical marijuana.
The group assigned these ratings to the remaining candidates:
• Kenyan McDuffie (Democrat), +4
• Rae Zapata (Democrat), +2
• Ron Magnus (Democrat), +1.5
• Delano Hunter (Democrat), +0.5
• John Cheeks (Independent), 0
• Shelly Gardner (Democrat), 0
• Kathy Henderson (Democrat), 0
• Ruth Marshall (Democrat), 0
• Frank Wilds (Democrat), 0
GLAA said the candidates receiving a “0” rating failed to return the group’s questionnaire and the group was unaware of their record on LGBT issues. It says it assigns a zero rating to all candidates that don’t return the questionnaire and have an unknown record on LGBT issues.
The GLAA questionnaire responses of the Ward 5 candidates are available for viewing at GLAA.org. Their responses to another LGBT related questionnaire from the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group, can be viewed at steindemocrats.org.
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
