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D.C. Council approves gay attorney for liquor board
Grandis nominated by Mayor Bowser
The D.C. City Council voted unanimously on March 3 to confirm Mayor Muriel Bowser’s nomination of gay attorney Edward Grandis to serve on the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board.
The seven-member ABC Board is an independent city body that meets weekly to adjudicate, administer, and enforce the city’s alcoholic beverage laws. Among its functions is to approve all applications for new liquor licenses and the renewal of those licenses for restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other establishments that serve alcoholic beverages.
Grandis, who has worked as an attorney in private practice in D.C. since 1992, was scheduled to be sworn in as an ABC Board member at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, March 11.
In his law practice he has specialized, among other areas, in licensing, permitting, zoning and related legal issues in D.C. and Virginia, including liquor licensing matters before both the ABC Board and the D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration. He has also served as a policy analyst for the Environmental Policy Center, focusing on federal and state regulations for coal mining.
Grandis also served as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for Dupont Circle and has provided legal counsel for the Historic Dupont Circle Main Streets Program and the Dupont Circle Merchants and Professionals Association.
WorldPride 2025 concluded with the WorldPride Street Festival and Closing Concert held along Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. on Sunday, June 8. Performers on the main stage included Doechii, Khalid, Courtney Act, Parker Matthews, 2AM Ricky, Suzie Toot, MkX and Brooke Eden.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Celebrating the transgender community, Baltimore Safe Haven, an organization committed to empowering LGBTQ individuals in Baltimore City, plans to host their fourth annual Baltimore Trans Pride on Saturday.
Instead of the usual parade and march, this year’s Trans Pride will be a block party on Charles Street and between 21st and 22nd Streets. The event will start at 1 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and last until 10 p.m.
Community members can go on guided tours, enjoy refreshments by local vendors, listen to presenters, and watch performances by special guests.
Sukihana, the event’s headliner, plans to take to the stage to entertain the crowd, along with a variety of local performers, according to Melissa Deveraux, Baltimore Safe Haven’s executive assistant to Executive Director Iya Dammons.
“Some (are) prominently known, some (are) just making a name for themselves,” Deveraux said. Iya is always making sure that community talent is showcased at all of our functions.”
In company with Pride on Saturday, Baltimore Safe Haven will be opening its new building on Friday from 1-4 p.m.
“That is sort of going to be the prelude to pride,” Lau said. “Thanks to Sen. Mary Washington and the Weinberg Foundation, we were able to purchase the building outright, and it’s going to be a community hub of administrative buildings and 12-bedroom apartments.”
Renee Lau, administrative assistant for special projects coordinator for Baltimore Safe Haven, said the planning process for Baltimore Trans Pride began in January, and putting it all together was a collaboration of multiple city agencies and organizations.
“Safe Haven is an LGBT community organization, but we service the entire community, and that’s the message we try to spread,” Lau said. “We’re not just here for the LGBT community. We’re here to spread goodwill and offer harm reduction and housing to the entire community.”
Lau said the organization’s biggest goal for the event is to gain exposure.
“(We want) to let and let people know who we are and what our community is about,” she said. “Right now, because of what’s happening in DC, there’s a lot of bad untruths going on, and the total thing is bringing out the truth.”
Deveraux said having a place of inclusivity, acceptance, and togetherness is important in today’s political climate and the current administration.
“This event will have people seeing the strength and resilience of the transgender community, showing that no matter what we are going through, we still show up,” Deveraux said. “We are here, we will not be erased.”
The 2025 WorldPride Parade was held in Washington, D.C. on Saturday, June 7. Laverne Cox and Renée Rapp were the grand marshals.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Robert Rapanut)
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