Local
LGBT tipped workers hail D.C. Council repeal of Initiative 77
Bowser has promised to sign measure
Mayor Muriel Bowser has vowed to sign a repeal of Initiative 77 passed this week. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)
LGBT tipped workers at the city’s restaurants, bars, and nightclubs joined their straight colleagues on Tuesday in celebrating a vote by the D.C. City Council to repeal an initiative passed by voters in June to end the so-called tipped wage system.
In its first of two required readings, the Council voted 8 to 5 to approve a bill calling for repealing Initiative 77, which voters passed by a margin of 56 percent to 44 percent despite vocal opposition by what appeared to be a large majority of tipped workers.
Council observers expect the Council to give final approval to the repeal bill later this month. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has said she would sign a repeal bill.
Had it become law, Initiative 77 would require restaurants, bars and other employers of tipped workers to pay those workers the city’s full minimum wage, which is currently $13.25 per hour and which will increase to $15 per hour in 2020. The minimum wage for tipped workers is currently $3.89 per hour.
Under the city’s tipped wage law, employers in the city’s highly competitive hospitality industry are allowed to pay tipped workers a lower minimum wage on grounds that the workers make more than the city’s full minimum wage in tips. The law requires employers to pay the difference if workers’ tips fall short of the full minimum wage.
Bar and restaurant owners said ending the tipped wage system would increase their labor costs to a degree that could force them out of business or force them to raise food and beverage prices, which they said would result in lower overall income for tipped workers.
Supporters of the initiative disputed those claims, saying ending the tipped wage system in several other states has not brought about significant problems for restaurants and bars. But opponents of the initiative, including large numbers of tipped workers, told Council members D.C.’s unique and thriving restaurant, bar and nightclub venues would be especially susceptible to serious and harmful repercussions if Initiative 77 were to become law.
Employees and owners of several of the city’s gay bars were part of a coalition of hospitality industry businesses and employees that urged the Council to repeal Initiative 77.
In a development that surprised some observers, once the Council voted 8 to 5 on Tuesday both in the Council’s Committee of the Whole and in the full Council to approve the repeal bill it voted unanimously in a third vote for an emergency version of the bill. The emergency measure takes effect immediately, which prevents Initiative 77 from taking effect this month while the Council moves ahead with its normal legislative process that takes about two months for passing the regular repeal bill. The process involves sending it to the mayor for her signature and completing a required 30 legislative day review by Congress.
“LGBT tipped employees along with tipped employees across the city are celebrating tonight that Initiative 77 has been repealed by the City Council, which will protect their jobs and their livelihoods and their income,” said gay nightlife advocate Mark Lee, who served as managing consultant for NO2DC77, one of the leading groups opposing the initiative.
“This sets a national standard of pushback against the outside organizations that came into Washington to try to impose this upon the workers,” Lee said.
Many supporters of Initiative 77, led by the New York-based group Restaurant Opportunities Center United, denounced the Council for what they called a blatant move to overturn the will of voters who approved the initiative in the city’s June 19 primary election. Some said they would consider pushing for yet another voter initiative to bring the measure back for another vote at the polls.
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.
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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
Not all trans people are the same
UPDATE: Impulse Group’s ‘PrEP Pool Party’ cancelled
Calendar: August 21-27
