Local
Mendelson to back ‘Annie’s Way’ street-naming bill
Annie’s has been a fixture on 17th Street for 65 years
Annie Kaylor died July 24 at the age of 86. (Washington Blade archive photo by Doug Hinckle)
D.C. City Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) is expected to back a bill submitted this week by Mayor Vincent Gray to name a one-block section of Church Street, N.W., between 17th Street and Stead Park as “Annie’s Way” after initially expressing concern over the legislation, according to Mendelson’s legislative counsel Brian Moore.
James Pittman, director of the Mayor’s Office of Policy and Legislative Affairs, said the bill seeks to honor Annie’s Paramount Steak House and its beloved night manager and bartender Annie Kaylor, who died July 24 at the age of 86.
Kaylor and Annie’s restaurant have been longtime supporters of the LGBT community. Kaylor regularly rode in the city’s LGBT Pride parade.
Mendelson initially told the mayor’s office he was reluctant to introduce the bill because of a longstanding city policy and law that doesn’t allow the naming of a street for someone until two years after the person’s death, according to activists familiar with the bill.
But Moore told the Blade on Wednesday that Mendelson would not object to a bill calling for naming the street after the restaurant widely known as “Annie’s.” He noted that the existing law doesn’t restrict naming streets after a business.
“We anticipated the Chairman’s reluctance to move legislation for the recently deceased,” said Pittman in an email to local activists. “I’ve been working with his staff to make clear that we are not technically naming the street for Annie Kaylor,” he said.
“We are naming the street for the legacy of Annie’s Paramount Steak House (‘Annie’s’) – the business. We are calling it ‘Annie’s Way’ and not ‘Annie Kaylor Way’ to resolve the Chairman’s concern,” said Pittman.
Annie’s has been a fixture on 17th Street for 65 years. It was located since it opened in 1948 at the corner of 17th and Church streets, where the gay bar JR.’s is now located, until it moved in the 1990s to its current location one block north at 1609 17th St., N.W.
Maryland
Hate crime charges dropped against most Salisbury students in off-campus attack
Suspects allegedly used Grindr to target victim
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.
District of Columbia
D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs moving to new location
LGBTQ community center also set to leave Reeves Center
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which is currently located at the city’s Reeves Center municipal building at 14th and U Street, N.W., was scheduled to move during the week of Dec. 9 to a new location at 899 North Capitol St., N.E., according to Japer Bowles, the office’s director.
Bowles said the LGBTQ Affairs office will be located on the seventh floor of the privately owned office building in which the city has rented space for several other city agencies, including the D.C. Department of Health.
The move comes about amid longstanding plans to demolish the Reeves Center and replace it with a redevelopment project that will include a mix of housing, office space, a hotel, and retail stores along with a public plaza and a 200-seat amphitheater.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, which has been located in the Reeves Center for about 10 years, also expects to be moving out of the building in the spring of 2025, said Kimberley Bush, the LGBTQ center’s executive director.
Bush said the LGBTQ center looks forward to moving into its new, larger space in a building at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. in the city’s Shaw neighborhood, which is located one block away from the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.
The LGBTQ center entered a joint lease to rent space in the Wiltberger Street building with the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most of D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride events, including the upcoming World Pride 2025 events set to take place in D.C. May 17-June 8.
In response to a request by Bowser, the D.C. Council earlier this year approved $1 million in funding for fiscal year 2025 to support the build-out and construction of the LGBTQ Center’s space in the Wiltberger Street’s converted warehouse building.
But shortly after the Council approved that funding, the D.C. Center and Capital Pride Alliance announced the launch of a fundraising campaign called “Welcome Home – Building Together, Thriving Together” to raise an additional $1.5 million needed to complete the renovation of the new building.
“This endeavor is more than just the construction of a building; it represents a commitment to carve out a generous 7,000 square feet of space devoted to nurturing unity, empowerment, and support across the LGBTQ+ spectrum,” a statement announcing the fundraising campaign says.
District of Columbia
D.C. LGBTQ community to gather for post-election dialogue
Dec. 12 event to address federal workers’ rights, immigration, more
Several leading LGBTQ organizations in D.C. are coming together to make sense of the recent election and to discuss the future of advocacy and resilience as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.
With Republicans in firm control of the federal government after winning majorities in the House and Senate, many are concerned about attacks on the LGBTQ community, including Trump’s pledge to ban trans people from serving in the military. In addition, many LGBTQ federal workers have expressed concerns about being targeted for reassignment or termination, as outlined in Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for Trump’s second term.
In response, D.C.’s LGBTQ community is coming together for an event on Thursday, Dec. 12, 6:30-8 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.) featuring an array of speakers who will address issues, including: anticipated policy shifts; community resilience strategies; legal rights; immigration advocacy; and federal workers’ rights.
The event, titled, “Charting Our Future: LGBTQ+ Advocacy & Resilience in a Changing Landscape” is free; visit washingtonblade.com/future to RSVP.
The event is being hosted by the Washington Blade and includes community partners: the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition, HME Consulting & Advocacy, Eaton DC, DC LGBTQ+ Community Center, Capital Pride Alliance, and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs. Heidi Ellis of the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition will moderate. A list of speakers will be released later this week.
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