Local
Local news in brief
‘Housewives’ charity event a bust & more
‘Housewives’ charity event a bust
A party for “Real Housewives of D.C.” held at the now-closed EFN Lounge on Aug. 5 with show stars Tareq and Michaele Salahi raised no money for an AIDS charity.
Ads for the event said an unspecified portion of the proceeds would be given to Dab the AIDS Bear Project, an organization that, according to its founder, works in collaboration with the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, a registered 501c3 organization.
The Blade could not independently confirm the connection between the two organizations before deadline, but Dab Garner, founder and CEO of Dab the AIDS Bear Project said Howard Cromwell, a gay Washingtonian who publishes D.C.’s Most Fabulous Magazine, told him that the event, was not successful and therefore no donation would be made.
Cromwell, who asked that questions about the event be submitted via e-mail and then did not respond, told Garner in an e-mail dated Aug. 12 that he couldn’t send any money to the charity because the event was not profitable.
“The goal was to donate 40 percent of the profit to each organization,” Cromwell wrote in the e-mail, which Garner shared with the Blade. “Unfortunately, we did not pull a profit from this event as expected. We barely broke even. Even though this event wasn’t financially successful for the charity organizations involved, we feel that it was still a huge success media-wise shedding a national spotlight on your organization.”
Garner said he sent teddy bears for the housewives to pose with for publicity shots at the party, but Michaele Salahi was the only cast member to attend. Other cast members attended a separate and official premiere party for the show.
Cromwell, Garner said, forgot to bring the teddy bears to the party and hasn’t returned them. Garner uses the teddy bears to promote his charity.
Garner, a 29-year HIV survivor, met Cromwell last year at an AIDS Drug Assistance Program Summit in Washington and said Cromwell approached his organization about being a benefactor of the “Housewives” party.
Other groups appear to have also been jilted. The New York Post reported that Honor & Remember was to receive 40 percent of the profits from Cromwell’s event, but also was told the event made no money so no donation would be given. Staff at Honor & Remember did not respond to the Blade’s requests for comment.
Tickets for Cromwell’s party ranged from $25 to $500. Press that attended described EFN Lounge as somewhat full downstairs, but not packed.
Bill Gray, who was manager of EFN Lounge at the time of the event and on scene that night, said the event seemed chaotic.
“They comped most of the tickets for press and their friends,” he said. “It seemed like a joke.”
Gay comedian to entertain at Alston House benefit
D.C.-based gay standup comedian Sampson will entertain tonight at 10 p.m. at the D.C. Arts Center in Adams Morgan with his routine, “Don’t Make Me Take Off My Earrings.”
Tickets are $15 and benefit the Wanda Alston House, Washington’s only home for homeless LGBT youth.
Sampson, born Korrell McCormick, grew up in North Carolina, but has been in the D.C. area for 10 years. The 25-year-old has been doing standup for about eight years and mixes social commentary with personal experiences about the foibles of the black and gay worlds, which often collide, a point he uses for comedic effect.
He performs in straight and gay venues alike and says it hasn’t been a problem.
“I’m just as funny as some of the straight comedians,” he says. “I don’t use the N-word and a bunch of [expletives]. It’s a different perspective, being openly gay. I can get away with more. Even flirting with men in the audience. Even the straight ones. They’re there to laugh and have fun, so they just go with it.”
Sampson, who has performed at Titan, Town, EFN Lounge and Phase 1, says tonight’s performance is inspired by his sense of activism.
But how does he balance the seriousness of his convictions with the lighthearted approach of a comedian?
“I still don’t know,” he admits. “Honesty can be very funny and open a lot of dialogue through pointing out the absurd. That’s what makes it funny. People don’t stop to examine how they sound.”
Brian Watson, who oversees Wanda’s House as a division of Transgender Health Empowerment, says the benefit was Sampson’s idea. Watson says he’s grateful for the aid.
“Things are going OK at the House, but we received a budget cut last year and are expecting one this year also,” he said. “Due to limited income this year, we aren’t even having our annual anniversary reception usually held in September.”
Watson said the House is full and has “a good group of kids,” but Transgender Health Empowerment will have to close its trans drop-in center on New York Avenue, N.W., this year because of the lack of funding through D.C. City Council members’ earmarks, which helped keep the drop-in center’s doors open.
Tickets for tonight’s performance can be purchased at the door or reserved by calling 202-462-7833. Guests are asked to arrive around 9:45 p.m. Visit www.sampson313.freehomepage.com for more about Sampson.
Two gay men punched en route to Nellie’s
A gay man who was walking along the U Street corridor with another gay man toward Nellie’s on Aug. 20 was attacked at about 11:30 p.m., one of the men told the Blade.
And minutes after being punched, the man said, they encountered another gay man who also was attacked.
The gay man who wasn’t attacked, a 27-year-old Columbia Heights resident who asked not to be identified because he does security work for an overseas non-profit, said he and his friend, who’s 31, had met on the corner of 14th and U streets, N.W., and were walking east on U Street when the attack happened near the Rite Aid between 13th and 14th streets.
“There were tons and tons of people out,” said the man who wasn’t attacked. “We were just walking and talking, passing tons of people, and all of a sudden I saw someone turn around and I had that ‘something’s not right’ feeling really quickly.
“They hit my friend on the side of the head. … My friend turned and was like, ‘What happened?’ and was looking to see, and the same person and one other person threw a couple more punches and then it just kind of ended itself. I got my friend sort of distanced away enough and those people kept walking.”
The man who wasn’t attacked said the group consisted of three young black men and two young black women whom he guessed were either coming or going from one of the straight bars on U Street. He said the group didn’t say anything to them or appear to be trying to rob them.
He said one man in the group was “thin and wiry.” Another was “heftier,” and a third was a “bigger guy” with shoulder-length dreads who did most of the punching. He noted that there was no verbal exchange during the attack, but the two girls laughed while his friend was being punched.
Seconds after the attack, another gay man approached them and asked if they’d been attacked, saying he had just been punched as well. The man who wasn’t attacked said the other gay man, whom he didn’t know, also was en route to Nellie’s when he was punched by the same group. They called police and waited together. Neither man who was attacked was seriously injured.
The man who wasn’t attacked said he believes they were targeted because they are gay.
“I don’t know for sure because they didn’t say anything, but there were so many people around, they could have caused problems with anyone, but we were attacked. Then like 15 seconds later another gay guy is attacked on the same block? There’s no doubt in my mind that’s what it was.”
Police arrested Tracee Freeman on Aug. 20 on simple assault and hate crime charges stemming from an incident at 1448 U Street at 11:16 p.m. that day. It wasn’t immediately clear if the incident tied to Freeman’s arrest was the same attack reported above or another attack. The victim cited in the police report said Freeman punched him in the chest and called him a faggot, according to the report.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
Virginia
Va. activists preparing campaign in support of repealing marriage amendment
Referendum about ‘dignity and equal protection under the law’
Virginia voters in November will vote on whether to repeal their state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed House Bill 612 into law. It facilitates a referendum for voters to approve the repeal of the 2006 Marshall-Newman Amendment. Although the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country in 2014, codifying marriage equality in Virginia’s constitution would protect it in the state in case the decision is overturned.
Maryland voters in 2012 approved Question 6, which upheld the state’s marriage equality law, by a 52-48 percent margin. Same-sex marriage became legal in Maryland on Jan. 1, 2013.
LGBTQ advocacy groups and organizations that oppose marriage equality mounted political campaigns ahead of the referendum.
Equality Virginia has been involved in advancing LGBTQ rights in Virginia since 1989.
Equality Virginia is working under its 501c3 designation in conjunction with Equality Virginia Advocates, which operates under a 501c4 designation, to plan campaigns in support of repealing the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
The two main campaigns on which Equality Virginia will be focused are education and voter mobilization. Reed Williams, the group’s director of digital engagement and narrative, spoke with the Washington Blade about Equality Virginia’s plans ahead of the referendum.
Williams said an organization for a “statewide public education campaign” is currently underway. Williams told the Blade its goal will be “to ensure voters understand what this amendment does and why updating Virginia’s constitution matters for families across the commonwealth.”
The organization is also working on a “robust media and voter mobilization campaign to identify and turn out voters” to repeal Marshall-Newman Amendment. Equality Virginia plans to work with the community members to guarantee voters are getting clear and accurate information regarding the meaning of this vote and its effect on the Virginia LGBTQ community.
“We believe Virginia voters are ready to bring our constitution in line with both the law and the values of fairness and freedom that define our commonwealth,” said Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman. “This referendum is about ensuring loving, committed couples and their families are treated with dignity and equal protection under the law.”
The Human Rights Campaign has also worked closely with Equality Virginia.
“It’s time to get rid of outdated, unconstitutional language and ensure that same sex couples are protected in Virginia,” HRC President Kelley Robinson told the Blade in a statement.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
Transmission DC breathes new life into a storied sound space
Criteria for supporting a candidate in D.C.
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
Moving doc ‘Come See Me’ is more than Oscar worthy
The global cost of Trump’s foreign aid ideology
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
PHOTOS: Cupid’s Undie Run
US Embassy in Mexico issues shelter in place order for Puerto Vallarta
Sweat DC expands to Shaw
