Local
Comings & Goings: Andrew Magie and Curtis Tate
Curtis Tate leaving D.C. for Record newspaper in N.J.
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
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].
Curtis Tate
Congratulations to Curtis Tate who on July 24 will join the North Jersey Media Group to report on New Jersey Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for The Record newspaper. North Jersey Media Group, part of the USA Today Network, is the leading provider of news and marketing services in northern New Jersey. The Record is an award-winning daily newspaper reaching nearly half a million readers a day with local, investigative and enterprise reporting. Forty-nine community newspapers circulate to 778,000 households across Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Morris, Hudson and Sussex counties.
Upon announcing his new position Tate said, “That’s right, a job that involves writing about bridges, tunnels and trains. Of course, this means packing up and leaving Washington after nine years and doing a U-turn back to the state where I lived before Obama, Trump and Christie.”
During his time in D.C., Tate worked for the McClatchy Washington Bureau as a policy reporter covering transportation and transportation safety, including the highway trust fund, crude by rail, positive train control, airport terminal and tower upgrades, and the expansion of major ports. He also did a stint as a regional reporter covering Kentucky, Kansas and southern Illinois issues and as a night and weekend editor responsible for managing the bureau budget, updating the website and coordinating coverage of major breaking news. Prior to coming to D.C., Tate worked for the Wall Street Journal as a copy editor and creator of headlines and display type for front page; writer and editor of front-page news summaries and collaborated with editors and reporters on stories in all sections. Prior to that he was with the Indianapolis Star.
Tate served two terms as president of the D.C. chapter of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalism Association. In 2015, he won a Freddie Award from the National Press Foundation and in 2014 was a finalist for a California Journalism Award. He has a bachelor’s in journalism with minors in political science and geography from the University of Kentucky.
Congratulations also to Andrew Magie, who landed a summer internship with The LGBT Health Policy & Practice Program at the George Washington University. This nationally respected certificate program was founded by Stephen L. Forssell, Ph.D. Dr. Forssell has said “The LGBT Health, Policy & Practice Graduate Certificate Program was developed with the assistance and consultation of health care and policy professionals in the government and private industry. The first of its kind in applied LGBT health, our program trains current and future healthcare leaders on strategies for addressing LGBT health issues, reducing health disparities for LGBT people, and for moving the field forward toward a more inclusive, equitable state.”
Magie is a rising sophomore at the George Washington University majoring in political science and physics and aspires to work in the Nuclear Energy Institute lobbying for the safe and environmentally friendly generation of nuclear power. He grew up in Templeton, a small town in the central coast of California. He is a well-known oboist in San Luis Obispo County and continues to play in GW’s bands, orchestras, and chamber ensembles as a principle oboist and was elected vice president of the University Orchestra for the 2017-2018 school year. He is also an Eagle Scout.
Andrew Magie
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.
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
Advocates honored at Engendered Spirit Awards
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
