Local
Obituaries
Dori Ann Steele, 53, Michael Baker, 64, and Everett Waldo, 77
Dori Ann Steele, 53
Dori Anne Steele, an author and massage therapist in Silver Spring, Md., died March 4 following a four-year struggle with a debilitating spinal nerve condition known as arachnoiditis. She was 53.
Her partner, University of Maryland Family Studies Professor Robyn Zeiger, said Steele took her own life when the pain from the incurable illness, which eventually would lead to partial paralysis, became unbearable.
Zeiger, who was Steele’s partner for more than 26 years, said she and the couple’s friends and family members remember Steele as a “healer” through her expertise as a certified massage therapist.
Friends and family members will celebrate Steele’s life at a memorial service scheduled for May 23 at the University of Maryland’s Memorial Chapel, Zeiger said.
Steele began her career as a Silver Spring massage therapist in 1994 after graduating from the Potomac Massage Training Institute of D.C. with a certification in Swedish and deep tissue massage. An Institute biography says she obtained advanced, post-graduate training in specialized massage techniques.
It also says that in 1999, she became a Reiki Master, a term used to describe people trained to perform and teach a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation through massage and meditation.
Zeiger, who wed Steele in Canada in 2006 and again in California in 2008, said that prior to working as a massage therapist, Steele worked as an editor and technical writer for consulting firms that specialized in the fields of health and science. She received a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from Goddard College in Vermont.
Steele was a creative writer and poet, Zeiger said. Her book, “Drawing Back the Curtains: A Collection of Lesbian Erotica,” was published in 1990.
Zeiger, a licensed clinical counselor and senior lecturer at the University of Maryland, said Steele joined her in advocating for same-sex partner rights and benefits at the university and elsewhere. In 2007, the two focused on a campaign to persuade the University of Maryland to adopt such benefits.
“She went from a very vibrant, very alive person to another person due to the pain,” said Zeiger.
Zeiger told the Blade that Steele drove to a rustic location on Damascus Road in Gaithersburg where Steele and Zeiger enjoyed the scenery together in past years. Steele parked the car in a church lot and consumed a large quantity of pain medication, Zeiger said.
A Montgomery County medical examiner determined the death was caused by an overdose of oxycodone and alcohol.
“Dori made a rational and brave decision to end her life, given the dire circumstances of her severely painful physical condition,” Zeiger told the Gazette, a Maryland newspaper. “It was based not on depression, but on the fact that she could no longer tolerate the pain.”
The Gazette reported that in a note she left, Steele wrote, “I just cannot see any more doctors, have any more procedures, MRIs, pills.”
In addition to Zeiger, Steele is survived by her sister, Donna Flynn; her brother, Paul Satterfield; her brother-in-law, Harvey Zeiger; her sister-in-law, Susan Zeiger; two nieces; one nephew; and other relatives.
The memorial service in celebration of her life is scheduled to take place at noon May 23 at the University of Maryland’s Memorial Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Food & Friends, 219 Riggs Rd., N.E., Washington, D.C. 20011, or Best Friends Animal Society, 5001 Angel Canyon Rd., Kanab, Utah 84741.
Michael Baker, 64
Charles Michael Baker, a founding member of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and a federal government employee for 30 years, died March 1 at Sibley Memorial Hospital of complications associated with acute pancreatitis. He was 64.
Originally from Key West, Fla., Baker attended La Grange College in Georgia before moving to Washington, D.C. He worked at the Office of Management & Budget and later served as director of environmental education for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
During his time at the EPA, Baker founded the federal government agency’s staff diversity group, which organized annual LGBT Pride-related events associated with Federal GLOBE, an LGBT organization of federal employees. He retired from government service in 2008.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington honored him in 2009 with its Harmony Lifetime Achievement Award, recognizing his involvement with the chorus in a variety of roles for 29 years.
Jeff Buhrman, the chorus artistic director, said Baker was one of the group’s founding members in 1981 and served as its first president elected by Chorus members in 2001 after the group reorganized its governing structure. Baker sang for the chorus for the entire 29 years of his involvement with the group.
“It was the love of his family and friends and his involvement in music and theater that gave him his greatest joys,” says a tribute to Baker prepared by friends.
He is survived by his partner, Trieu Tran of Washington, D.C.; his sister, Sylvia Knight; his son, Matthew; one daughter-in-law; and two granddaughters. Memorial services celebrating his life were held in April in Key West and Washington, D.C.
Everett Waldo, 77
Everett Waldo, a founding president of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and a federal government employee in the 1980s, died April 3 of natural causes in San Diego. He was 77.
Waldo has been credited with playing a key leadership role for the Gay Men’s Chorus in its formative years, working with others to put the group on its path toward becoming a highly acclaimed choral group in the nation’s capital, Chorus officials said.
He was born in Waterbury, Vt., and attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and Miami University in Ohio, where he received a bachelor’s degree in music.
He served in the Army in Frankfurt, Germany, during the Korean War and later attended Wesley Seminary in Washington, D.C., where he received a master’s of divinity degree. He served as a minister at Methodist churches in Bucksport, Maine, and Accokeek, Md. He later worked for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development and the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights in Washington.
A biography prepared by family members says he moved to San Diego in 1990, where he became involved with the First Unitarian Universalist Church. Kathleen Owens, the church’s associate minister, said Waldo served as an active lay leader and fundraiser for the church.
In a separate tribute to his long association with the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, present and former Chorus members said Waldo returned to Washington several times in the 20 years following his move to San Diego to attend and participate in Chorus events. They said he remained a singing member of the Chorus up until his move to the West Coast.
“Given that his achievements throughout his career with [the Chorus] were primarily in the administrative area, it must have pleased him immensely to be a soloist in one of his final concerts, singing the role of one of the ‘Three Little Girls from School’ in ‘The Mikado,’” says the tribute.
“The Chorus next year will mark its 30th anniversary, thanks to Everett and his fellow pioneers and the countless others who followed Everett’s early and crucial example,” it says.
Waldo is survived by his sons, Jonathan and Matthew; four grandchildren; his former wife, Liz; and his sister, Joanne Bixby.
A memorial service honoring his life was held in San Diego in May. Family members requested that donations, in lieu of flowers, be made in his honor to First Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego, 4190 Front St., San Diego, CA 92103.
Rehoboth Beach
Rehoboth’s Blue Moon is for sale but owners aim to keep it in gay-friendly hands
$4.5 million listing includes real estate; business sold separately
Gay gasps could be heard around the DMV earlier this week when a real estate listing for Rehoboth Beach’s iconic Blue Moon bar and restaurant hit social media.
Take a breath. The Moon is for sale but the longtime owners are not in a hurry and are committed to preserving its legacy as a gay-friendly space.
“We had no idea the interest this would create,” Tim Ragan, one of the owners, told the Blade this week. “I guess I was a little naive about that.”
Ragan explained that he and longtime partner Randy Haney are separating the real estate from the business. The two buildings associated with the sale are listed by Carrie Lingo at 35 Baltimore Ave., and include an apartment, the front restaurant (6,600 square feet with three floors and a basement), and a secondary building (roughly 1,800 square feet on two floors). They are listed for $4.5 million.
The bar and restaurant business is being sold separately; the price has not been publicly disclosed.
But Ragan, who has owned the Moon for 20 years, told the Blade nothing is imminent and that the Moon remains open through the holidays and is scheduled to reopen for the 2026 season on Feb. 10. He has already scheduled some 2026 entertainment.
“It’s time to look for the next people who can continue the history of the Moon and cultivate the next chapter,” Ragan said, noting that he turns 70 next year. “We’re not panicked; we separated the building from the business. Some buyers can’t afford both.”
He said there have been many inquiries and they’ve considered some offers but nothing is firm yet.
Given the Moon’s pioneering role in queering Rehoboth Beach since its debut 44 years ago in 1981, many LGBTQ visitors and residents are concerned about losing such an iconic queer space to redevelopment or chain ownership.
“That’s the No. 1 consideration,” Ragan said, “preserving a commitment to the gay community and honoring its history. The legacy needs to continue.” He added that they are not inclined to sell to one of the local restaurant chains.
You can view the real estate listing here.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Tristan Fitzpatrick on his new position as Digital Communications Manager with TerraPower. TerraPower creates technologies to provide safe, affordable, and abundant carbon-free energy. They devise ways to use heat and electricity to drive economic growth while decarbonizing industry.
Fitzpatrick’s most recent position was as Senior Communications Consultant with APCO in Washington, D.C. He led integrated communications campaigns at the fourth-largest public relations firm in the United States, increasing share of voice by 10 percent on average for clients in the climate, energy, health, manufacturing, and the technology. Prior to that he was a journalist and social media coordinator with Science Node in Bloomington, Ind.
Fitzpatrick earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism with a concentration in public relations, from Indiana University.
Congratulations also to the newly elected board of Q Street. Rob Curis, Abigail Harris, Yesenia Henninger, Stu Malec, and David Reid. Four of them reelected, and the new member is Harris.
Q Street is the nonprofit, nonpartisan, professional association of LGBTQ+ policy and political professionals, including lobbyists and public policy advocates. Founded in 2003 on the heels of the Supreme Court’s historic decision in Lawrence v. Texas, when there was renewed hope for advancing the rights of the LGBTQ community in Washington. Q Street was formed to be the bridge between LGBTQ advocacy organizations, LGBTQ lobbyists on K Street, and colleagues and allies on Capitol Hill.
District of Columbia
New queer bar Rush beset by troubles; liquor license suspended
Staff claim they haven’t been paid, turn to GoFundMe as holidays approach
The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board on Dec. 17 issued an order suspending the liquor license for the recently opened LGBTQ bar and nightclub Rush on grounds that it failed to pay a required annual licensing fee.
Rush held its grand opening on Dec. 5 on the second and third floors of a building at 2001 14 Street, N.W., with its entrance around the corner on U Street next to the existing LGBTQ dance club Bunker.
It describes itself on its website as offering “art-pop aesthetics, high-energy nights” in a space that “celebrates queer culture without holding back.” It includes a large dance floor and a lounge area with sofas and chairs.
Jackson Mosley, Rush’s principal owner, did not immediately respond to a phone message from the Washington Blade seeking his comment on the license suspension.
The ABC Board’s order states, “The basis for this Order is that a review of the Board’s official records by the Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Administration (ABCA) has determined that the Respondent’s renewal payment check was returned unpaid and alternative payment was not submitted.”
The three-page order adds, “Notwithstanding ABCA’s efforts to notify the Respondent of the renewal payment check return, the Respondent failed to pay the license fee for the period of 2025 to 2026 for its Retailer’s Class CT license. Therefore, the Respondent’s license has been SUSPENDED until the Respondent pays the license fees and the $50.00 per day fine imposed by the Board for late payment.”
ABCA spokesperson Mary McNamara told the Blade that the check from Rush that was returned without payment was for $12,687, which she said was based on Rush’s decision to pay the license fee for four years. She said that for Rush to get its liquor license reinstated it must now pay $3,819 for a one-year license fee plus a $100 bounced check fee, a $750 late fee, and $230 transfer fee, at a total of $4,919 due.
Under D.C. law, bars, restaurants and other businesses that normally serve alcoholic beverages can remain open without a city liquor license as long as they do not sell or serve alcohol.
But D.C. drag performer John Marsh, who performs under the name Cake Pop and who is among the Rush employees, said Rush did not open on Wednesday, Dec. 17, the day the liquor board order was issued. He said that when it first opened, Rush limited its operating days from Wednesday through Sunday and was not open Mondays and Tuesdays.
Marsh also said none of the Rush employees received what was to be their first monthly salary payment on Dec. 15. He said approximately 20 employees set up a GoFundMe fundraising site to raise money to help sustain them during the holiday period after assuming they will not be paid.
He said he doubted that any of the employees would return to work in the unlikely case that Mosley would attempt to reopen Rush without serving liquor or if he were to pay the licensing fee to allow him to resume serving alcohol without having received their salary payment.
As if all that were not enough, Mosley would be facing yet another less serious problem related to the Rush policy of not accepting cash payments from customers and only accepting credit card payments. A D.C. law that went into effect Jan. 1, 2025, prohibits retail businesses such as restaurants and bars from not accepting cash payments.
A spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, which is in charge of enforcing that law, couldn’t immediately be reached to determine what the penalty is for a violation of the law requiring that type of business to accept cash payments.
The employee GoFundMe site, which includes messages from several of the employees, can be accessed here.
Mosley on Thursday responded to the reports about his business with a statement on the Rush website.
He claims that employees were not paid because of a “tax-related mismatch between federal and District records” and that some performers were later paid. He offers a convoluted explanation as to why payroll wasn’t processed after the tax issue was resolved, claiming the bank issued paper checks.
“After contacting our payroll provider and bank, it was determined that electronic funds had been halted overnight,” according to the statement. “The only parties capable of doing so were the managers of the outside investment syndicate that agreed to handle our stabilization over the course of the initial three months in business.”
Mosley further said he has not left the D.C. area and denounced “rumors” spread by a former employee. He disputes the ABCA assertion that the Rush liquor license was suspended due to a “bounced check.” Mosley ends his post by insisting that Rush will reopen, though he did not provide a reopening date.
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