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McAuliffe participates in Virginia Pride roundtable

Gubernatorial candidate highlighted plans to keep Va. ‘open and welcoming’

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Terry McAuliffe, gay news, Washington Blade
(Washington Blade photo by Lee Whitman)

Terry McAuliffe on Monday met with Virginia Pride in Richmond to discuss his plans to keep the state ā€œopen and welcomingā€ for the LGBTQ community.

ā€œGreat opportunity to speak with @VA_Pride in Richmond this AM,ā€ McAuliffe tweeted following the roundtable that took place at Diversity Richmond’s headquarters. ā€œVA is the #1 state for business because we are open and welcoming ā€” but thatā€™s all at risk this November. Glenn Youngkinā€™s far-right social agenda would harm LGBTQ+ Virginians and send our economy into a ditch.ā€

McAuliffe and Youngkin are running a close race for the governorship, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll released Saturday that shows the former Virginia governor leading by a 50-47 percent margin among likely voters.

The Human Rights Campaign endorsed McAuliffe, who was governor from 2014-2018, for his record of supporting LGBTQ rights, including supporting marriage equality and signing an executive order prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ state employees as his first action in office. 

ā€œLGBTQ leaders in Richmond had a great meeting with Gov. McAuliffe where he was able to lay out his agenda for building on the tremendous progress Virginia has made towards equality,ā€ said Virginia Pride Program Director James Millner in an email to the Washington Blade. ā€œThe governor talked extensively about his record on LGBTQ issues and promised to work with us to ensure that every LGBTQ Virginian is able to live openly and authentically.ā€

McAuliffe’s legacy includes welcoming businesses turned off by North Carolina’s passage of its anti-transgender “bathroom bill.” 

When North Carolina’s House Bill 2, a law requiring students to use public restrooms and locker rooms aligned with the gender on their birth certificates, took effect in 2016, McAullife recruited CoStar, a real estate information company that operates databases for Apartments.com, ApartmentFinder.com and similar companies, to move its headquarters to Richmond. This recruitment brought 730 jobs to the state.

David Dorsch, a senior vice president at Cushman and Wakefield, which represented CoStar nationally, told the Charlotte Business Journal that CoStarā€™s primary reason for choosing ā€œRichmond over Charlotte was HB 2.ā€

Youngkin is a former business executive who previously ran the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm named by the HRC in 2019 as a ā€œBest Place to Work for LGBTQ Equalityā€ in its annual Corporate Equality Index. HRC, however, has called out Youngkin for ā€œanti-LGBTQ and transphobic languageā€ during his current campaign.

McAuliffe in April released an LGBTQ rights platform that includes a call to repeal the so-called ā€œconscience clause,ā€ which allows religious-based adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Governor Ralph Northam, who was McAuliffeā€™s former lieutenant governor and has signed historic LGBTQ-inclusive legislation during his time in office, also endorsed McAuliffe for governor.

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Rehoboth Beach

Rehoboth Beachā€™s iconic Purple Parrot is sold

Popular restaurant/bar purchased by local entrepreneurs

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Drew Mitchell (left) and Tyler Townsend recently completed their purchase of the Purple Parrot.

After 25 years of success, owners Hugh Fuller and Troy Roberts recently sold Rehoboth Beachā€™s Purple Parrot restaurant and bar. 

During those 25 years, they built it into an iconic establishment in Rehoboth Beach, Del., popular with locals and tourists alike.

 ā€œI think you know that this has basically been my entire adult life,ā€ Fuller said. ā€œSelling wasn’t something I was even contemplating until my health took a turn after contracting COVID, which took a toll on my everyday health. I went from working almost every day to barely going in.ā€ 

Fuller added that when local entrepreneurs Tyler Townsend and his partner Drew Mitchell reached out, he knew it was time to sell. 

ā€œWe knew we made the right decision going with some young blood that knew the staff, the restaurant, and us,ā€ Fuller said. ā€œWe know that our baby is in good hands and will breathe for another 25+ years with them at the helm. I plan to take some time and bring my mom back to her hometown in Germany to visit her family, which she hasn’t seen in over 30 years.ā€ 

Roberts added, ā€œIt is bittersweet selling a business you created, nurtured, and ran for 25 years. It is much easier knowing who is going to love it next. More importantly, we really wanted our staff to be OK and again picking the right guys offering that security to them was a major plus. Iā€™ve learned so much being in the restaurant business for 30+ years. You meet so many great people, so many loyal customers, amazing locals, and even better staff. It truly does become a family situation. I will always be grateful to every single one of them past and present. I cannot wait to see what the next chapter of the Purple Parrot Grill has in-store.ā€

The new owners, Townsend and Mitchell, are already a big part of the Rehoboth scene. Townsend is a successful restaurateur, part of the Second Block Hospitality Group, which owns The Pines, Drift, and Bodhi Kitchen. Townsend is also one of the owners of Aqua Bar and Grill.  Townsend and the other three partners in Second Block Hospitality, were named restaurateurs of the year by the Delaware Restaurant Association earlier this year. Mitchell has a company that does corporate branding, but is no newcomer to hospitality. He is the owner of the Fathom Gallery on 14th Street in D.C., a popular event space. 

Townsend told the Blade he and Mitchell are not planning any big changes for the Parrot. The staff will remain the same and the food and drinks will continue as they are now. They will continue to be open on Thanksgiving and Christmas, as a home for those looking to have a great place to spend the holidays with old, and new friends. While the Parrot is independent of Townsendā€™s other businesses, he believes there can be some synergy among them, and if the time and event are right, there will be collaboration. 

Reaction to the news from locals has been overwhelmingly positive.

Christopher Chandler, who has worked as a bartender and manager at the Parrot for years, is well respected in the community and has been voted best bartender in Rehoboth Beach a number of times by Blade readers. Chandler said, ā€œHugh and Troy were, and are, like family to me. They treated me and the staff of the Parrot as part of theirs. Iā€™m sad they are gone but if anyone is capable of continuing their legacy it is Tyler and Drew.

ā€œIn the short time since their purchase of the Purple Parrot they have continued on that tradition. Iā€™m excited about continuing into the future what the Parrot has been to the community, and to the employees, just with new owners.ā€  

Bob Suppies, who is a partner with Townsend in Second Block Hospitality said, ā€œI couldnā€™t be more excited for Tyler and Drew having purchased The Purple Parrot. When Tyler, Kevin McDuffie and I bought Aqua Bar & Grill from the famed Bill Shields, it was important for us to honor the brand and legacy of a great Rehoboth Beach institution. I know Tyler and Drew will do an outstanding job protecting what Hugh and Troy have built and given to our community.ā€ 

Steve Fallon, owner of local retail store Gidgetā€™s Gadgets, said, ā€œThe Purple Parrot is a monumental institution produced by the hard work of Hugh, Troy, Cathy, and their loyal staff. We will be sad not to yell “Hey Hugh!” across the street. But I also know that Tyler and Drew will carry on the history of the Parrot with a fresh approach and always keep the customers happy. I wouldn’t fear that they would do as others have done and try changing a functioning landscape into a horror show.ā€ 

The Purple Parrot (Washington Blade photo by Daniel Truitt)
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Maryland

Hate crime charges dropped against most Salisbury students in off-campus attack

Suspects allegedly used Grindr to target victim

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Students walk outside the Guerrieri Academic Commons at Salisbury University, where 15 students were charged in an off-campus attack. (Photo by Wesley Lapointe of the Baltimore Banner)

BY MIKE HELLGRIN, CHRISTIAN OLANIRAN, AND ELLIE WOLFE | Prosecutors in Wicomico County are dropping felony assault and hate crime charges against at least 12 of the 15 Salisbury University students charged in an off-campus attack in October.

Misdemeanor false imprisonment and second-degree assault charges remain for most of the defendants, and many trials are set for late January.

The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Bannerā€™s website.

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District of Columbia

D.C. Mayorā€™s Office of LGBTQ Affairs moving to new location

LGBTQ community center also set to leave Reeves Center

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There are plans to demolish the Reeves Center and replace it with a redevelopment project. (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowserā€™s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which is currently located at the cityā€™s Reeves Center municipal building at 14th and U Street, N.W., was scheduled to move during the week of Dec. 9 to a new location at 899 North Capitol St., N.E., according to Japer Bowles, the officeā€™s director.

Bowles said the LGBTQ Affairs office will be located on the seventh floor of the privately owned office building in which the city has rented space for several other city agencies, including the D.C. Department of Health.

The move comes about amid longstanding plans to demolish the Reeves Center and replace it with a redevelopment project that will include a mix of housing, office space, a hotel, and retail stores along with a public plaza and a 200-seat amphitheater.

The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, which has been located in the Reeves Center for about 10 years, also expects to be moving out of the building in the spring of 2025, said Kimberley Bush, the LGBTQ centerā€™s executive director.

Bush said the LGBTQ center looks forward to moving into its new, larger space in a building at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. in the cityā€™s Shaw neighborhood, which is located one block away from the Shaw-Howard University Metro station.

The LGBTQ center entered a joint lease to rent space in the Wiltberger Street building with the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most of D.C.ā€™s LGBTQ Pride events, including the upcoming World Pride 2025 events set to take place in D.C. May 17-June 8.

In response to a request by Bowser, the D.C. Council earlier this year approved $1 million in funding for fiscal year 2025 to support the build-out and construction of the LGBTQ Centerā€™s space in the Wiltberger Streetā€™s converted warehouse building.

But shortly after the Council approved that funding, the D.C. Center and Capital Pride Alliance announced the launch of a fundraising campaign called ā€œWelcome Home ā€“ Building Together, Thriving Togetherā€ to raise an additional $1.5 million needed to complete the renovation of the new building.

ā€œThis endeavor is more than just the construction of a building; it represents a commitment to carve out a generous 7,000 square feet of space devoted to nurturing unity, empowerment, and support across the LGBTQ+ spectrum,ā€ a statement announcing the fundraising campaign says.

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