District of Columbia
Capital Pride Festival wows with surprise appearances
Harris speaks, Symone struts as celebrations return
Amid a roster of weekend Pride festivities in the nation’s capital that ended with a much-anticipated performance from pop band DNCE, Vice President Kamala Harris marched onto the Capital Pride Festival stage Sunday afternoon — as the crowd roared in surprise — to stress the importance of queer rights and rebuke white supremacy.
“No one should fear going to a nightclub for fear that a terrorist might try to take them down,” she said in reference to the Pulse nightclub shooting of 2016 in Orlando, Fla. “No one should fear going to a Pride celebration because of the white supremacists,” she added.
Harris also referenced recent legislation in southern states like Texas and Florida that inhibits children’s self-expression.
“Our children in Texas and Florida shouldn’t fear who they are,” she said.
Harris was joined on stage by second gentleman Douglas Emhoff and RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 winner Symone.
The Washington Blade scored an exclusive interview with Symone after the vice president’s remarks.
Symone, who stood about six feet tall in a pair of beige-colored stilettos and a bejeweled turquoise leotard that she would later exchange for a blood orange-and-fuschia layered frill mini-dress, mentioned that Capital Pride was her first Pride event of the season.
“It feels great to be back amongst family,” she said. “It feels good to see all the love and excitement.”
Drawing on about a year since her win on “Drag Race,” the drag queen — affectionately known by her fans as the “Ebony Enchantress” — said that her drag has evolved into the special moments outside of her performances where she can “take care of people [around her].”
“I can finally give back to my mom,” she said.
With regards to her artistic approach to the art form, Symone emphasized that drag is a form of self-expression that allows her to be the most authentic part of herself and to say what she wants to say.
In her season, she celebrated Black culture and Black beauty by draping her head with sculptural braided Black hairstyles and giving nods to streetstyle, including through an outfit that included a meters-long durag.
In one of her season’s runway categories, she strutted in a white gown and fascinator with the phrase, “Say their names” emblazoned on the back. This was in protest of police brutality.
When looking to the future of her profession, Symone is gleeful because she says that more people will become comfortable with drag because it exists to “give joy, laughter, and love.”
“I think what people have left out is that [drag] is art at the end of the day,” she said. “It has always been this art form to play with.”
Her statement echoed one that Harris made earlier: “No one should fear who they love.”
After the interview, Symone returned to Capital Pride’s stage in a waist-length curly black wig to dance to Diana Ross’s “I’m Coming Out” and Beyonce’s “Apeshit,” all while exposing her slender, toned, and glossed legs that brought gasps from some audience members.
Symone’s performance and Harris’s speech were part of the last leg of events that ended a festival that saw hundreds of LGBTQ-friendly organizations, bars and clubs, and food vendors staff booths on Pennsylvania Avenue.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was in attendance for the first time and gave out T-shirts that read “Black Pride” and encouraged passersby to contact their senators to pass the Equality Act — legislation that prohibits discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation. The Equality Act was passed in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2021 and has been stalled in the U.S. Senate since.
“We want to make sure that our [leaders] are doing what we need them to do,” said Annalise Setorie, director of partnerships at the NAACP. Setorie is also chair of the LGBTQ taskforce.
“[The NAACP] fights for all the rights of Black people so we are here to support and uplift the Black queer community,” she added.
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.
District of Columbia
Man charged with anti-gay assault in D.C. accepts plea offer
Community service offered in exchange for dismissing hate crime charge
A Germantown, Md., man arrested by D.C. police on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation for allegedly assaulting a gay man while using “homophobic slurs” has agreed to an offer by prosecutors to plead guilty to simple assault without the hate crime designation and with the promise of having the charge dismissed if he completes, among other requirements, 48 hours of community service work.
Dean Edmundson, 26, standing beside his attorney, officially accepted the offer of a Deferred Sentencing Agreement at an Aug. 18 status hearing in D.C. Superior Court after Senior Judge Hiram Puig-Lugo explained the details of the agreement and confirmed Edmundson’s decision to waive his right to a trial.
Among other things, the judge said the agreement offered by prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for D.C. includes the requirement that he successfully completes 48 hours of community service work, stays away from the victim of the assault, writes a letter of apology to the victim, and does not violate any other laws or get into trouble for the next 12 months.
Puig-Lugo then announced he scheduled a sentencing hearing for Edmundson for Aug. 18, 2027, at which time a determination will made on whether he has fulfilled all the requirements under the agreement and whether the simple assault charge will be dismissed. The judge added that if it is determined that Edmundson did not fulfil the terms of the agreement the charge would remain in place and he could be sentenced to a possible maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Edmundson, who appeared in court wearing a business suit with a dress shirt and tie, was released on his own recognizance following his arrest by D.C. police on Feb. 7, 2026.
Police and court records show he was initially charged by arresting officers with simple assault with a hate crime designation. In a statement announcing the arrest, D.C. police said, “On Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and kept walking,” the statement says.
A follow-up arrest affidavit filed by police states that Edmundson followed the victim and called him “bald, ugly, and gay,” and then “pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push.” The affidavit adds, “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay.”
According to the court records, the Office of the U.S. Attorney filed its official charge of simple assault against Edmunson on Feb. 9 without the hate crime designation. The office has not responded to a request by the Washington Blade for its reason for dropping the hate crime designation. The office has also not immediately responded to a follow-up inquiry from the Blade this week asking if prosecutors consulted the victim to obtain the victim’s thoughts about the plea offer.
The Blade, which has a policy of not disclosing the identify of crime victims in cases like this without their consent, could not immediately obtain contact information to reach the victim for comment.
Court records show that Edmundson rejected an earlier plea agreement offer by prosecutors and he was scheduled for a non-jury trial on Aug. 18. The records show his attorney filed a motion earlier this month asking the judge to convert the trial into status hearing on that same day after his client accepted the Deferred Sentencing Agreement offer by the U.S. Attorney’s office. The judge approved the motion without objection from prosecutors.
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Gay-owned pizzeria in Dupont Circle burglarized
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Not all trans people are the same
Calendar: August 21-27
