Local
Block Party concerns spark debate
Issues raised by Mount Vernon Association, business owners
Baltimore Pride block party (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A week before Baltimore was to celebrate its annual Pride weekend, a brouhaha developed as City Café owner Gino Cardinale and others met with the Mount Vernon-Belvedere Association (MVBA) to discuss issues relating to the block party planned for June 15.
“There is concern from area residents and businesses regarding Pride’s block party this year,” said MVBA president Jason Curtis in a statement. “Concerns are mostly regarding cleanliness after the event and the underaged drinking during the event.”
At the meeting, Cardinale allegedly charged that the Club Hippo, Grand Central and the GLCCB’s vendor that serves alcoholic beverages are not doing enough to prevent underage people from purchasing drinks.
This led to spirited arguments carried out on Facebook between supporters of the bars and City Café. From the bars’ perspective, each establishment maintains that it dutifully cards customers to ensure they are of legal age.
The City Café’s point of view as well as those of other Mount Vernon businesses and residents who believe they are negatively affected by the block party, is they want to protect their interests and keep the area clean. They charged there is urination and defecation on private property and much litter strewn around the neighborhood.
Club Hippo owner Chuck Bowers insists that his club as well as Grand Central consistently cards customers at this event. He told the Blade that underage drinking at the block party often occurs when kids bring alcoholic beverages to the event. “They bring the alcohol from other places and from coolers stored in cars,” Bowers said.
Cardinale said he is not singling out Bowers and Grand Central’s owner Don Davis but that more efforts must be taken to prevent such behavior. He cites turnover within the GLCCB for his inability to fully discuss and resolve the situation with the organization. That is why he approached the MVBA for resolution.
MVBA’s Curtis stated on a Facebook post that, “the City Café never asked that Pride be stopped or cancelled. City Café requested, as did other businesses and residents, that GLCCB step up and start properly managing the event which they obtain a permit for. I won’t deny that it was discussed that if GLCCB can’t do a better job in managing this event, that the event itself should be reconsidered. City Café was not alone in this request.”
The boundaries for consuming alcoholic beverages that have been agreed to consist of Longrove Street on the east, Morton Street on the West, Read Street on the south and half a block of Charles Street on the north. Alcoholic consumption outside that designated area would be subject to enforcement of Baltimore’s open container law. In addition, people will be stamped to designate whether they are 21 or above or not.
District of Columbia
HRC to host National Rainbow Seder
Bet Mishpachah among annual event’s organizers
The 18th National Rainbow Seder will take place at the Human Rights Campaign on Sunday.
The sold out event is the country’s largest Passover Seder for the Jewish LGBTQ community.
Organizations behind the event include Bet Mishpachah, a local D.C. LGBTQ synagogue that Rabbi Jake Singer-Beilin leads, and GLOE an organization that sponsors events for the queer Jewish community.
The theme for this year’s Seder is “Liberation For All Who Journey: Remembering, Resisting, Rebuilding.” Rabbis Atara Cohen and Avigayil Halpern will lead it.
The Seder will honor the late GLOE co-chair Michael Singer. Singer also served on the Edlavitch DC Community Jewish Community’s board.
“This Seder is both a celebration of how far we have come and a call to continue building a more just and inclusive world.” Bet Mishpachah Executive Director Joshua Maxey told the Washington Blade.
A gay man was murdered in Petersburg, Va., on March 13.
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, who was also known as Saamel and Mable, was a drag queen who won the Miss Mayflower EOY pageant in 2015. Reports also indicate Sanchez-McCray, 42, was a well-known community activist in Virginia and in North Carolina.
Local media reports indicate police officers found Sanchez-McCray shot to death inside a home in Petersburg.
Sanchez-McCray’s brother, Jamal Mitchell Diamond, in a public statement the Washington Blade received from Equality Virginia and GLAAD, said Sanchez-McCray was not transgender as initial reports indicated.
“Our family has always embraced the fullness of who he was. He used the names Saamel, Shyyell, and Mable interchangeably, and we honor all of them. There is no division within our family regarding how he is being represented — only a shared commitment to preserving his truth with love and respect,” said Diamond.
“He was also deeply committed to community work through Nationz Foundation, where he worked and completed multiple state-certified programs to support marginalized communities,” added Diamond. “That work meant a great deal to him.”
Authorities have not made any arrests.
The Petersburg Bureau of Police has asked anyone with information about Sanchez-McCray’s murder to call Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212.
District of Columbia
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Rally on the National Mall scheduled for Saturday
The Christopher Street Project has a number of events planned for the 2026 Trans Day of Visibility, including a rally on the Mall and an “Empowerment Ball” at the Eaton Hotel. Plenaries, panel discussions and meetings with members of Congress are scheduled in the three days of programming.
Announced speakers include N.H. state Rep. Alice Wade; Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Precious Brady-Davis; activist and performer Miss Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”); Lexington, Ky. Councilwoman Emma Curtis; Rabbi Abby Stein; D.C. activist and host Rayceen Pendarvis; Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland; among other leaders, advocates and performers.
Conference programming on Thursday and Friday includes an educational forum and a Capitol Hill policy education day. Registration for the two-day conference has closed.
The “Trans Day of Visibility PAC Reception” is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 from 7:30-9 p.m. at As You Are (500 8th St., S.E.). Special guests include Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). Tickets are available at christopherstreetproject.org starting at $25.
The National Council of Jewish Women and the Christopher Street Project host a “Trans Day of Visibility Shabbat” on Friday, March 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth & I (600 I St., N.W.). The service is to be led by Rabbi Jenna Shaw and Rabbi Abby Stein.
The “Now You See Me: Trans Empowerment Social & Ball” is scheduled for Friday, March 27 from 6-11 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.). The trans-themed drag ball is hosted by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute with support from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, the Capital Ballroom Council, the Christopher Street Project, the Center for Black Equity, Generation for Common Good, and Parenting is Political. RSVP online at christopherstreetproject.org.
The National Transgender Day of Visibility Rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28 on the National Mall at 11 a.m. The rally will include speakers and performances. Following the rally, attendees are encouraged to participate in the “No Kings” rally being held at Anacostia Park.
HRC to host National Rainbow Seder
Markwayne Mullin confirmed as next DHS secretary
Gay man murdered in Va.
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
Queer American in Israel discusses Iran war’s impact
Calendar: March 21-26
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