Gay
D.C.
Council
member
Jim
Graham
(D-Ward
1)
wants
the
city
to
suspend
the
liquor
license
for
a
black-owned
lesbian
bar
following
a
fatal
stabbing
there
on
March
13,
when
its
space
was
rented
for
a
straight
“go-go”
party.
“This
would
not
have
happened
if
this
was
operating
as
a
lesbian
bar,”
said
Graham.
“They
turned
themselves
into
something
else.”
Graham
and
D.C.
police
officials
said
they
would
urge
the
city’s
Alcoholic
Beverage
Control
Board
on
March
17
to
suspend
the
liquor
license
for
Between
Friends,
a
nightclub
at
1115
U
St.,
NW,
following
a
series
of
violent
incidents
inside
and
outside
the
club
over
the
past
several
months
during
its
weekly
Friday
night
“go-go”
parties.
The
parties
catered
to
a
mostly
heterosexual
crowd,
police
said.
In
an
e-mail
sent
on
Monday,
Graham
said
he
would
work
to
ensure
that
the
Between
Friends
liquor
license
is
permanently
revoked
and
the
club
shut
down.
When
it
opened
in
January
2003,
Between
Friends
billed
itself
as
a
bar
catering
to
lesbians.
It
announced
it
would
feature
poetry
readings
and
host
fund-raising
events
for
gay
community
groups
and
causes,
such
as
the
Mautner
Project
for
Lesbians
with
Cancer
and
Us
Helping
Us,
which
provides
AIDS-related
services
to
African-American
gay
men.
Ibijinka
Hicks,
the
club’s
owner,
could
not
be
reached
by
press
time
following
an
announcement
that
she
would
voluntarily
close
the
club
while
taking
steps
to
improve
security.
Andrew
Kline,
the
club’s
attorney,
did
not
return
a
call.
Vicky
Harris,
who
identified
herself
as
a
consultant
and
promoter
for
Between
Friends,
said
it
would
be
unfair
for
the
city
to
suspend
or
revoke
the
club’s
license
for
an
incident
caused
by
a
few
“troublemakers.”
Harris
said
Between
Friends
continued
to
operate
as
a
lesbian
club
on
Saturday
and
Tuesday
nights
as
well
as
during
happy
hour
periods
in
the
afternoons
on
Monday
through
Friday.
She
said
the
club
rented
out
its
space
for
a
variety
of
other
events,
including
the
Friday
night
go-go
parties.
Harris
said
those
events
were
open
to
everyone,
including
lesbians.
“It’s
a
bad
thing
that
happened,”
Harris
said
of
the
stabbing.
“But
it’s
not
a
bad
club.”
Third
District
Police
Captain
Dianne
Groomes
said
the
club
operated
almost
trouble-free
until
last
November,
when
it
began
its
Friday
night
go-go
parties.
She
said
violent
incidents,
including
fights
inside
and
outside
the
club
and
reports
of
gunshots
outside,
became
common
occurrences
during
the
Friday
night
parties,
causing
complaints
from
nearby
residents
and
frequent
emergency
calls
to
police.
Police
said
an
unknown
assailant
or
assailants
stabbed
District
resident
George
Barnes,
21,
inside
the
club
early
Saturday
morning,
March
13,
following
a
fight
during
the
go-go
party.
He
died
shortly
after
being
taken
to
a
hospital
by
ambulance,
police
said.
Two
other
male
customers
were
stabbed
in
the
same
incident,
which
Groomes
said
took
place
in
the
women’s
bathroom.
Police
said
they
have
no
suspects
and
no
known
motive
for
the
stabbings.
Lt.
Lamar
Green
of
the
Violent
Crimes
Branch,
which
oversees
homicide
investigations,
said
police
have
yet
to
identify
reliable
witnesses,
even
though
the
stabbing
occurring
inside
a
packed
nightclub.
According
to
Groomes,
the
club’s
bouncers
ejected
Barnes
and
the
other
two
stabbing
victims
from
the
club
immediately
after
the
altercation.
She
said
employees
began
to
clean
the
crime
scene
before
police
arrived,
making
it
more
difficult
for
homicide
detectives
to
search
for
evidence.
Two
weeks
before
the
fatal
stabbing
of
Barnes,
someone
stabbed
a
customer
who
was
waiting
in
line
to
enter
the
club,
Groomes
said.
Around
that
same
time,
Groomes
said,
a
customer
ejected
from
the
club
for
fighting
nearly
ran
down
a
police
officer
as
the
customer
sped
away
in
his
car.
She
said
the
ABC
Board
charged
the
club
with
serving
liquor
to
minors
in
January,
after
managers
ignored
suggestions
by
police
to
bar
18-
through
20-year-old
customers
from
entering.
Groomes
said
dozens
of
customers
from
the
go-go
parties
“invaded”
a
nearby
7-Eleven
store
at
the
time
the
parties
ended
each
week,
stealing
merchandize
and
“wrecking”
the
store.
She
said
the
store
now
closes
on
Friday
nights
shortly
before
the
go-go
parties
end.
“It
was
out
of
control
on
the
go-go
nights,”
Groomes
said.
“We
advised
them
repeatedly
on
the
steps
they
should
take
to
improve
their
security.
We
suggested
restricting
entry
to
people
21
or
older.
We
suggested
searching
patrons,”
she
said.
Graham,
who
represents
the
Ward
1
neighborhood
where
Between
Friends
is
located,
said
he
supported
the
club’s
application
for
a
liquor
license
two
years
ago.
He
said
he
called
its
proposed
operation
as
a
lesbian
bar
with
poetry
reading
an
“excellent”
addition
to
the
neighborhood.
“I
anticipated
this
becoming
something
like
the
Phase
One
on
Capitol
Hill,”
Graham
said,
referring
to
the
lesbian
bar
that
is
now
the
city’s
oldest,
continuously
operating
gay
bar.
“I
never
imagined
they
would
lease
this
out
to
something
like
this,”
he
said.
“We
don’t
want
any
bars
in
our
neighborhood
where
you
need
metal
detectors.
We
don’t
want
this
kind
of
crowd
on
U
Street.”
In
a
statement
released
on
March
16,
Graham
announced
he
had
introduced
a
bill
that
would
require
the
ABC
Board
“to
immediately
revoke,
suspend,
or
restrict
...
