After 25 years of success, owners Hugh Fuller and Troy Roberts recently sold Rehoboth Beach’s Purple Parrot restaurant and bar. 

During those 25 years, they built it into an iconic establishment in Rehoboth Beach, Del., popular with locals and tourists alike.

 “I think you know that this has basically been my entire adult life,” Fuller said. “Selling wasn’t something I was even contemplating until my health took a turn after contracting COVID, which took a toll on my everyday health. I went from working almost every day to barely going in.” 

Fuller added that when local entrepreneurs Tyler Townsend and his partner Drew Mitchell reached out, he knew it was time to sell. 

“We knew we made the right decision going with some young blood that knew the staff, the restaurant, and us,” Fuller said. “We know that our baby is in good hands and will breathe for another 25+ years with them at the helm. I plan to take some time and bring my mom back to her hometown in Germany to visit her family, which she hasn’t seen in over 30 years.” 

Roberts added, “It is bittersweet selling a business you created, nurtured, and ran for 25 years. It is much easier knowing who is going to love it next. More importantly, we really wanted our staff to be OK and again picking the right guys offering that security to them was a major plus. I’ve learned so much being in the restaurant business for 30+ years. You meet so many great people, so many loyal customers, amazing locals, and even better staff. It truly does become a family situation. I will always be grateful to every single one of them past and present. I cannot wait to see what the next chapter of the Purple Parrot Grill has in-store.”

The new owners, Townsend and Mitchell, are already a big part of the Rehoboth scene. Townsend is a successful restaurateur, part of the Second Block Hospitality Group, which owns The Pines, Drift, and Bodhi Kitchen. Townsend is also one of the owners of Aqua Bar and Grill.  Townsend and the other three partners in Second Block Hospitality, were named restaurateurs of the year by the Delaware Restaurant Association earlier this year. Mitchell has a company that does corporate branding, but is no newcomer to hospitality. He is the owner of the Fathom Gallery on 14th Street in D.C., a popular event space. 

Townsend told the Blade he and Mitchell are not planning any big changes for the Parrot. The staff will remain the same and the food and drinks will continue as they are now. They will continue to be open on Thanksgiving and Christmas, as a home for those looking to have a great place to spend the holidays with old, and new friends. While the Parrot is independent of Townsend’s other businesses, he believes there can be some synergy among them, and if the time and event are right, there will be collaboration. 

Reaction to the news from locals has been overwhelmingly positive.

Christopher Chandler, who has worked as a bartender and manager at the Parrot for years, is well respected in the community and has been voted best bartender in Rehoboth Beach a number of times by Blade readers. Chandler said, “Hugh and Troy were, and are, like family to me. They treated me and the staff of the Parrot as part of theirs. I’m sad they are gone but if anyone is capable of continuing their legacy it is Tyler and Drew.

“In the short time since their purchase of the Purple Parrot they have continued on that tradition. I’m excited about continuing into the future what the Parrot has been to the community, and to the employees, just with new owners.”  

Bob Suppies, who is a partner with Townsend in Second Block Hospitality said, “I couldn’t be more excited for Tyler and Drew having purchased The Purple Parrot. When Tyler, Kevin McDuffie and I bought Aqua Bar & Grill from the famed Bill Shields, it was important for us to honor the brand and legacy of a great Rehoboth Beach institution. I know Tyler and Drew will do an outstanding job protecting what Hugh and Troy have built and given to our community.” 

Steve Fallon, owner of local retail store Gidget’s Gadgets, said, “The Purple Parrot is a monumental institution produced by the hard work of Hugh, Troy, Cathy, and their loyal staff. We will be sad not to yell “Hey Hugh!” across the street. But I also know that Tyler and Drew will carry on the history of the Parrot with a fresh approach and always keep the customers happy. I wouldn’t fear that they would do as others have done and try changing a functioning landscape into a horror show.” 

BY MIKE HELLGRIN, CHRISTIAN OLANIRAN, AND ELLIE WOLFE | Prosecutors in Wicomico County are dropping felony assault and hate crime charges against at least 12 of the 15 Salisbury University students charged in an off-campus attack in October.

Misdemeanor false imprisonment and second-degree assault charges remain for most of the defendants, and many trials are set for late January.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

CANADA

Transgender activists in the province of Alberta have filed the first of an expected series of lawsuits against a trio of anti-LGBTQ bills passed by the provincial legislature last week

The province’s United Conservative Party government passed the long-promised legislation which bars trans youth under 16 from accessing gender care, bans trans women and girls from women’s sports, requires parental notification and consent if a student under 16 wishes to use a different name or pronoun, and requires parental notification and consent ahead of any discussion of sexual orientation, gender identity or sexuality in classrooms.

On Friday, Canada’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group Egale filed a joint legal challenge with the Calgary-based trans support center Skipping Stone and five families against the medical care ban, as that bill came into effect immediately upon passage.

“The actions of the government of Alberta are unprecedented. Never before in Canada has a government prohibited access to gender affirming health care,” says Kara Smyth, co-counsel in the case, in a press statement.

Egale says that the law violates the rights of trans people under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, including the right to security of the person, freedom from cruel and unusual treatment, and equality. 

It also says the law violates Alberta’s recently amended Bill of Rights, including the right to not be subjected to, or coerced into receiving, medical care, medical treatment, or a medical procedure without consent. This was recently added into provincial law as a sop to far-right conspiracy theorists around vaccines in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This government has acted directly counter to expert guidance and evidence, as well as the voices of Albertan families, and introduced policies that use fear and disinformation to target a small and vulnerable part of the community: 2SLGBTQI young people. All Albertan families and youth deserve the ability to access health care and participate fully in their communities,” says Amelia Newbert, co-founder and managing director of Skipping Stone.

Even if the plaintiffs succeed in court, they may still lose, because Canada’s Charter of Rights includes a clause that allows provincial governments to override fundamental rights. That’s what happened when a court in neighboring Saskatchewan ruled against a law requiring schools to out trans students to their parents.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has so far refused to say whether she’ll invoke the “notwithstanding” clause to override a court decision if the province loses.

And the temperature for LGBTQ rights in Alberta keeps getting worse. Also last week, the town of Barrhaven passed a citizen-initiated referendum that bans Pride flags — and all flags other than the Canadian, Albertan, or town flag — from being raised or painted on municipal property. That’s going to require that the city remove a recently installed rainbow crosswalk.

It’s the second town in Alberta to ban the Pride flags this year, after Westlock held a similar referendum in February.

ROMANIA

A scheduled second-round presidential election was cancelled by the Constitutional Court amid allegations that Russia was interfering to aid far-right nationalist Călin Georgescu against progressive reformer Elena Lasconi.

The unprecedented move was condemned by both candidates, who accused Romania’s establishment parties of trying to usurp the democratic process. 

Declassified intelligence reports released by the government assert that Georgescu’s campaign was supported by a Russian influence operation, which was largely played out through a massive TikTok campaign that raised his profile from obscurity to winning the first-round election on Nov. 24. 

Fresh elections will be called by the new parliament that was elected separately on Dec 1. In those elections, establishment parties lost ground — and their parliamentary majority — as three far-right ultranationalist parties made major gains.

Georgescu and the three parties supporting him have long been hostile to LGBTQ rights. Lasconi’s record on LGBTQ rights is mixed. She’s previously expressed opposition to same-sex marriage, but during the campaign said she would support civil union legislation and eventually would be open to equal marriage. 

Regardless of who wins the election, it is unlikely Romania’s parliament will bring forward much pro-LGBTQ rights legislation.

LITHUANIA

A court in Lithuania has for the first time recognized a same-sex partner as a child’s parent, in a groundbreaking ruling in a country where same-sex couples and families have few legal rights.

The Vilnius District Court ruling came into effect on Friday, recognizing both women as the child’s parent, LRT English reports.

The couple at the center of the case are Equal Opportunities Ombudsperson Birutė Sabatauskaitė and her partner Jūratė Juškaitė, director of the Lithuanian Center for Human Rights. Juškaitė will now be able to have her name listed as a parent on all of her daughter’s documents, giving her all the rights of a mother.

“From today, our family feels safer. The Vilnius District Court’s ruling that recognises me as the mother of our little girl has come into effect,” Juškaitė posted on Facebook.

While the case does not set a legal precedent, it shows that the Lithuanian courts are open to same-sex couples in the interest of protecting family rights and children’s rights. 

“Family cases are very individual, but yes, it could certainly inspire and give hope to families who don’t fit into the traditional definition of a family,” says Donatas Murauskas, who represented Juškaitė in court.

Same-sex couples are not generally afforded legal recognition or any of the rights that married heterosexual couples have in Lithuania. A bill to recognize civil partnerships awaits a final vote in the Lithuanian parliament, but the newly elected government, a coalition of Social Democrats and nationalists, has not agreed to put the bill in their program. 

CHINA

A Hong Kong lawmaker is calling on the city to ignore last year’s Court of Final Appeal ruling ordering the government to recognize same-sex unions, and is urging the city to instead appeal to mainland China to overrule the court.

Under the “One Country, Two Systems” form of government that Hong Kong has had since the end of the British colonial period in 1997, the city enjoys limited autonomy from Beijing. But China has the power to intervene on matters with “permanent, serious consequences.”

Lawmaker Junius Ho says that a series of Court of Final Appeal rulings that require the city to recognize same-sex couples and grant them equal access to public housing and inheritance rights are serious enough to warrant intervention from Beijing.

He made the comments at a forum hosted by a group he founded to fight the rulings, International Probono Legal Services Association Limited.

“The Court of Final Appeal [made these rulings] on so-called same-sex marriages under just one notion, equal rights. What equal rights? Diversity, inclusiveness and equality,” Ho said. “[These] universal values cannot override the constitution.”

Last year, the Court of Final Appeal gave the city two years to establish a legal mechanism to recognize same-sex couples, but LGBTQ activists have been frustrated by the lack of legislative progress on the issue.

Even as same-sex couples have continued to win victories in court, queer people have noticed that space for free expression has shrunk as the government has cut funding for LGBTQ service organizations and it has become more risky to accept funding from foreign sources amid a broader crackdown from the mainland on Hong Kong’s democratic institutions.