🏳️‍🌈🗓️What the gay is going on 1st Aug ‘26

🏳️‍🌈🗓️ What the gay is going on this week at Thirsty’s? 🗓️🏳️‍🌈

Last Week of July / 1st of August 2026

Code: 1963 The year of March in Washington for Jobs and Freedom organized by Rustin

🕊️ As Black Pride RVA wraps and August begins, this week we honor Pacifist Bayard Rustin. See our 2 Gay in History bio post on the website!

📚 Wed: Resistance Reader 6:30 (every 5th Wednesday) — Time on Two Crosses, Rustin’s collected writings

💅🏾 Wed: Hot Girl Drag 9:30 with Amber St Lexington

🍿 Thu: Queer Fan Cinema 7:30 — Rustin (2023), the Netflix biopic, free popcorn!

🎤 Fri: Karaoke with Jason at 7pm

🐶 Sat: Pup Night — Best in Show! With RIC-PPAH Light-hearted games, style contest & talent competition at 7, then DJ Amy Alderman at 9!

🧷 Sun: IYKYK — ABDL 5-8

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📅 COMING UP

⚔️ Next Wed: TTRPG Night 6pm sharp — Paranoia, a dark, funny, dystopian sci-fi system

🥤 Next Thu: N/A Lounge 7pm — the lounge goes dry & 18+ for games, books & hangs (1st Thursdays)

📚 Queer Horizons (2nd Weds 6:30): Gideon the Ninth

🐻 Bear Book (4th Weds): Sunflower Boys

🖤 August Leather Night (3rd Sat): Uniforms — no modern police. 70s highway patrol and the like fine, no fascist insignia please.

NOTE:  Deception! social deduction games will move to 3rd Thursdays and 3rd Wednesdays will become Singles Lounge 7-9

See the calendar tab at thirstysrva.com

Part 2 — NEWS

🌈 THE GAY NEWS 🌈

Last week of July / 1st of August 2026

1️⃣ 🖤 Deadly Attack on Berlin Pride — On July 25 a van plowed into the crowd at Berlin’s Christopher Street Day, killing a 65-year-old mother visiting from Poland and injuring 29. The suspect was killed by police the next day; it’s being investigated as Islamist terrorism.

2️⃣ 📛 Coordinated False Reports Hit Queer Venues — SF’s historic gay bar The Stud had its Instagram yanked after bad actors mass-flagged its trans party posts as “human trafficking.” Meta finally restored it after public outcry — but it’s part of a rising pattern of weaponized reporting against LGBTQ+ spaces.

3️⃣ 🎗️ Trump/RFK Jr. Gut HIV Funding — New data at the International AIDS Conference shows 1,700+ clinics and service sites have closed after PEPFAR cuts. US funding is set to end entirely by 2027, and domestic HIV-prevention grants won’t be renewed.

4️⃣ 🏳️‍⚧️ London Trans+ Pride Breaks Its Own World Record — 150,000 marched on July 25, the largest trans rights protest on earth, 50% bigger than last year.

5️⃣ ⚽ Spain Wins the World Cup — With a Kiss — Spain’s victorious players kissed the trophy and each other, a same-sex celebration on the sport’s biggest stage. Spain has the highest Equidex score in mainland Europe and it shows.

6️⃣ 🇺🇬 Uganda Update — The two women whose kissing case was dropped last month remain at risk of threats and violence, even though they’re legally free. “Charges dropped” doesn’t mean “safe.” They’re seeking Asylum, US preemptively said no.

7️⃣ 🤡 The “Transgender Dolls” Panic — Conservatives are melting down over a false claim that schools will force kids to play with “transgender dolls.” It’s not true. Protect the dolls! Conservatives Lie and Trans Girls Die!