Local

Beloved D.C. nightclub figure Reggie Tyson dies at 62

Arkansas-native was part owner of Tracks nightclub

Published

6 years ago

February 21, 2020

Reggie “Reg” Tyson, whose involvement as a bartender, manager, and part owner of the D.C. gay nightclub Tracks in the 1990s and his later role in other D.C. gay nightlife venues in which numerous friends and patrons say he influenced their lives for the better, died Feb. 15 at a hospital in Silver Spring, Md., from complications associated with kidney disease and diabetes. He was 62.

His brother, Herb Tyson, said Reggie Tyson was surrounded by loving family members at White Oak Adventist Healthcare Medical Center in Silver Spring at the time of his passing.

Herb Tyson said he and his brother came from a family in which their father was a U.S. Foreign Service officer. He said his brother Reggie attended Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and had an interest in international affairs.

He began his career by “dabbling a little bit” in the import-export field, according to Herb Tyson. “But he always kind of ended up back in restaurants and nightclubs,” the brother said.

“He was an incredible host,” Herb Tyson recalls of his brother Reggie. “He loved to entertain people. And he wanted to make sure everybody got what they needed in life, whether it was food, drink, love or a roof over their head.”

Gay nightlife advocate Mark Lee, a longtime nightclub event producer and the current coordinator of the D.C. Nightlife Council, said Reggie Tyson was well-known and liked by customers and co-workers at the clubs where he worked.

“Throughout a two-decade career as part of the operational team and a bartender at Tracks and Velvet Nation, Reggie Tyson was one of the kindest souls and most welcoming personalities working in the local club scene, always with a broad smile and a big laugh who was everyone’s friend in a humbly gracious manner that few extend or achieve,” Lee said.

Herb Tyson said Reggie was born in Little Rock, Ark., on May 25, 1957, where the family lived until his father’s work as a Foreign Service officer eventually brought the family to the D.C. area in the mid-1960s. Reggie Tyson graduated from Wootton High School in Rockville, Md., before beginning college at Georgetown University, according to his brother.

One of Reggie Tyson’s ventures in the restaurant business, his brother said, brought him to St. John’s in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Reggie lived from around 2001 to 2006 to operate a restaurant that catered to tourists arriving on large cruise ships.

D.C. gay businessman John Guggenmos, who has been a partner and operator of numerous D.C. gay bars and nightclubs for over 30 years, credits Reggie Tyson with playing an important role as a friend and business partner in Guggenmos’ successful business ventures, including Tracks and Velvet Nation nightclubs in Southeast D.C.

Guggenmos said he first met Tyson in 1989 at the 17th Street gay bar JR’s at a time when Guggenmos was searching for a place to live while getting ready to attend graduate school at George Washington University. He had just arrived in D.C. from his hometown of Laramie, Wyo.

He said Tyson offered to rent him a room in the Logan Circle House where Tyson was living at the time, and the two soon became friends and a short time later business partners when Guggenmos, Tyson and others took over the operation of Tracks.

“Many people didn’t know Reg was a business partner of mine in Tracks and a big part of his legacy will be the unassuming foundation he provided, how he connected people, played a role in shaping D.C. gay nightlife and for believing in me before I believed in myself,” Guggenmos told the Blade.

Guggenmos’ account of how Tyson had a positive impact on his life was repeated by others in an outpouring of Facebook postings by people who knew Tyson upon learning of his passing.

“Reggie was the first face to ever greet me at my first gay club before I was even out,” wrote Christopher Wiggins in a Facebook post. “Back in 2000 I walked into Nation terrified and he looked at me from behind the bar and smiled,” Wiggins continued. ‘Here … have a Reggie Special …’ and he handed me a drink,” Wiggins wrote, saying the gesture eased his tension and brightened his visit to the club.

“Reggie was such a presence and you always knew you were safe whenever you saw his smile or he gave you a loving hug,” wrote Scott Jimenez in another Facebook post. “R.I.P. Reg and heaven has most welcomed an Angel home.”

Reggie Tyson is survived by his mother, two brothers, a sister, “tons of nieces and nephews,” and countless friends, his brother Herb Tyson said. He is predeceased by his father, who passed away two months ago. A memorial service is being planned for the spring and an announcement of the details will be made at that time, Herb Tyson said.

Cameroon

Gay Cameroonian immigrant will be freed from ICE detention — for now

Ludovic Mbock’s homeland criminalizes homosexuality

Published

2 days ago

March 13, 2026

Baltimore Banner

Competitive gamer Ludovic Mbock, left, with his sister, Diane Sohna. (Photo courtesy of Diane Sohna)

By ANTONIO PLANAS | An immigration judge on Friday issued a $4,000 bond for a Cameroonian immigrant and regional gaming champion held in federal immigration detention for the past three weeks.

The ruling will allow Ludovic Mbock, of Oxon Hill, to return to Maryland from a Georgia facility this weekend, his family and attorney said.

“Realistically, by tomorrow. Hopefully, by today,” said Mbock’s attorney, Edward Neufville. “We are one step closer to getting Ludovic justice.”

The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.

District of Columbia

Bowser appoints first nonbinary person to Cabinet-level position

Peter Stephan named Office of Disability Rights interim director

Published

3 days ago

March 12, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

The Wilson Building (Bigstock photo by Leonid Andronov)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bower has named longtime disability rights advocate Peter L. Stephan, who identifies as nonbinary, as interim director of the D.C. Office of Disability Rights.

The local transgender and nonbinary advocacy group Our Trans Capital and the LGBTQ group Capital Stonewall Democrats issued a joint statement calling Stephan’s appointment an historic development as the first-ever appointment of a nonbinary person to a Cabinet-level D.C. government position.

“This milestone appointment recognizes Stephan’s extensive expertise in disability rights advocacy and marks a historic advancement for transgender and nonbinary representation in District government leadership,” the statement says.

The statement notes that Stephan, an attorney, held the position of general counsel at the Office of Disability Rights immediately prior to the mayor’s decision to name him interim director.

The mayor’s office didn’t immediately respond to a question from the Washington Blade asking if Bowser plans to name Stephan as the permanent director of the Office of Disability Rights. John Fanning, a spokesperson for D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), said the office’s director position requires confirmation by the Council.

Stephan couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

“At a time when trans and nonbinary people ae under attack across the country, D.C. continues to lead by example,” said Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats. “This appointment reflects what we have always believed that our community is always strongest when every voice is represented in government,” he said.

“This is a historic step forward,” said Vida Rengel, founder of Our Trans Capital. “Interim Director Stephan’s career and accomplishments are a shining example of the positive impact that trans and nonbinary public servants can have on our communities,” according to Rangel.

District of Columbia

Capital Stonewall Democrats set to celebrate 50th anniversary

Mayor Bowser expected to attend March 20 event

Published

4 days ago

March 11, 2026

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Mayor Bowser is expected to attend the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th gala. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, and local and national Democratic Party officials are expected to join more than 150 LGBTQ advocates and supporters on March 20 for the 50^th anniversary celebration of the city’s Capital Stonewall Democrats.

A statement released by the organization says the event is scheduled to be held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building at 702 8^th St., N.W. in D.C.

“The evening will honor the people who built Capital Stonewall Democrats across five decades – activists who fought for rights when the odds were against them, public servants who opened doors and refused to let them close, and a new generation of leaders ready to carry the work forward,” the statement says.

Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to the Capital Stonewall Democrats.

Among those planning to attend the anniversary event is longtime D.C. gay Democratic activist Paul Kuntzler, 84, who is one of the two co-founders of the then-Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kuntzler told the Washington Blade that he and co-founder Richard Maulsby were joined by about a dozen others in the living room of his Southwest D.C. home at the group’s founding meeting in January 1976.

He said that among the reasons for forming a local LGBTQ Democratic group at the time was to arrange for a then “gay” presence at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, at which Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination for U.S. president and later won election as president.

Maulsby, who served as the Stein Club president for its first three years and who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., said he would not be attending the March 20 anniversary event, but he fully supports the organization’s continuing work as an LGBTQ organization associated with the Democratic Party.

Steven McCarty, Capital Stonewall Democrats’ current president, said in the statement that the anniversary celebration will highlight the organization’s work since the time of its founding.

“Capital Stonewall Democrats has been fighting for LGBTQ+ political power in this city for 50 years, electing people, training organizers, holding this community together through some really hard moments,” he said. “And right now, with everything going on, that work has never mattered more. This gala is the first moment of our next chapter, and I want the community to be a part of it.”

The statement says among the special guests attending the event will be Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, who became the first openly gay LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.

Other guests of honor, according to the statement, include Mayor Bowser; D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5, the Council’s only gay member; D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as Deputy Director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; Rayceen Pendarvis, longtime D.C. LGBTQ civic activist; and Phillip Pannell, longtime D.C. LGBTQ Democratic activist and Ward 8 civic activist.

Information about ticket availability for the Capital Stonewall Democrats anniversary gala can be accessed here: capitalstonewalldemocrats.com/50th