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Comings & Goings
Scott Bloom to debut film ‘Raceland’
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: [email protected].
Congratulations to Scott Bloom on the completion of his film “Raceland.” It is the story of Blake and Lloyd, two old friends from the bayou. As kids they were thick as thieves. After being separated for a number of years, they’ve rekindled their friendship. During a day of fishing, Lloyd is tragically injured and Blake nurses him back to health. It’s during this time together they realize the love they had for each other back when they were kids, did not disappear but was rather buried under years of social cues and macho veneer.
Bloom has worked as a freelance editor in Southern California on hundreds of feature documentaries, sitcoms, film trailers and reality television episodes. In 2005, he left the edit suite and stepped behind the camera as producer and director of the award-winning documentaries, “Original Pride: The Satyrs Motorcycle Club,” “Call Me Troy” and “Out for the Long Run.” “Raceland” is his first narrative film, a personal story drawing from actual events in his life. Bloom has been invited to screen “Raceland” in one festival in Colorado and to premiere it on its own in New Orleans in early 2019.
Congratulations also to Christopher L. Pepin-Neff appointed a Senior Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Sydney. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at the Palm Center, San Francisco.
Prior to moving to Sydney to continue his education, he worked as a researcher for the Pew Environmental Group in D.C., executive director of Outright Vermont in Burlington, a senior policy advocate with the Service Members Legal Defense Network and a staff assistant in the Office of former Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
He has authored a book that will be out this year, “FLAWS: Shark Bites and Emotional Public Policymaking.” He has written numerous journal articles including, “Reducing fear to influence policy preferences: An experiment with sharks and beach safety policy options.”
Pepin-Neff was an executive committee member for the University of Sydney LGBTQ Ally Network.
He earned his bachelor’s from James Madison University, his master’s in public policy from the University of Sydney; and his Ph.D. in public policy from the University of Sydney, Department of Government and International Relations.
Congratulations also to Peter Clark who was promoted to Assistant General Counsel and Tort Liability Program Manager with the Office of Risk Management for the District of Columbia. Clark has extensive experience managing various types of injury and property damage claims. About this position he said, “I believe my experience as an attorney and training manager as well as being an adjunct professor of paralegal studies is of great benefit to both the Tort Division and the District as a whole.”
He moved to the District from Massachusetts in 2016 to work for the District of Columbia. His experience includes working as a claims administrator with the Amity Insurance Co. in Braintree, Mass. and Unit Coordinator Training Manager with the New England Medical Center (Tufts) in Boston. In addition for more than 12 years he had a private law practice specializing in the areas of general liability, personal injury, premise liability, estate planning, and real estate closing.
Clark earned his bachelor’s from Suffolk University and his JD from the Southern New England School of Law. He also attended the San Diego School of Law in London, England where he did a Comparative law barrister internship and received highest honors.
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
