GAYBORHOODS. D.C. no longer has one: “Today, Lambda Rising's final storefront, at 1625 Connecticut Ave. NW, is a Comfort One Shoes. Other LGBTQ spaces have vanished from Dupont, too, including Mr. P's, the Fraternity House (later, Omega), Phase 1's Northwest outpost, and the Last Hurrah (next called Badlands, and most recently, Apex)—watering holes that catered to gay men. D.C.'s queer quarter has diminished with the fading of such institutional anchors, places where LGBTQ individuals could play out their identities and lower their guard among birds of a feather.”

HENRY ROLLINS. The Black Flag frontman and LGBT ally on the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus ‘Anthem-gate': “I felt for the men of the San Diego Gay Men's Chorus. No matter what was the cause of this mishap, it must have been quite awful to endure such perfect situational humiliation. It reminds me of the scene in Carrie when she gets bucketed in pig's blood. I always dug it that she destroyed the place.”

RUSSIA. Kremlin “experts” blame condoms for the HIV epidemic: “The contraceptive industry is interested in selling their products and encouraging under-aged people to engage in sex,” he said. Beloborodov said that the best form of protection against HIV was to “be in a heterosexual family where both partners are loyal to each other.”

MARS. Elon Musk plans to launch mission in 2024: “SpaceX and Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk will send a mission to Mars — on the Flying Dragon version 2 rocket —starting in 2018 and launch a rocket headed there at every open opportunity — every 26 months. ‘It is intended to carry astronauts to the International Space Station,' said Musk at the Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. on Wednesday night. ‘But we are going to send one to Mars in 2018.' But that's not the biggest ambition. If everything goes according to plan, the first rocket carrying human cargo will launch in 2024, he said.”

ZIKA. Baby with Zika-related birth defects born inside U.S.: “The baby girl is suffering from severe microcephaly, a birth defect marked by small head size that can lead to severe developmental problems, after she was delivered through cesarean section at Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, New Jersey, the news websiteNorthJersey.com reported.”

IN THE HEIGHTS. Lin-Manuel Miranda's 2008 Broadway hit coming to the big screen? “Now, a film adaptation of the bodega-set project is in the works at The Weinstein Co. Miranda, who is producing, has parked the still-hot project with Harvey Weinstein and is hoping to make it for $15 million. Though Miranda will be heavily involved in the film, it's unclear whether or not he will star, now that the 36-year-old is 10 years older than the character he first conceived.”

SNAPCHAT. The social network passes Twitter in daily usage: “Snapchat Inc. has 150 million people using the service each day, said people familiar with the matter. That makes the four-year-old messaging app more popular than Twitter Inc. by daily active users.”

ISRAEL. Court rejects ban on anti-LGBT individuals from Pride parade: “The orders, which would have barred the individuals from approaching the route of the parade in Tel Aviv, were issued against dozens of haredi and national religious activists. Police had called the individuals in question, requesting that they report to local police stations to sign the orders, agreeing to voluntary temporary restraining orders. While some assented to the request, many refused, prompting the police to seek mandatory restraining orders from the court on Wednesday.”

NERD EMOJI. Jared Leto's got it down.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGJ6OCtMg16/?tagged=jaredleto

INTO THE FOREST. Ellen Page talks about her new end-of-days movie. “Forget the zombie attacks or fire and brimstone, this drama from writer-director Patricia Rozema looks at the psychological side of complete loss. Page joins Shad to discuss why she chose Jean Hegland's novel as her first self-produced film.”