This issue lands at a meaningful moment for our community. On Sunday, April 26, hundreds of us will lace up and head to Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas for the 36th Annual AIDS Walk Las Vegas. Aid for AIDS of Nevada has been doing this work since 1984, and this year's theme — "Walk Back into Care" — cuts right to the heart of what AFAN does best: meeting people where they are, without judgment, and reconnecting them with the treatment, housing, food, and case management that make thriving possible. The move to Craig Ranch is intentional. It brings the walk closer to the neighborhoods most impacted by HIV, and it signals that outreach in Southern Nevada is expanding, not contracting. Registration is free at afanlv.org. Check-in opens at 8 a.m., the festival kicks off at 9, and the walk steps off at 10. Whether you fundraise, donate, or simply show up in a good pair of sneakers, you are the point. Bring a friend. Bring two. Bring the whole block.
Flip a few pages and you'll find our photo spread from Sin Sity Sister Red Dress 2026, captured beautifully by Joshua Dagon of JD Images. The Sin Sity Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence threw the kind of night this city does better than anywhere else — sequins, stilettos, a little holy mischief, and a whole lot of heart raised for HIV services and community care. Josh's lens caught every bit of it, from the first red-carpet arrival to the last glass raised in benediction. If you were there, relive it. If you weren't, consider this your formal invitation to next year, and maybe start hemming that gown now.
And because the Force is strong with this issue — May the 4th Be With You, darlings. The Empire Strips Back celebrates its first year in residency at the Rio this month, and seven nights a week they are proving that burlesque and the Skywalker saga were always meant to end up in the same cantina. Stormtrooper stripteases. A Chewbacca who whispers sweet nothings mid-lift. A gloriously unhinged Emperor Palpatine who may or may not be someone you'd recognize under the hood. One full year of pasties, parody, and pure Vegas glee. That is not a disturbance in the Force — that is the Force finally loosening its belt and asking the band to play something with a little more bass.
Walk on the 26th. Catch the show on the 4th. Take care of each other in between.