Local
Duplex Diner changes owners
MOVA to close, become new club
Duplex Diner (Washington Blade file photo by Pete Exis)
Duplex Diner, a popular D.C. restaurant and lounge in Adams Morgan that has catered to a mostly gay clientele since 1998, is changing owners this month but will remain the same as it has always been for the time being, according to outgoing owner Kevin Lee.
Lee, a longtime employee at Duplex Diner who bought the business from original owner Eric Hirshfield in 2011, is selling it now to businessmen Mark Hunker and Jeff McCracken, who own the popular Rehoboth Beach restaurants Eden and Jam Bistro.
They are “sure to continue their success at the Duplex,” Lee said in a Dec. 13 email sent to customers and friends.
“After thirteen years of first being an employee and then owning and operating the Duplex, I have decided the time is right for me to sell the Diner,” he said in his email.
Lee said he expected the ownership change at Duplex Diner would be completed by the end of this week.
“They have chosen our very own bartender, Kelly Laczko, to be the general manager and handle the daily operation of the restaurant,” Lee said of the new owners. “I am delighted to be handing over the keys into their capable hands.”
Added Lee, “The customers walking in next week will not notice any change.”
Meanwhile, in a separate development, Babak Movahedi, owner of the D.C. gay bar MOVA, announced on his Facebook page on Saturday that the bar and lounge currently located at 2204 14th Street, N.W., will be closing Jan. 3 and a new venue will soon open in its space.
“It is with great excitement that I announce the agreement reached between MOVA and one of the owners of the hottest bar in D.C., BARCODE,” Movahedi said in his Facebook message.
“I am even more excited about his future plans for the space as a restaurant and another upscale lounge,” he said. “Thank you, D.C., for your patronage over the past ten years. Our closing party will be on Jan. 3, 2015 with $3 drinks on everything and $5 martinis while supplies last. Enjoy.”
Movahedi opened his message by offering his greetings from Barcelona, Spain, where he has said he planned to stay for part of 2014.
Steve Rothaus, a journalist who writes an LGBT community column for the Miami Herald, reported in May that Movahedi told him the building in which he operated MOVA of South Miami Beach was being sold for real estate development. Rothaus reported Movahedi as saying he planned to close in the near future MOVA South Beach and its companion bar, also called MOVA, in the Brickell section of Miami to give him a chance to take a break.
But he will soon announce plans for a new club in the Miami area, Rothaus reported.
Movahedi and two business partners first opened MOVA under the name Halo in 2004 at 1435 P St., N.W., in D.C.’s Logan Circle neighborhood. Around 2007 the two partners, gay club owners Ed Bailey and John Guggenmos, sold their share in the business to Movahedi, making him the sole owner of the club. A short time later Movahedi renamed the club MOVA. In 2010 Movahedi announced plans to move the bar to a new location. After a short period of being closed, MOVA reopened in its current location in November 2011.
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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