Local
LGBT youth hear gunshots outside SMYAL house
Man was shot and killed on 1800 block of Benning Road
SMYAL Executive Director Sultan Shakir said staff have remained safe and have not been directly impacted by the shootings.(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Residents and staff members at the LGBT youth advocacy group SMYAL’s eight-bedroom transitional house for homeless LGBT youth were among many residents living near a section of Benning Road, N.E. that heard the sounds of gunshots last month during the latest of several shooting incidents in the area.
According to D.C. police, a man was shot and killed on the 1800 block of Benning Road., N.E., around the corner from the SMYAL house, in a hail of gunfire about 1:50 p.m. on Nov. 26. Police said a second person received a non-life threatening gunshot wound in the same incident.
The shooting marked another in a series of shootings along or near a section of Benning Rd., N.E. in the last several months, police and residents in the area have said. Police said four people were shot and wounded along the 1800 block of Benning Road, N.E. on Sept. 21 and a man was shot to death there on Sept. 24.
SMYAL Executive Director Sultan Shakir told the Washington Blade that residents and staff at the SMYAL house at 746 19th St., N.E., which is less than one block off of Benning Rd., have remained safe and have not been directly impacted by the nearby shootings. But he said the youth residents and staff were aware of the incidents.
“They heard the shots,” he said in referring to the Nov. 26 incident that took the life of one of two people struck by gunfire.
The SMYAL house opened in January 2017 following a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said the shootings did not appear to be random and that the persons shot may have been targets related to disputes. Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kathy Henderson told NBC 4 News she believes the shootings were linked to possible disputes among drug dealers coming into the neighborhood from other parts of the city.
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
Not all trans people are the same
UPDATE: Impulse Group’s ‘PrEP Pool Party’ cancelled
Calendar: August 21-27
