Local
John Michael Fry dies at 64
Beloved longtime bartender at Mr. Henry’s
John Michael Fry
John Michael Fry (“Mike”), for more than three decades the welcoming face of Mr. Henry’s of Capitol Hill, died at his home on T Street, N.W., Wednesday morning, Nov. 25. He was 64.
The cause of death was cancer, according to his friend Tom Faison, a Capitol Hill Realtor, and Rick Hauser, Fry’s long-time housemate. Faison and Hauser were primary care givers during his illness.
Fry spent most of his working life as a waiter, bartender and assistant manager at the iconic Mr. Henry’s, the venue where singer Roberta Flack was introduced to the world in the 1960s. Fry and the restaurant and bar hosted the staffs of the old Washington Evening Star and the Southeast Washington Navy Yard, Capitol Hill real estate agents, members of Congress and their staffs, and employees of the Library of Congress, all just a half-dozen blocks from Henry’s location at Sixth and Pennsylvania Avenue, Southeast.
The gay and lesbian community, of which Fry was part, was a large portion of his clientele, mingling with House members like D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton; tourists, celebrities and entertainers visiting Capitol Hill; journalists and writers like the late Diana McLellan; political operatives and TV commentators, including Donna Brazile of CNN.
“Over all those years, Michael made us soar,” Brazile said on learning of Fry’s death. “He was the music when the jukebox went silent.”
“Michael was like an uncle to my kids,” said Faison, at whose vacation home on Cape May, N.J., “Mikie” was a frequent guest. Fry enjoyed European travel, including several trips with Capitol Hill friends Ann Bradley and Caroline Shook. And he visited his ancestral Ireland with long-time friend Don Blackmon, pursuing his interest in genealogy.
“Many of us anchored our weekends to Michael’s Saturday bar at Henry’s, where he held court,” said Walter Quetsch, a resident of Capitol Hill for six decades. “Michael would always have a favorite taunt for each of us. If a bar regular made a whining comment, he would respond with, ‘Do you think I give a fuck?’”
Fry was a frequent visitor to Quetsch’s summer home on Fire Island’s Cherry Grove.
“On nearly every one of my visits to Henry’s, anyone in earshot would hear Mike ask, ‘Do you remember that time in 1980 when Terry got drunk over there by the window,'” said Terry Michael. “He paired that with, ‘You’re almost 70, you know,’ his favorite way to harass me.” Michael is a former political press secretary who has lived near Mr. Henry’s for four decades.
John Michael Fry was born March 15, 1951 in Kensington, Md., son of Gorman and Dorothy Fry, who preceded him in death. He is survived by two brothers, Chris Fry and Bill Fry, and a sister, Mary Patricia McDonnell, and by a sister-in-law Linda Fry and a brother-in-law Tom McDonnell, all of Maryland, along with many nieces and nephews.
He is also survived by numerous friends, those noted above, plus Ed McManus and Karen Lyon of Capitol Hill, with whom Fry helped promote the Capitol Hill BookFest; Alvin Ross, the retired manager of Mr. Henry’s, with whom Fry worked for more than 30 years; and Library of Congress staffers, led by Ana Lupe Cristan, who dined at Henry’s every Friday for lunch.
Tributes to Michael Fry can be made with donations to the Washington Animal Rescue League, in the name of “Scooter.” Memories can be shared at his Facebook page, “Mike Fry.” Friends are planning a memorial service.
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 next 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. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. 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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