Local
Baltimore Eagle loses liquor license
‘Our patrons are out of a bar’
The Baltimore Eagle has been closed since 2012. (Photo by A. Currell; courtesy CreativeCommons)
The three-member Baltimore City Liquor Board on April 9 unanimously denied the Baltimore Eagle’s ownership group a requested liquor license transfer claiming that the work on renovations was not completed within the requisite 180 days, deeming the license dead.
The bar, located at 2022 N. Charles St., closed in December 2012 following its sale, leaving many in the community uncertain as to the bar’s fate. Charles Parrish and Ian Parrish purchased the property for $300,000 and vowed to re-open it as the Baltimore Eagle after renovations are completed.
However, unanticipated problems with the structure, an excessive amount of trash, delays in an electrical line installation and other impediments prevented the renovations from being completed on time. Melvin Kodenski, an attorney for the group, argued at a March 12 hearing that there was precedent to waive the rule under certain circumstances and that he would present legal documents to the board.
The ownership group presented its evidence, but the board, led by former judge Tom Ward, dismissed it citing a seething 2013 audit of the liquor board that revealed corruption and other irregularities. The new board was given the charge to crack down on “zombie” licenses as well as other improprieties.
According to BaltimoreBrew.com, Ward said at the April 9 hearing, “It is very clear to us…that the 180-day rule in this case has been violated. You’re out of time. The license is gone.”
Ian Parrish and his supporters consider the decision to be an injustice.
“We’ve done everything we were advised to do by the Liquor Board itself,” Parrish, a Baltimore-area developer, told the Blade. “We met the board regularly to keep them informed of our progress, and they were happy with our work; we were told that our license was secure as long as we continued our pace, and we held up our end of the that agreement; we paid our fees, and they took our money. And now these three new commissioners show up out of nowhere, disrespect the city officials who were moving the project forward, and kill our project with their arbitrary decision. From all the way up on their bench it must be hard for them to see that their decision has real consequences here in our neighborhood.”
Parrish added, “I don’t know what their agenda is, but we know that a building in Baltimore is sitting vacant right now because of the Baltimore City Liquor Board, and a business that has been in operation for 20 years has been told to go away. My men are out of work and our patrons are out of a bar.”
He had hoped that the rebirth of the Baltimore Eagle as a gay bar was not the reason for opposition from nearby community groups but suspicions have arisen.
“The most upsetting thing is that the handful of people in opposition who were running around saying that ‘a gay bar could bring gay prostitution’ was allowed to get away with it,” Parrish said. “That’s what we were told when we attended the meeting of the Charles Village Land Use Committee—the organization where Commissioner [Dana] Moore used to serve as president. And most of these people don’t even live in the neighborhood. I am disgusted.”
Though the liquor board declared the license dead, Parrish and his supporters believe the project is not and will explore all legal channels available to make it happen.
“For better than 20 years, the Eagle has been a judgment-free environment, a place where people could go and just be themselves,” said Parrish. “The patrons and staff have always been good neighbors to me; and I may be just one guy, but as long as friends of the Eagle will stand with me, I will fight to re-open this landmark tavern.”
He urges friends of the Eagle to send letters of support to [email protected]. All letters will be forwarded to the Baltimore City Liquor Board, Council member Carl Stokes, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Gov. Larry Hogan.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate this week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. will be moderating a panel at Dupont Underground on Sunday. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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