Local
End of an era, as Lambda Rising to close
Lambda Rising will close in January after a 35-year run. (DC Agenda photo by Aram Vartian)
Lambda Rising, a bookstore serving the LGBT community in the nation’s capital for 35 years, is closing its D.C. store in Dupont Circle and its remaining out-of-town store in Rehoboth Beach, Del., in January.
The closings, announced last week, become another in a series of gay bookstores that have shut down in recent years in other cities, including New York and Baltimore.
Deacon Maccubbin, 66, the store’s founder and co-owner, told D.C. Agenda in an exclusive interview that he plans to retire soon and that he and co-owner Jim Bennett, his domestic partner of 32 years, decided they would rather close the stores than sell them to a new owner who might change their focus and mission.
“The phrase ‘mission accomplished’ has gotten a bad rap in recent years but in this case, it certainly applies,” Maccubbin said.
“When we set out to establish Lambda Rising in 1974, it was intended as a demonstration of the demand for gay and lesbian literature,” he said, noting that few if any mainstream bookstores and newsstands carried gay-related books and periodicals at the time.
“Today, 35 years later, nearly every general bookstore carries GLBT books, often featuring them in special sections,” he said.
Maccubbin said the Internet also enables people today to access LGBT-related information from almost any location in the country, accomplishing yet another part of Lambda Rising’s mission: to provide up-to-date information to a community that could not obtain it elsewhere.
He said he first opened the store in June 1974 in a converted townhouse on 20th Street, N.W., near Dupont Circle, with an initial investment of $3,000 and an additional $1,000 borrowed from a local gay activist. The shop consisted of 300 square feet of space and just 250 gay and lesbian book titles.
“That’s all there were at the time,” Maccubbin said.
The store, along with the LGBT community and gay civil rights movement, grew dramatically over the next three decades, moving in 1977 to a larger storefront space on S Street, N.W., a few blocks away. In 1984, the store moved to its current location at 1625 Connecticut Ave., N.W., in a storefront building that Maccubbin and Bennett own.
Lambda Rising, which opened in 1974, will close in January as its owners prepare to retire. (DC Agenda photo by Aram Vartian)
In the intervening years, the two opened branches of the store in Baltimore, Norfolk, Va., and Rehoboth Beach. In 2003, Lambda Rising bought the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York’s Greenwich Village, recognized as the nation’s first gay bookstore, having opened in 1967. Maccubbin said Lambda Rising bought that store to save it from closing.
After more than three years of helping rebuild the Oscar Wilde store, Lambda Rising sold it to its manager, to return it to its status as a locally owned business. But earlier this year, due to the national economic downturn, the New York owner said he was forced to close the store.
In its three decades of operation, Lambda Rising became one of the nation’s first gay businesses to advertise in mainstream publications and the first to advertise on TV in the 1970s. It has brought in hundreds of authors to its various store branches, including Andy Warhol, Sandra Bernhard, Armistead Maupin and Rita Mae Brown.
“Closing the store now will certainly leave something of a hole in Washington’s literary and political scene, and even though I’m excited about the opportunities that will open up for us as we move into the next phase of our life, there is a bittersweet component to it all,” said Maccubbin.
“But the book market has been changing dramatically, the GLBT community has been making progress by leaps and bounds, and 35 years is enough time for any person to devote to any one thing,” he said. “It’s just time to move on.”
Maccubbin said he and Bennett are happy to offer advice and support for someone interested in opening another LGBT bookstore in Washington.
Veteran D.C. gay activist Frank Kameny, who described himself as a loyal customer of Lambda Rising since it opened, said Maccubbin and the store deserve “enormous credit” as a nationally recognized gay community resource.
But he said he regrets that at least one aspect of the store’s mission has not been accomplished.
“No non-gay bookstore that I know of has a gay section with content remotely comparable to that of Lambda Rising,” he said. “And many of the publications found there will be unavailable elsewhere. Lambda Rising will be truly missed. Progress is often sad.”
Rick Rosendall, vice president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, called Lambda Rising a “landmark” for the LGBT community.
“It will certainly be a major loss for our community,” he said.
Maccubbin said the store will begin a holiday sale as early as this weekend for many of its books and other products, such as gifts items. He said a “huge liquidation sale” will begin immediately after Christmas, with the store expected to close in early January.
Maryland
Vogel finishes second in primary race for Trone’s congressional seat
Gay Maryland lawmaker lost to April McClain Delaney
GAITHERSBURG, Md. — Gay Maryland state Del. Joe Vogel (D-Montgomery County) on Tuesday finished second in the Democratic primary for Congressman David Trone’s seat.
Vogel lost to April McClain Delaney by a 39.2-26.7 percent margin with 52 percent of the votes counted.
The Montgomery County Democrat spoke to supporters at the South House Garden in Gaithersburg after he conceded to Delaney.
“I wished her well and pledged that I will do everything in my power and nature that we hold this seat in November, elect a Democratic senator in November and re-elect President Joe Biden,” said Vogel.
Vogel was born in Uruguay. He would have been the first Latino, the first gay man and first Gen Zer elected to Congress from Maryland if he would have won in November.
Delaney will face Republican Neil Parrott, an anti-LGBTQ former member of the Maryland House of Delegates, in November.
Maryland
Alsobrooks defeats Trone in Md. Senate primary
Prince George’s County executive to face Larry Hogan in November
Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks on Tuesday defeated Congressman David Trone in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.).
Alsobrooks defeated Trone by 53.8-42.1 percent margin. She will face Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan in November.
“On Nov. 5, 2024, we are going to defeat Larry Hogan, keep Maryland blue, and keep our Senate under Democratic control,” said Alsobrooks on her X account after she defeated Trone.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson, U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.), U.S. Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Maxwell Alejandro Frost (D-Fla.) and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser are among those who congratulated Alsobrooks.
“Tonight we celebrate, and tomorrow we keep fighting to get her elected as Maryland’s next U.S. senator in November,” said Robinson on her X account.
Virginia
Man convicted of murder in Fairfax was propositioned by male victim
Defendant faces possible 40-year prison term
A Fairfax County Circuit Court jury on May 9 found a 31-year-old man guilty of second-degree murder for the June 10, 2023, stabbing death of a Fairfax City, Va., man after the man propositioned him for sex, according to a statement released by the Office of the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney.
The statement says Aaron Robertson had been charged with killing Luis Barahona Reyes, 50, in an apparent act of revenge after the two men got off a bus in Fairfax City and Barahona Reyes asked Robertson if he would like to engage in sex.
“Robertson and Mr. Barahona Reyes were unknown to each other when they got off the same bus on Draper Street in Fairfax City around 11 p.m. on the night of June 9, 2023,” the statement says. “After a brief conversation, Robertson lured Mr. Barahona Reyes to a parking lot behind 9715 Fairfax Blvd, where Robertson knocked the victim unconscious,” the statement continues.
“Robertson later returned to the scene in the early morning hours of June 10, where he proceeded to beat, stab, and eventually kill Mr. Barahona Reyes,” it says. “Robertson then left and returned a third time to clean up the scene and try to dispose of the victim’s body.”
The statement adds, “Substantial forensic evidence introduced at trial connected Robertson to the murder, including the victim’s blood on his shoes and Robertson’s own DNA under the victim’s fingernails.”
It notes that additional evidence linking Robertson to the murder was obtained from surveillance camera footage and witness accounts from nearby Wawa and 7-Eleven stores showing him entering and leaving the stores multiple times to wash his hands.
“Prosecutors argued that Robertson attacked and killed the victim because Mr. Barahona Reyes propositioned Robertson for sex in their first encounter after getting off the bus,” the statement says.
“I’m personally dismayed this type of crime could happen in this day and age, especially in a community like Fairfax County that prides itself on being welcoming,” said Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano in the statement. “Mr. Barahona Reyes’ death is tragic, and the fact that he may have been killed for his sexuality only further adds to the injustice,” he said.
Robertson is scheduled to be sentenced on July 26 and faces up to 40 years in prison for the second-degree murder conviction.
The Washington Post reports that during Robertson’s trial, a portion of a recording of a confession that Robertson gave to Fairfax City police was played in court. The Post reports that Robertson stated in his confession that after he returned to the scene where he had knocked Barahona Reyes unconscious, Barahona Reyes “slowly got up,” pulled out a knife and lunged at Robertson.
It was at that time, Robertson said in his confession, he became fearful of his life and was able to grab the knife away from Barahona Reyes and stabbed him multiple times, slammed his head on the ground, and strangled him, according to the Post’s story on the trial and conviction.
The Post story adds that Robertson’s attorney urged the jury, based on what he said was Robertson’s fear for his life, to hand down a verdict of manslaughter rather than first-degree murder as requested by prosecutors. As it turned out, the jury handed down a lesser but still serious verdict of second-degree murder.
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Alsobrooks defeats Trone in Md. Senate primary
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Ugandan president meets with US ambassador
Man convicted of murder in Fairfax was propositioned by male victim
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