In the early morning hours of May 23, Sinners and Saints, an LGBTQ bar catering mainly to Queer and trans communities of color in Adams Morgan, was broken into.
Intruders shattered the glass on the front door, and after gaining entry, stole bottles of alcohol, shut off the bar’s electricity, and left the back door ajar.
They also scrawled a homophobic slur on a wall.
An employee from the restaurant above the bar was the first to notice the break-in after going downstairs to investigate why the building was without power.
They then called Blair Nixon, the co-owner and manager of Sinners and Saints, to inform them of the break-in.
The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the break-in as a suspected hate crime. Thus far, no arrests have been made.
Nixon called the vandalism “disheartening,” telling the Washington Post, “If you have somebody who’s in your space who isn’t supposed to be there, it’s scary.”
The vandalism occurred during D.C. Black Pride Weekend and mere weeks before Washington is scheduled to host WorldPride, an international LGBTQ festival that will attract hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ visitors and allies to the District.
Rather than be silenced by the attack, the bar’s co-owners wanted to defy the vandals and send a message that they wouldn’t be pushed around.
Nixon posted pictures of the vandalism on social media, writing in an Instagram post, “To the coward who broke in and scribbled slurs: your fear is loud, but our pride is louder. This space remains queer, defiant, and beautifully unbothered.”
“This space exists to protect and celebrate Queer and Trans BIPOC communities, and this attack only strengthens our resolve,” the post continues. “We will NOT be silenced. We will NOT be intimidated. We will NOT back down. To those who tried to harm us: hate fuels our defiance. To our community: we see you, we love you, and we will continue fighting for you.”
The post sparked a flood of comments from patrons and community members offering to help with repairs or stand guard outside the bar.
Sinners and Saints launched a GoFundMe page, seeking to raise $9,000. It has so far raised over $7,800.
“D.C. has one of the biggest queer communities in the entire world and what’s important to note is that the acceptance of the LGBT community has been amazing,” he said. “However, just like many other situations, the acceptance of people of the color and the trans community is lagging behind and our entire mission is to provide a space where underrepresented and marginalized communities within the greater LGBT community can feel safe.”
Twelve hours after discovering the vandalism, the bar cleaned up the debris and opened to the public, with dozens of people packing the bar’s dance floor on Friday night.
<p?>Nixon said the owners are considering framing the slur, which remains on the wall, as a way of reclaiming their power and proving how they successfully stood up to hatred.
“We don’t ever want to send the message that we can be repressed,” he said. “We don’t want to be shaken, we don’t want to be down, we want to be sure we stick to our mission.”
Philadelphia police are searching for three juvenile suspects who allegedly threw a cup filled with chemical acid on a transgender woman walking to meet friends for a Pride Month celebration.
The victim, 25-year-old Diana — who is withholding her last name for safety reasons — had just exited the Market/Frankford "El" line at 52nd and Market Streets. She was walking along 51st Street in West Philadelphia when the attack occurred around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 1.
According to police, the juveniles approached Diana, paused, and then threw the contents of the cup on her without any prior interaction.
The last time WorldPride was celebrated in the United States was in New York City in 2019, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, June 1969.
For D.C., hosting WorldPride in 2025, a half-century celebration remains the theme. In Washington's case, however, it's marking the five decades since the city's first official Pride celebration -- Gay Pride Day, June 22, 1975.
In light of Covid, new global conflicts, and a renewed right-wing lurch at the top of American politics, that 2019 WorldPride might seem a world away. The Before Times. It makes Deacon Maccubbin's tales of D.C.'s first Pride all the more uplifting, providing a perspective of years, not election cycles, illuminating Martin Luther King Jr.'s promise of the "arc of justice" bending over time.
Cue the wedding bells for Freddie Lutz and Johnny Cervantes!
The owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington and his partner of 28 years will be getting married in view of hundreds of thousands of WorldPride revelers during the WorldPride Parade on Saturday, June 7.
“I’m literally inviting the entire world,” laughs Lutz. “I’ve thought about doing a wedding float for Freddie’s for years now, but we have never pulled it off.”
Lutz had always dreamed of a fancy, public wedding on a parade float, but he and Cervantes declined to get married immediately after same-sex marriage was legalized in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
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