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.”
As the year nears its end, the Capital Pride Alliance today announced that it will be retooling ahead of 2026.
CPA, which brings numerous LGBTQ Pride events to Washington and the region – most notably the annual Capital Pride Festival and Parade, along with World Pride 2025 – is moving from a president/vice-president leadership model to an executive committee of board chair, treasurer, and secretary leading the board of directors.
CPA also announced the incoming officers who will step into their roles in December. Notably, the new executive committee is the first in the organization’s history composed entirely of women.
Sian Radaskiewicz-King, of Baltimore, has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors for spray-painting a transgender symbol near Saints Peter & Paul Elementary School in Easton -- conduct that prompted a hate-crime charge and kept her jailed without bond for more than two months.
Under a plea deal with the Talbot County State's Attorney's Office, the 32-year-old admitted to one count of defacing religious property and one count of malicious destruction of property, with prosecutors dropping 24 additional charges.
Prosecutors say Radaskiewicz-King spray-painted a transgender symbol -- a circle with male and female glyphs and a third combined spoke -- around Saints Peter & Paul Elementary School in Easton on the night of September 4. They allege she tagged the same symbol at several other spots in town, including a liquor store fence, the sidewalk outside an Ulta Beauty, and a brick archway at a nearby shopping center.
Ruby Corado plans to request a new court-appointed attorney after her current lawyer withdrew from her case.
The transgender advocate and founder of the now-defunct LGBTQ nonprofit Casa Ruby is scheduled to be sentenced on federal wire fraud charges on October 15.
A longtime fixture in D.C.’s transgender community, Corado was arrested in March 2024 and accused of diverting $150,000 from $1.3 million in federal COVID-era relief funds awarded to her nonprofit for her personal use.
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