Best of Gay D.C. 2012

(Washington Blade graphic)

We’ve taken a slightly different approach this year for our annual Best Of Gay D.C. readers’ poll awards, now in its 11th year, with a more photo-driven presentation.

Having written about many of the perennial winners year after year, we nixed their oft-told bios to make space for larger photos. By all means, if you’re new to town, take time to discover Freddie’s Beach Bar, a worship service at Foundry or a concert by Tom Goss. They all have websites or search washingtonblade.com and you’ll find a bounty of information.

This also gave us more room to spill the ink on first-time winners or those that might not be as familiar to you.

So whether it’s going for oysters at Hank’s, going to see the magnificently versatile Holly Twyford in a play or getting a new ‘do from Brandon Hoover at Zoe Salon, these are, in essence, your recommendations to each other about the best LGBT Washington has to offer — from cupcakes to congressional representation.

We tweaked the process this year, too, which began back in August with reader-submitted nominations in each of 73 categories. Then we took the top five vote getters in each and created an online ballot. Nearly 11,000 of you cast votes — the most ever — and the winners in each are featured here.

Profiles were written by Brian T. Carney, Jonathan Howard, Patrick Folliard, Kevin Naff and Juliette Ebner. Most photos by Michael Key.

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Best of Gay Maryland