District of Columbia
Hundreds shut out of Cherry circuit party at Howard Theatre
Organizers apologize, promise refunds
Cherry Fund, the D.C.-based nonprofit organization that has raised money for HIV/AIDS, mental health, and LGBTQ organizations over the past 25 years through its annual weekend circuit party events, issued an apology this week for the abrupt cancellation of one of its events and a decision by the Howard Theatre to stop admitting people to a separate Cherry event at that location on grounds of overcrowding.
The Saturday night, April 9, event at the Howard Theatre, called FLAWLESS, was considered one of the main dance party events of the Cherry 2022 weekend, with prominent DJs, entertainers and more than 1,000 people from the D.C. area and other parts of the country in attendance.
“The Cherry Fund wants to apologize for the experience to our valued patrons received over this past weekend during our 25th Anniversary Benefit Weekend,” a statement released by the Cherry Fund on Tuesday says. “Cherry is now beginning the process of issuing refunds to the patrons for the cancelled Evolution event and Flawless event to those who were not permitted to enter the venue,” the statement says.
Allen Sexton, the Cherry Fund president, told the Washington Blade Howard Theatre officials stopped admitting people into the theater after claiming the building’s legal capacity limit of 1,242 people had been reached. But Sexton said Cherry Fund’s all-volunteer staff have carefully looked through the ticket sales records and determined the total number of tickets sold for the event was 1,178. He said the numbers show that the event was not overbooked.
Sexton said theater staff members told him they never took a full count of the number of people inside the theater on the night of the event. Instead, according to Sexton, one of the theater managers told him, “I can just look at the floor and tell” how many people are present.
People waiting to get into the theater reported on social media that as many as 300 or more people were forced to wait in line outside the theater in cold outdoor temperatures with the hope of getting in. According to social media reports, including on Facebook, many of those waiting on two lines went home after D.C. police officers on duty told them the theater was filled to capacity and few if any more people would be allowed inside.
D.C. police spokesperson Brianna Burch told the Blade members of the department’s LGBTQ Liaison Unit were on duty at the Howard Theatre event.
“To ensure the security and safety of all patrons, MPD members notified patrons that the event was at capacity,” Burch said. “It is my understanding that eventually patrons who were waiting outside were let into the event.”
Howard Theatre did not respond to a request from the Blade for comment on the question of whether they incorrectly estimated the number of people at the theater as suggested by Sexton. Sexton, however, said it was possible that some of the people waiting to get into the theater did not have tickets and were hoping to be able to purchase tickets at the door.
He said a separate event scheduled for late Friday night, April 8, through the early morning hours of Saturday, April 9, until around 9 a.m. had to be cancelled when the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration denied an application by Decades nightclub on Connecticut Avenue, N.W. near Dupont Circle to extend its operating hours through the early morning hours to serve as host for the dance party event, called EVOLUTION.
The legally required closing time for most D.C. bars and nightclubs is 3 a.m. on weekends, although Decades’ weekend closing time is 4 a.m.
An ABRA spokesperson told the Blade the application for the extended operating hours was submitted by Sexton rather than by one of the owners of Decades nightclub as required under ABRA regulations. The spokesperson, Jared Powell, said ABRA emailed the Decades manager, Joe Aguila, on March 3 to inform him the application could not be accepted unless one of the owners signed their name on the required document.
“ABRA received no response to the email notification,” Powell said. Powell noted that under ABRA rules, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, which meets once a week on Wednesdays, must give final approval of a “substantial change” in operating hours for clubs licensed to sell alcoholic beverages.
Powell said that on Thursday, April 7, one day after the ABC Board’s last meeting before the Cherry events were scheduled to begin on April 7, the Decades’ manager came to the ABRA office to inquire about the status of the application. He said one day later, on April 8, Sexton came to the ABRA office asking about the application.
“Both parties were advised that they missed the required application window for timely ABC Board consideration,” Powell told the Blade in an email.
Sexton disputes this claim, saying he believes the Decades owner provided the required signed application in time for the ABC Board meeting on Wednesday morning, April 6, possibly through an email attachment.
According to Sexton, the negative fallout from the canceled dance party event on Friday night-Saturday early morning and the Howard Theatre’s refusal to admit patrons to the Saturday night FLAWLESS main event cast a negative light on an otherwise successful weekend, with eight other events taking place as scheduled.
“We are sorry,” says the Cherry Fund statement released on April 12. “In hindsight, we could have gone about producing this weekend in a more efficient manner. We did not and we are to blame,” it says.
“We will begin to investigate the details of failures within our own organization, as well as the shortcomings of venues,” the statement continues. “We will release additional details as they become available.”
The Cherry Fund website describes its annual Cherry weekend events as “one of the longest all volunteer non-profit LGBTQIA Dance Music Festivals” that it says has donated more than $1.3 million in “grants and support benefiting mental health and HIV/AIDS service organizations in the D.C. metropolitan region and beyond.”
In its statement released on April 12, Cherry Fund says its decision to refund the money for ticket sales for the cancelled event and the ticket holders unable to attend the Howard Theatre event “will most likely result in our inability to give money back to the HIV/AIDS and mental health community organizations in 2022.”
The statement adds, “We are in the process of working with TicketLeap to start the refund process. Please send your refund request to [email protected]. Refunds will be processed to only the individuals that purchased their tickets that were issued to them on the TicketLeap platform. All refund requests must be submitted by April 30, 2022.”
District of Columbia
GLAA releases ratings for 18 candidates running for D.C. mayor, Council, AG
Mayoral contender Janeese Lewis Geroge among those receiving highest score
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, a Democrat, is among just four candidates to receive the highest rating score of +10 from GLAA D.C. who are competing in the city’s June 16 primary election.
GLAA, formally known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, has rated candidates for public office in D.C. since the 1970s. It rated 18 of the 36 candidates on this year’s primary ballot for mayor, D.C. Council, and D.C. attorney general based on its policy of only rating candidates who return a GLAA questionnaire asking for their positions on a wide range of issues, most of which are not LGBTQ-specific.
Among the candidates who did not return the questionnaire and thus did not receive a rating, according to GLAA, was Democratic mayoral contender Kenyan McDuffie, who along with Lewis George, is considered by political observers to be one of the two leading mayoral candidates running in the Democratic primary.
Lewis George and McDuffie, who each have long records of support for the LGBTQ community, are among a total of eight candidates running for mayor on the June 16 primary ballot: seven Democrats and one Statehood Green Party candidate. In addition to Lewis George, GLAA rated just two other mayoral candidates. Rini Sampath, a Democrat who self identifies as queer, received a +6.5 rating, and Ernest E. Johnson, also a Democrat, received a +4.5 rating
Under the GLAA rating system, candidate ratings range from a +10, the highest score, to a -10, the lowest possible score. In its ratings for the June 16 primary, the lowest score issued was +4.5. GLAA said in a statement that each of the 18 candidates it rated expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues in their questionnaire responses, indicating that the overall rating scores reflect the candidates’ positions on mostly non-LGBTQ-specific issues.
The three other candidates who received a +10 GLAA rating are each running as Democrats for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat. They include gay candidate Miguel Trindade Deramo; Aparna Raj, who identifies as bisexual; and LGBTQ ally Rashida Brown. The only other Ward 1 candidate rated by GLAA is LGBTQ ally Terry Lynch, who received a +5.5 rating.
Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker, the Council’s only gay member who is facing two opponents in the Democratic primary, received a +7 GLAA rating. The two challengers did not return the questionnaire and were not rated.
“In seven out of 10 of our priorities, every candidate indicated agreement,” GLAA said in its statement to the Washington Blade in referring to the candidates it rated. “Total consensus on core issues signals that whomever is elected to Council and mayor, we should expect to hold our elected officials accountable to our goals of protecting home rule, resisting federal overreach, advancing transgender healthcare rights, and eliminating chronic homelessness in the District,” the statement says.
“While candidates agree on the basics, they distinguish themselves in the depth and creativity in their responses, and their record on the issues,” according to the statement, which adds that candidates’ full questionnaire responses and ratings can be accessed on the GLAA website, glaa.org.
Like past election years, GLAA does not rate candidates running for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat or the so-called “shadow” U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate seats.
With the exception of one question asking about transgender rights, none of the other nine of the 10 questionnaire questions are LGBTQ-specific. But most of the questions mention that LGBTQ people are impacted by the issues being raised, such as affordable housing, federal government intrusion into D.C. home rule, and access to healthcare and public benefits for low-income residents.
One of the questions asks candidates if they support decriminalization of sex work in D.C. among consenting adults, which GLAA supports. Lewis George is among the candidates who said they do not support sex work decriminalization at this time. The other two mayoral candidates that GLAA rated, Sampath and Johnson, said they support sex work decriminalization.
In the race for D.C. attorney general, GLAA issued a rating for just one of the three candidates running: Republican challenger Manuel Rivera, who received a +4.5 rating. Incumbent Democrat Brian Schwalb and Democratic challenger J.P. Szymkowicz were not rated because they didn’t return the questionnaire.
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D), who is running unopposed in the primary, received a +6.5 rating. Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen, who is facing three Democratic challengers in the primary and who is a longtime LGBTQ ally, received a +6.5 rating.
In the special election to fill the at-large D.C. Council seat vacated by the resignation of then-Independent Councilmember McDuffie to enable him to run for mayor as a Democrat, GLAA has rated two of the three Independent candidates competing for the seat. Elissa Silverman received a +5.75 rating, and Doni Crawford received a +5.6 rating.
Finally, in the At-Large D.C. Council race GLAA issued ratings for five of the 11 candidates running in the primary, each of whom are Democrats. Oye Owolewa received a +9; Lisa Raymond, +7.5; Dwight Davis, +6.5; Dyana N.M. Forester, +6; and Fred Hill, +6.6.
The full list of GLAA-rated candidates and their detailed questionnaire responses can be accessed at glaa.org.
District of Columbia
Anti-LGBTQ violence prevention efforts highlighted at D.C. community fair
Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs organized May 8 event
Detailed advice on how LGBTQ people can avoid, defend themselves against, and prevent themselves and loved ones from becoming victims of violence, with a focus on domestic and intimate partner violence, was presented at a May 8 LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers Community Fair.
The event, organized by the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, included five workshop sessions and information tables set up by 14 LGBTQ-supportive organizations and D.C. government agencies or agency divisions, including the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit and the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center.
Also playing a lead role in organizing the event was the D.C. LGBTQIA+ Violence Prevention and Response Team, or VPART, a coalition of D.C. officials and leaders of community-based organizations that work with the Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
The event was held in meeting space in the building where the Office of LGBTQ Affairs is located at 899 N. Capitol St., N.E.
The workshop topics included de-escalation training on healthy relationships, bystander intervention, self-defense training, violence prevention grants, and suicide prevention.
“This will be a public safety and violence prevention event where community partners will educate attendees on various methods of violence intervention and trauma-informed practices,” according to a statement released by the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs prior to the start of the event.
The statement adds, “We will have live demos, interactive games, and workshops focused on strategies for self-defense, protecting vulnerable communities, increasing access to mental health resources, providing tools for recognizing domestic violence/intimate partner violence signs in intimate relationships, and assistance for substance abuse.”
Sonya Joseph, associate director of engagement for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs, told the Washington Blade that studies have shown rates of domestic or intimate partner violence are higher in the LGBTQ community than in the community at large.
“Domestic violence and intimate partner violence are two very big prevalent issues in the LGBTQ community,” she said, adding that some of the workshops at the event would be providing “training on healthy relationships and how to recognize and prevent intimate partner violence and the signs of it.”
About 35 to 40 people attended the workshop sessions.
Experts specializing in violence impacting the LGBTQ community have said domestic violence refers to violence among people in domestic relationships that can include spouses but also siblings, parents, cousins, and other relatives. Intimate partner violence, according to the experts, refers to violence perpetuated by a partner in a romantic or dating relationship.
These D.C. based organizations or agencies that participated in the LGBTQIA+ Safety in Numbers event, and which can be contacted for assistance, include:
• Defend Yourself
• DC LGBTQ+ Community Center
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Joseph’s House
• Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc.
• MCSR (formerly known as Men Can Stop Rape)
• MPD LGBT Liaison Unit
• Volunteer Legal Advocates
• DC SAFE
• Destination Tomorrow
• D.C. Office of Victims Services and Justice Grants
• Life Enhancement Services
• ONYX Therapy Group
• U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C.
District of Columbia
Maren Morris to headline Capital Pride Concert
Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter came out as bisexual in 2024
Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced on May 7 that nationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Maren Morris, who identifies as bisexual, will be the headline performer at this year’s Capital Pride Concert scheduled for June 21.
The concert takes place as part of the annual Capital Pride Festival held on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., usually between 3rd Street near the U.S. Capitol and 9th Street.
“Morris, known for her genre-blending sound and outspoken support of LGBTQ+ rights, will be joined by a standout lineup, including acclaimed queer rapper Leikeli47, pop icon Lisa Lisa, Juno-nominated producer and DJ from the ‘Heated Rivalry’ soundtrack, Harrison, and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 18 winner Myki Meeks,” according to a statement released by Capital Pride.
“In a moment when LGBTQ+ people are being challenged across the country, the Capital Pride Concert is a space where our community is fully seen and heard,” Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and president, said in the statement. “Bringing Maren Morris to the stage reflects this year’s theme: Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity,” Bos said.
The statement notes that the concert takes place as part of the annual D.C. Pride Festival, which is open to the public free of charge, with tickets available for purchase for specific areas listed as the Capital Stage Pit Zone and the VIP Concert Zone.
It says the festival takes place from 12 –10 p.m. and points out that in addition to the music performed by multiple other performers on several stages, festival attendees “can explore hundreds of exhibitors, community organizations, and artisans, along with multiple food courts and beverage gardens throughout the festival footprint.”
Information on the Capital Pride Alliance website shows that the festival takes place one day after the annual Capital Pride Parade, scheduled for June 20 and which is expected to travel from 14th and T Streets, N.W., to Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., where it is expected to end at 9th Street.
The statement adds that following the stage performances during the June 21 festival, which are expected to conclude around 8 p.m., “the celebration will continue with the Capitol Sunset Dance Party, closing out the evening against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol.”
The online publication Today, which is part of the NBC “Today” television show, reported that Morris came out as bisexual in a 2024 during Pride. It reports Morris “shared several images of herself holding a Pride flag to mark the occasion, writing, ‘Happy to be the B in LGBTQ+’”
GLAA releases ratings for 18 candidates running for D.C. mayor, Council, AG
Blade finalist for D.C. Society of Professional Journalists awards
He is 16 and sitting in a Cuban prison
From the Capitol to the coast: Rep. Sarah McBride shares Rehoboth favorites
PHOTOS: ‘Studio 69’
Protection should mean protection
Maren Morris to headline Capital Pride Concert
Va. Supreme Court invalidates Democrat-backed redistricting plan
Comings & Goings
