Local
Ebbin launches campaign for Congress
Vows to be ‘champion for the underserved’
‘Just call me a liberal,’ said Adam Ebbin. (Photo courtesy of Adam Ebbin)
Gay State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) on Saturday formally launched his campaign for the U.S. House seat in Northern Virginia being vacated by retiring Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), telling about 125 supporters he will be a “champion for the underserved.”
Among those attending Ebbin’s campaign kick-off rally at Los Tios Restaurant in the Del Ray section of Alexandria were Alexandria’s popular former mayor and former State Sen. Patsy Ticer (D) and State Sen. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax). Both have endorsed Ebbin.
Sickles, who came out as gay in a Washington Post column in January, was among at least 11 candidates running for Moran’s congressional seat before dropping out of the race two weeks ago.
“In Congress, I’m going to be a champion for the underserved,” Ebbin said. “And that includes working people, LGBT people, women, the poor, immigrants, victims of human trafficking – anyone who has it tough.”
Ebbin noted that he spent nine of his 11 years in the Virginia General Assembly as a member of the Republican-controlled House of Delegates before being elected in 2011 to the State Senate.
“I’ve spent more than a decade passing progressive legislation through the General Assembly, including a hostile House of Delegates,” he said. “With me and supporters of principled legislation like Sen. Ticer I led the opposition to the anti-marriage equality amendment in 2006 that was recently overturned,” he said. “We have turned the corner and there is no going back.”
Ebbin was referring to a federal district court in Virginia that earlier this year declared the 2006 ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in the state constitution a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Supporters of the marriage ban are seeking to appeal the court ruling, and the case could go to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Among the other issues he will push in Congress, Ebbin said, are comprehensive immigration reform, environmental protection, protecting Social Security and Medicare, raising the federal minimum wage and “a real raise for federal workers.”
Mark Levine, a gay rights attorney, radio talk show host and legal counsel to gay former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is among what had been 11 Democrats competing for Moran’s congressional seat in the solidly Democratic 8th District. Another two candidates reportedly have entered the race in the June 10 Democratic primary.
The winner of the primary is expected to be the strong favorite to win the general election in November.
“In this race there’s a lot of candidates, and you’re hearing a lot of progressive slogans,” Ebbin said at his rally on March 22. “We’ve got someone who is a proven principled progressive. We’ve got someone who is the aggressive progressive and someone who is even a progressive warrior,” he said.
“And if it’s easier, just call me a liberal,” said Ebbin.
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.
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