Local
Vandalism of Blade boxes, theft of papers continues
Excrement placed in boxes in Dupont Circle, 17th Street area
Vandals appear to have stepped up their attacks on Blade distribution boxes. (Washington Blade photo)
Unidentified perpetrators are emptying some of the Washington Blade’s newspaper distribution boxes of papers on the day they are delivered and vandalizing others by smearing human excrement on the papers and the inside surfaces, preventing readers from gaining access to the Blade in locations throughout the city.
Blade publisher Lynne Brown said that while the bulk theft of the papers and the vandalism of the boxes have been taking place for the past two years, the frequency and intensity of the incidents appear to have increased during Thanksgiving week.
“We restock and clean as fast as possible,” Brown said. “But there’s a loss of property. This is our product. It’s being destroyed,” she said. “And the confidence of our readers is being challenged.”
John Ryan, co-owner of Media Point LLC, a newspaper distribution company that delivers the Blade each week to the street boxes and other locations, such as bars, bookstores and restaurants, said his drivers remove the boxes soiled by excrement and take them to a company warehouse, where they are steam cleaned.
Ryan said during the past month or two, the unidentified perpetrator or perpetrators have repeatedly targeted Blade boxes on 17th Street outside some of the neighborhood’s popular bars and restaurants, including the gay bar Colbalt at 17th and R streets, N.W.
“I don’t know how they are getting it into the box, but it’s the fifth time with these boxes that we’ve had to pull them off the street and clean them and put them back,” he said in referring to the boxes smeared with excrement.
“We’re at wit’s end as far as that goes because that is a nasty job as you can imagine,” he said.
“And three days later they’re doing it again, and we have to pick them back up,” said Media Point supervisor Richard Goldsmith, who is in charge of the Blade distribution operation.
D.C. police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump said earlier this year that the department is “very committed” to addressing reports of vandalism of newspaper boxes. But Crump and other police officials have said the U.S. Attorney’s office has determined that it’s not a crime to take a free newspaper, even large quantities of the paper.
Maryland and other states have passed laws that make it a crime to remove large quantities of free newspapers if the intent is to deprive others from reading them or obtaining them. D.C. has yet to adopt such a law, police officials have said.
Brown said that with the vandalism appearing to be increasing, she plans to more aggressively report the incidents to police at the time the delivery drivers discover the damaged boxes.
According to Brown and Ryan, in addition to the excrement smearing, vandals have started to smash the plastic window on the boxes and break off a clip that holds one copy of the paper against the window so readers can read the headlines and determine if a new issue has been delivered.
Ryan and Goldsmith said they take steps to repair and replace the broken windows and clips on the boxes as fast as they can, but in certain locations the vandals return and break them almost as soon as the repaired boxes are put back on the street.
“If a hate crime is a factor, one of my concerns is what if a reader is taking a Blade out and this hateful, spiteful person who’s kicking out the window on the box decides to attack a Blade reader,” Brown said.
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
