Local
Gay parents, kids participate in ‘Adoption Day’
Brook Rose and Gregg Busch with their newly-adopted son, Nolan Reese Rose-Busch, at an adoption day proceeding last weekend in D.C. Superior Court. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Relatives and friends wept in joy and cheered as at least four gay male couples carried or walked with their children to a stage at the D.C. Superior Court on Saturday, Nov. 17, where judges signed papers finalizing the adoption of their kids.
With D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and a contingent of family court judges, social workers, and lawyers looking on, the gay couples joined at least 25 straight couples or single parents who had their children’s adoptions finalized during the city’s 26th Annual Adoption Day ceremony.
“The ceremony is designed to celebrate the joy of adoption and encourage area residents to consider adopting or fostering a child in the District’s public child welfare system,” said a statement released by the Superior Court and the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, which facilitates adoptions in the city.
Among the couples participating in the ceremony were Reginald Wilson and his husband Wesley McCammon, who recently moved from Mississippi to the D.C. area, where they adopted Reginald Jr., 9, and his biological sister, Regina, 10.
As the family was introduced by the ceremony’s emcee, NBC News 4 anchor Barbara Harrison, Wilson wept uncontrollably, saying later he was overcome by joy at the columniation of his and his husband’s dream of becoming a family with children.
Gray, who was sitting nearby, walked over to Wilson and hugged him. About a half hour earlier, the mayor delivered remarks praising the city’s adoption program and expressing support for D.C.’s longstanding policy of allowing same-sex couples to adopt.
“We’ve come to an age of enlightenment where, of course, we recognize traditional families and hope that they will adopt,” Gray said. “But also single adults ought to be considered for adoption because they make wonderful adoptive families,” he told the gathering. “And frankly, I’m proud to be in a city where we have approved marriage equality and we have some of the most loving families in the city who are same-sex couples.”
Chad Copeland, Scooter Ward and their son, Norman Moore with Judge Noel Johnson at an adoption day proceeding last weekend in D.C. Superior Court. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Also participating in the ceremony were D.C. residents Chad Copeland and Kevin “Scooter” Ward and their adopted son Norman, 5; and Silvio Weisner and his husband Jeffrey Weisner and their 10-month-old adopted daughter Madeleine Susannah Weisner.
“She was born just outside of Houston, Texas, and we were there on the day she was born,” Silvio Weisner told the Blade. “We brought her home to D.C. nine days later.”
Judith Sandalow, executive director of the D.C.-based Children’s Law Center, which provides legal services to people seeking to adopt or become foster parents, said the city’s Child and Family Services Agency routinely approves gay people and same-sex couples as foster or adoptive parents.
She said anyone interested in learning more about how to adopt or become a foster parent should contact the agency at 202-671-LOVE or go its adoption/foster care website, adoptdckids.org.
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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