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Park Police seek help in P Street Beach robbery & more
Park Police seek help in P Street Beach robbery
U.S. Park Police are asking for help in their investigation into a May 5 robbery in P Street Beach of a victim who might have met the robber inside a gay bar in the Dupont Circle area.
A Park Police spokesperson said an investigation found that the victim and robber most likely met in one of the nearby clubs and walked together into P Street Beach about 2:30 a.m. P Street Beach is recognized as a gay male cruising area where men meet for sexual liaisons.
Park Police Sgt. David Schlosser said the robber reportedly picked the pocket of his victim and took his wallet but did not assault the victim or use a weapon. Schlosser noted that the robber used a credit card he stole from the victim to make purchases in a number of stores in the Dupont Circle area, including the CVS drug store located on Dupont Circle.
Schlosser said the suspect is described as being a Latino male sporting a thin beard. On the night of the incident, the suspect was wearing black pants, a blue T-shirt, a black striped hat and carrying a black backpack with a Nike logo and black string shoulder straps. The suspect is believed to be a regular at the gay clubs in the P Street area near Dupont Circle.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact the Park Police tip line at 202-610-8737.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Poll shows Graham leading in Ward 1
A poll commissioned by gay D.C. City Council member Jim Graham’s re-election committee shows him far head in the Ward 1 race, with 68 percent support from likely voters in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.
The poll shows Graham’s two opponents, Bryan Weaver and Jeff Smith, receiving 8 percent and 7 percent, respectively. Seventeen percent of the respondents in the poll said they were undecided.
Lake Research Partners, a national public opinion and political strategy research firm, conducted the poll, which included responses from 300 likely Democratic voters living in Ward 1 who were contacted between June 28 and July 1.
The poll also showed Graham receiving a 77 percent favorability rating among the respondents, with 71 percent rating his job performance as “excellent/good,” according to a statement released by the Graham campaign.
In addition, the poll found that among the participating Ward 1 respondents, 43 percent said they support Mayor Adrian Fenty in his re-election bid; 37 percent support Fenty’s main rival, D.C. City Council Chairman Vincent Gray; and 2 percent support challenger Leo Alexander.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
New liquor law bill affects clubs displaced by stadium
D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty has introduced legislation that would raise the fee for maintaining liquor licenses for gay and straight nightclubs displaced by the Washington Nationals baseball stadium that have yet to reopen.
The Omnibus Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Amendment Act of 2010 would assess a special fee of 25 percent above the annual liquor license renewal cost for every six months that a nightclub or bar retains its license while the bar or club is closed and the license is held in “safe keeping” with the city. If a club or bar remains closed for two years, the special fee would increase to 50 percent of the annual renewal cost of the license every six months.
The annual license renewal cost for a nightclub with a capacity of between 500 and 999 patrons is $4,550, according to a spokesperson for the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration.
The special “safe keeping” fee would apply to all clubs and bars, not just those displaced by the stadium. But LGBT activists have expressed concerns that the city has failed to take sufficient steps toward helping clubs displaced by the stadium find new locations. Some of the displaced clubs offered nude dancing, a status that limits their ability to relocate due to zoning restrictions against adult entertainment.
Some activists have said they are considering asking the Council to add new language to the mayor’s bill that would ease restrictions on the relocation of adult clubs and ease some of the restrictions for clubs currently operating.
Gay Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) chairs the committee with jurisdiction over the bill. Graham is expected to hold a public hearing on the bill within the next month or two.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Gay congressman endorses Fenty
Gay U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) delivered a ringing endorsement of D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty’s re-election bid June 30 at the Logan Circle gay bar MOVA, where Fenty held an LGBT community reception.
With more than 150 people packed into the bar’s upper floor lounge, Polis praised Fenty for what the congressman said was a “tremendous” improvement in the city’s public schools and efficient and “great” overall city services during Fenty’s first term as mayor.
Polis also praised the mayor for his support for LGBT rights and for helping bring about “gay marriage in Washington, D.C.”
Fenty thanked Polis for the endorsement and told the crowd he believes his record on LGBT issues — as well as citywide issues — is strong and he hoped people attending the event would consider voting for him in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.
The mayor then waded through the crowd, agreeing to requests by supporters wearing Fenty campaign stickers on their shirts to pose with them for photos.
“This is the actual LGBT community folks who will turn out and vote for the mayor,” said gay activist John Fanning, a Fenty supporter. “We’ve been hearing a lot from a few vocal activists who aren’t supporting the mayor … but I think this event tonight shows the rank-and-file people are with him.”
Some people in the crowd said they had yet to make up their mind on who to vote for in the D.C. mayor’s race, saying they came to the event because it was billed as a “meet and greet” session rather than a campaign rally.
Fenty said he plans to host more campaign events in the LGBT community.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
D.C. releases first gay health report
Although they smoke at a higher rate than the overall population, a higher percentage of D.C.’s gay, lesbian and bisexual residents rated their overall health as good or better compared to straight residents, according to a new city report.
The report, prepared by Mayor Adrian Fenty’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Affairs and released last month, is said to be the first document assessing the overall health of the city’s lesbian, gay male and bisexual residents.
The report’s findings were taken from data collected in 2005 and 2007 as part of an ongoing Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey coordinated by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and conducted in D.C. and all 50 states.
According to the D.C. report, 6,218 D.C. residents were surveyed by phone, with 90 percent identifying as straight, 4.5 percent identifying as gay or lesbian, and 2.3 percent identifying as “bisexual/other.” All findings are based on self-reporting by the respondents.
The 2005 and 2007 data for transgender residents was too small to yield meaningful results, but improved data for transgender residents would be sought for future reports, said a source familiar with the report.
Among the report’s findings of the city’s gay, lesbian and bisexual respondents:
• 93.4 percent of gay and lesbian respondents rated their health as good, very good or excellent compared to 86.9 percent of straight and 86.3 percent of bisexual respondents;
• 39.5 percent of gay and lesbian and 37.9 percent of bisexual respondents had a flu shot in the past year compared to 32.4 percent of straight respondents;
• 68.6 percent of gay and lesbian respondents reported having a routine check up in the past year compared to 85.2 percent of bisexual and 73.6 percent of straight respondents;
• 93.3 percent of gay and lesbian respondents reported having health care coverage as compared to 90.0 percent of bisexual and 91.1 percent of heterosexual respondents;
• and 39.8 percent of gay and lesbian and 45.7 percent of bisexual respondents reported having one or more days of bad mental health in the 30 days prior to the survey compared to 31.3 percent of heterosexual respondents.
A copy of the report is available online at http://glbt.dc.gov/DC/GLBT.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Mitchell Gold, Timothy Scofield wed
Mitchell Gold, co-founder and chairman of the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams home furnishings company, married his partner, Timothy Scofield, on June 19 in Des Moines, Iowa.
The two have been together for three years. Polk County District Judge, Robert B. Hanson, who issued the first ruling in favor of same-sex marriage in Iowa, performed the ceremony for about 100 guests.
The couple said in a statement that they chose to wed in Iowa because of the symbolism of getting married in the heartland.
“Judge Hanson, I am here to tell you that I know you did not start out to be a hero when you issued your initial ruling, but for 14-year-old kids in Iowa and everywhere in America and in the world, you have said to them, you are a part of society, you are whole, you are wonderful. You can have anything and everything – especially love,” Gold said during his speech at the wedding.
Gold is also the founder of a non-profit organization called Faith in America that works to combat religion-based discrimination. Scofield is the founder of the Velvet Foundation, which is working to establish a national museum of LGBT history in D.C.
The couple honeymooned in Italy and will reside in Conover, N.C. and New York City.
STAFF REPORTS
Virginia
Spanberger signs bill that paves way for marriage amendment repeal referendum
Proposal passed in two successive General Assembly sessions
Virginians this year will vote on whether to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Friday signed state Del. Laura Jane Cohen (D-Fairfax County)’s House Bill 612, which finalized the referendum’s language.
The ballot question that voters will consider on Election Day is below:
Question: Should the Constitution of Virginia be amended to: (i) remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is a Republican, in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
A resolution to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2025. Lawmakers once again approved it last month.
“20 years after Virginia added a ban on same-sex marriage to our Constitution, we finally have the chance to right that wrong,” wrote Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman on Friday in a message to her group’s supporters.
Virginians this year will also consider proposed constitutional amendments that would guarantee reproductive rights and restore voting rights to convicted felons who have completed their sentences.
District of Columbia
D.C. non-profits find creative ways to aid the unhoused amid funding cuts
City’s poor economic mobility makes it easier to slip into homelessness
Homelessness is unlikely to disappear entirely, but it can be minimized and controlled.
That principle guides Everyone Home Executive Director Karen Cunningham’s approach to homeless support and prevention in D.C.
“There’s always going to be some amount of people who have a crisis,” Cunningham said. “The goal is that if they become homeless, [it’s] rare, brief and non-recurring. And in order for that to be the case, we need to have steady investments in programs that we know work over time.”
Making those investments has proven to be an unprecedented challenge, however. Cunningham said non-profits and other organizations like Everyone Home are grappling with government funding cuts or stalls that threaten the work they do to support D.C.’s homeless population.
Despite a 9% decrease in homelessness from 2024 to 2025, advocates worry that stagnant funding will make that progress hard to sustain. Furthermore, D.C. has the worst unemployment rate in the country at 6.7% as of December. The city’s poor economic mobility makes it easier for people to slip into homelessness and harder to break free of it.
There’s a way forward, Cunningham said, but it’s going to take a lot of perseverance and creative solutions from those willing to stay in the fight.
Fighting through setbacks
Reduced funding from the city government has shifted the way Everyone Home operates.
In D.C.’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal, homeless services and prevention programs saw stalled growth or financial reductions. Even just a few years ago, Cunningham said Everyone Home received a large influx of vouchers to help people who needed long-term supportive housing. The vouchers allowed the non-profit to break people free of the homeless cycle and secure stable housing.
However, those vouchers are scarce these days. Cunningham said the city is investing less in multi-year programs and more in programs that offer preventative and upfront support.
She said this reality has forced Everyone Home to stop operating its Family Rapid Rehab program, which helps families leave shelters and transition into permanent housing. Current funds couldn’t withstand the size of the program and Cunningham said very few organizations can still afford to run similar programs.
The Family Homelessness Prevention program, however, is thriving and expanding at Everyone Home due to its short-term nature. It provides families with 90-day support services to help them get back on track and secure stable finances and housing.
Everyone Home also offers a drop-in day center, where they provide people with emergency clothing, laundry, and meals, and has a street outreach team to support those who are chronically homeless and offer services to them.
Inconsistencies in financial support have created challenges in providing the necessary resources to those struggling. It’s led non-profits like Everyone Home to get creative with their solutions to ensuring no one has recurring or long spouts of homelessness.
“It’s really a sustained investment in these programs and services that can allow us to chip away, because if you put all these resources in and then take your foot off the gas, there’s always people entering the system,” Cunningham said. “And so we have to always be moving people out into housing.”
Getting people in and out of the homeless system isn’t easy due to D.C.’s struggle with providing accessible and affordable housing, D.C. Policy Center executive director Yesim Sayin said in a Nov. 16 Washington Blade article.
Sayin said that D.C.’s construction tailors to middle or upper class people who live in the city because work brought them there, but it excludes families and D.C. natives who may be on the verge of homelessness and have less geographic mobility.
Building more and building smarter ensures D.C.’s low-income population aren’t left behind and at risk of becoming homeless, Sayin said.
That risk is a common one in D.C. given its low economic mobility. Residents have less room to financially grow given the city’s high cost of living, making vulnerable communities more prone to homelessness.
With funding cuts for long-term programs, preventative programs have proven to be vital in supporting the homeless population. When someone becomes homeless, it can have a snowball effect on their life. They aren’t just losing a house –– they may lose their job, access to reliable transportation and food for their family.
Cunningham said resources like the Family Homelessness Prevention program allows people to grow and stabilize before losing crucial life resources.
“Helping people keep what they have and to try to grow that as much as possible is really important where there aren’t a lot of opportunities…for people to increase their income,” Cunningham said.
Through all the funding cuts and reduced services, D.C.’s homeless support organizations are still finding a path forward –– a path that many residents and families rely on to survive.
Pushing forward
Local non-profits and organizations like Everyone Home are the backbone of homeless support when all other systems fail.
When the White House issued an executive order directing agencies to remove homeless encampments on federal land, Coalition For The Homeless provided ongoing shelter to those impacted.
“We were asked by our funders to open two shelters at the time of the encampment policy announcement,” Lucho Vásquez, executive director of Coalition For The Homeless, said. “We opened the shelters on the same day of the request and have been housing 100 more people who are unhoused each night since August.”
This was achieved even after Coalition faced “severe cuts in funding for supportive and security services,” according to Vásquez. Staff members have taken on additional responsibilities to make up for the loss in security coverage and supportive services with no increase in pay, but Vásquez said they’re still trying to fill gaps left by the cuts.
Coalition offers free transitional housing, single room occupancy units and affordable apartments to people who were unhoused.
Coalition For The Homeless isn’t the only non-profit that’s had to step up its services amid dwindling resources. Thrive D.C. provides hot meals, showers, and winter clothes, which is especially important during the winter months.
Pathways to Housing D.C. offers housing services for people regardless of their situation or condition. Its “Housing First” teams house people directly from the streets, and then evaluate their mental and physical health, employment, addiction status, and education challenges to try to integrate them back into the community.
Covenant House is a homeless shelter for youth ages 18-24. They provide resources and shelter for youth “while empowering young people in their journey to independence and stability,” its website reads. Through its variety of programs, Friendship Place ended or prevented homelessness, found employment and provided life-changing services for more than 5,400 people.
These groups have made a huge local difference with little resources, but Cunningham said there are more ways for people to support those experiencing homelessness if they’re strapped for time or money. Aside from donating and volunteering, she said even simply showing compassion toward people who are struggling can go a long way.
Cunningham said compassion is something that’s been lost in the mainstream, with politicians and news anchors regularly directing hostile rhetoric toward homeless populations. But now more than ever, she said caring and understanding for fellow community members is key to moving forward and lifting those in need up.
“People sometimes feel invisible or that there’s a sense of hostility,” Cunningham said. “I think all of us can at least do that piece of recognizing people’s humanity.”
(This article is part of a national initiative exploring how geography, policy, and local conditions influence access to opportunity. Find more stories at economicopportunitylab.com.)
District of Columbia
D.C. bar Rush facing eviction on charge of failing to pay rent
Landlord says $201,324 owed in back payments, late fees
The owners of the building at 14th and U Streets, N.W. where D.C.’s newest LGBTQ bar and nightclub Rush opened on Dec. 5, 2025, filed a complaint in D.C. Superior Court on Feb. 3 seeking Rush’s eviction on grounds that the bar has failed to pay its required rent since last May.
According to the court filing by building owners Thomas and Ioanna Tsianakas Family Trust and Thomas Tsianakas Trustee, Rush owes $141,338.18 in back rent, $19,086.19 for utilities, and $40,900 in late fees, coming to a total of $201,324.37.
Rush owner Jackson Mosley didn’t immediately respond to a Feb. 5 phone message from the Washington Blade seeking comment on the court filing seeking his eviction from the building located at 200114th Street, N.W., with its entrance around the corner on U Street.
WUSA 9 TV news reported in a Feb. 5 broadcast that Mosley said he “doesn’t see why the eviction notice is news and called it a ‘formality.’” The WUSA report adds that Mosley said he and the Rush landlord “have no bad blood” and if the action did reach the point of eviction he would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy to restructure the lease and his debts.
The eviction court filing follows a decision by the city’s Alcoholic Beverage and Cannabis Board on Dec. 17 to suspend Rush’s liquor license on grounds that its payment check for the liquor licensing fee was “returned unpaid.” The liquor board reissued the license three days later after Mosley paid the fee with another check
He told the Blade at the time that the first check did not “bounce,” as rumors in the community claimed. He said he made a decision to put a “hold” on the check so that Rush could change its initial decision to submit a payment for the license for three years and instead to arrange for a lower payment for just one year at a time.
Around that same time several Rush employees posted social media messages saying the staff was not paid for the bar’s first month’s pay period. Mosley responded by posting a message on the Rush website saying employees were not paid because of a “tax related mismatch between federal and District records,” which, among other things, involved the IRS.
“This discrepancy triggered a compliance hold within our payroll system,” his statement said. “The moment I became aware of the issue I immediately engaged our payroll provider and began working to resolve it,” he said.
But WUSA 9 reports in its Feb. 5 broadcast about the eviction issue that at least some of the now former employees say they still have not been paid since their first paycheck failed to come on Dec. 15.
Superior Court online records for the eviction case show that a “Remote Initial Hearing” for the case has been scheduled for March 30 before a Landlord & Tenant Judge.
