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.
Baltimore
The fight to save one of Baltimore’s last gay bars
Leon’s closed in July after its owner’s death
By JULIE SCHARPER and WESLEY CASE | Soon after Jim Becker came out as gay in 1967, he ducked into a Mount Vernon bar called Leon’s.
In the dark, smoky bar, men used pseudonyms for fear of being outed, as homosexual acts were illegal in Maryland. Bartenders, wary of vice squad raids, would blow a whistle if couples leaned in for a kiss.
But to Becker, arriving at Leon’s was a kind of homecoming. He could explore his identity, connect with other gay men and build community in the anxious years before the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a pivotal moment in the LGBTQ rights movement.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Gay-owned pizzeria in Dupont Circle burglarized
Protest Pizza owners say community has expressed support
Gay activist Randy Downs said he and his business and life partner Ricky Bennett are grateful for the support they have received from the Dupont Circle community after they released a video showing a suspect breaking into their recently opened pizza shop and taking money from a cash register shortly before 3 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 21.
The surveillance video shows a man wearing black clothing with his face covered, smashing the glass front door of Protest Pizza, located at 1633 ½ P St., N.W. The video, which Downs and Bennett provided to D.C. police, also shows the suspect climbing over the bar to get to a cash register, which he opened to take out cash.
A D.C. police report obtained by the Washington Blade lists the incident as a Burglary in the Second Degree and says the owners reported “approximately $78 in cash” was taken from the cash register. The report says the incident is not listed as a suspected hate crime.
Downs told the Washington Blade that after he and Bennett reported the break-in and theft on social media, they received an overwhelming showing of support from neighbors and others, including business owners, from across the nation.
“The break-in was upsetting, but it is not what will define Protest Pizza,” Downs said. “What defines us is how quickly people showed up,” he told the Blade. “One person came looking for a cash register; our community saw a gathering place worth protecting. The response reminded us that Protest’s real value was never in the register.”
Downs said he and Bennett, who live around the corner on the section of 17th Street, N.W., near several other bars and restaurants, including the gay bar JRs are located, opened Protest Pizza in November 2025.
“Ricky and I built Protest Pizza as a positive, welcoming, queer owned neighborhood restaurant and bar — a space for protest and joy,” he said.
A D.C. police spokesperson said police offer a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of a suspect responsible for the type of burglary and theft that occurred at Protest Pizza. Police say anyone with information to help solve this type of crime should call the police tipline at 202-727-9099.
District of Columbia
Advocates honored at Engendered Spirit Awards
Annual ceremony held at conclusion of Trans Pride DC
The 2026 SaVanna Wanzer Engendered Spirit Awards ceremony took place at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in D.C. on Saturday. The ceremony was held at the conclusion of the day-long Trans Pride DC: Encore.
Honorees included D.C. Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs Deputy Director Vida Rangel; the LGBT+ Counseling Collaborative, Inc.; and Connor Keuntje, CLP, CLPC.
Trans Pride DC: Encore was held throughout Saturday with several workshop sessions and a virtual conversation with actress and advocate Dominique Jackson.
The annual Engendered Spirit Awards were renamed the “SaVanna Wanzer Engendered Spirit Awards” in honor of SaVanna Wanzer, founder of D.C. Trans Pride. Wanzer died on April 24 of this year.
Speakers at the ceremony included Japer Bowles, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and Bianca Sprague, executive director of D.C. Trans Pride.
“The intent behind this award and honoring members of our communities, organizations, and allies, is to really elevate all of the work that they’re doing to provide resources, tools, learning opportunities and connections: centering trans folks, gender non-conforming, and gender diverse individuals,” Sprague said.
Dolly Parton dies at 80
Monument to LGBTQ Canadians officially unveiled
The fight to save one of Baltimore’s last gay bars
When home becomes a journey: migration, memory, and the African diaspora
Gay-owned pizzeria in Dupont Circle burglarized
Trump-Vance administration’s LGBTQ brain drain: what you need to know
Not all trans people are the same
UPDATE: Impulse Group’s ‘PrEP Pool Party’ cancelled
Calendar: August 21-27
