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Comings & Goings
Cormier Maggiano named to D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities
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 Chase Cormier Maggiano on his appointment to the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. He is an arts leader with a diverse background in nonprofit management, entrepreneurship, and music. He is board chair of the non-profit Sound Impact, and is an expert luthier. As a luthier specializing in the repair and restoration of fine bows of the violin family, Cormier Maggiano serves professional musicians at the highest level through his company, Washington Fine Bows. He has previously served as Manager of Sales Operations and Marketing, Potter Violins.
Cormier Maggiano has extensive experience in nonprofit arts management. He was Executive Director of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., and The Washington Chorus, where he oversaw the strategic and operational aspects of these award-winning organizations. He has been an advocate for LGBTQ rights, gender parity, criminal justice victims, and racial equity. As Board Chair of Sound Impact and Advisory Board Member of Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts, he is dedicated to shaping the social and artistic fabric of the community. He produced the first-ever LGBTQ rights concert tour in Cuba and a subsequent concert tour in Ukraine. He also founded BravoScore, a startup aimed at revolutionizing the search for performing arts events and connecting local artists with audiences in a personalized and inclusive manner.
Congratulations also to Christiane Cordero, Daric L. Cottingham, Hannah Schoenbaum, Salgu Wissmath, and Sarah Youngblood Gregory, recipients of the 2023 Curve Award for Emerging Journalists. The awards were announced by NLGJA: The Association for LGBTQ+ Journalists and The Curve Foundation.
The award, sponsored by the Curve Foundation, provides financial support to emerging journalists whose work fosters fair and accurate coverage and elevates the voices of LGBTQ women, trans, and nonbinary people. NLGJA Executive Director Adam Pawlus said, “We are immensely proud to honor these exceptional recipients who are shaping the future of LGBTQ+ journalism. As we celebrate their achievements, we also look forward to the continued impact they will undoubtedly bring to the field, inspiring an emerging generation of journalists to fearlessly tell the stories that matter most.” The Curve Award for Emerging Journalists includes a $5,000 cash award and access to unique professional development opportunities.
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
