By John Riley on March 2, 2017 @JRileyMW

“Our second year, we had Wig Night Out downstairs at Level One, in the Cobalt complex,” says Jack Jacobson. “The ceiling was so low, too many wigs were hitting [it], because some people brought out really big, beautiful wigs. A lot of people were walking stooped over.
“That year, my mother and I had matching beehives,” Jacobson, one of the organizers of the annual fundraising event, continues. “We’re both short, so we weren’t hitting the ceiling, but we were getting pretty close.”
Wig Night Out was since moved to JR.’s, where nobody need worry about a ceiling flattening their hair — whether it’s a ’50s-style bouffant or a Marie Antoinette-emulating pouf with cascading ringlets.
“The bar is just about the right size,” says Jacobson. “We get just a little bit of traffic off 17th Street, and JR.’s is always incredibly supportive of philanthropy in the city, so they’re a really terrific partner for this event.”
Half of the proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the Point Foundation, which provides scholarships for LGBTQ students seeking to attend a four-year college, community college, or grad school. The other half will go to Whitman-Walker Health, which has spent decades serving D.C.’s LGBTQ community. To participate, all one needs is a wig and a $10 donation.
Says Jacobson, “It’s a lighthearted, super easy event with a lot of color and flash.”
The 8th annual Wig Night Out is Saturday, Mar. 4 from 9 to 11 p.m. at JR.’s, 1519 17th St. NW. For more information, visit facebook.com/wignightout.

By André Hereford on September 7, 2026 @here4andre
Reality TV works in mysterious ways. An ostensible loss can quickly and unexpectedly be transformed into a win, especially in the hands of a queen who's prepared. RuPaul's Drag Race favorite Salina EsTitties, a.k.a. Jason De Puy, was heartbroken, she says, that her run on the recent All Stars season 11 came to an end in her first round of competition.
The feisty Latina performer, who first competed on Drag Race proper three years ago, returned for All Stars with fierce new looks and a fierce attitude, but still missed the cut of queens who made it out of their bracket to the Merge, where finalists would compete.
By André Hereford on September 3, 2026 @here4andre
Drag artists and advocates fighting back in the culture war against drag and LGBTQ rights have seen triumphs and setbacks this summer. Two recent federal court decisions -- one in Florida, the other in Texas -- illustrate opposite shifts in the war being waged over anti-drag laws in states around the nation.
In August, a federal appeals court upheld Florida's law that bans performers or venues from conducting any "adult live performance" in the presence of a minor. The law defines "adult live performance" in terms loose enough to apply to practically any performer who appears in drag in a public space -- from a drag brunch to a Pride parade -- where a minor could be present, even with their parent or guardian's consent.
By John Riley on September 10, 2026 @JRileyMW
"It's been harder to raise money, and I think that this is happening with a lot of the event-based walks across the country -- we've just seen different levels of participation," says Naseema Shafi, president and CEO of Whitman-Walker Health, which is seeking broader community support for its chief fundraiser, the Walk & 5K to End HIV.
The annual event, during which participants traverse a 5-kilometer course near Whitman-Walker's Southeast D.C. location, raises money for the health center's HIV research, testing and prevention services, and care for people living with HIV. Organizers hope to raise more than $400,000 this year but have collected only $86,000 so far, according to the event's website.
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