District of Columbia
SMYAL for the New Year fundraiser set for Thursday
Annual event benefits housing, mental health programs
SMYAL (Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders) is hosting its annual SMYAL for the New Year fundraising event on Thursday at Red Bear Brewing Co. The event will kick off a series of fundraisers supporting the non-profitās new street outreach and mental health programs.
āSMYAL for the New Year serves a dual purpose,ā said Hancie Stokes, director of communications for SMYAL. āOne is to fundraise for the organization and the programs and services that we provide for LGBTQ youth, but the other is also to be an introductory event for folks in the community.ā
For more than five years, the Young Donors Committee and SMYAL Champions have held SMYAL for the New Year to engage young professionals in philanthropy. The Young Donors Committee is comprised of new philanthropists between 20 and 30 years old and operates under the larger SMYAL Champions network of donors who give roughly $10 to $35 a month.
This year, SMYAL is directing those funds to a new bilingual street outreach program aimed at connecting LGBTQ youth to services such as legal aid, healthcare, hormone replacement therapy, and housing. The non-profit is also fundraising for its free mental health counseling program, which opened last year.
SMYALās commitment to assisting and empowering LGBTQ+ youth in Washington D.C. dates back to 1984, but the non-profit recently underwent programming changes. In March 2020 when COVID-19 hit, most of SMYALās programming went online, connecting members on Discord and Zoom.
While SMYAL aims to engage those in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, the virtual platform allowed the organization to reach youth in Texas, California, and Florida who are unable to access local centers like SMYAL.
āWe did about two years of virtual events and we had folks still showing up and listening to what our programmatic updates were,ā Stokes said. āBut it is really nice to be able to share physical space with folks again.ā
SMYAL continues to offer two virtual events a week alongside two in-person events, however, many of the larger fundraising events are back to fully in-person.
Last year, SMYALās new year event centered around two housing programs, which opened in spring 2022 and has since made the non-profit the largest LGBTQ youth housing provider in the region. But since Casa Ruby ā an LGBTQ community center and housing provider ā closed last September, more youth are in need of housing.
āOne of our main goals as we head into 2023 is to really grow that program,ā Stokes added.
SMYAL receives funding from the Mayorās Office of LGBTQ+ affairs and Capital One, but Stokes says more support is crucial to continue investing in services that are accessible to non-English speaking youth.
Meanwhile, as anti-LGBTQ rhetoric gains traction in legislation across the country, Stokes emphasizes the importance of maintaining a safe space for LGBTQ youth.
āOur role as a service provider is to make sure that young people have places that they can turn to people that they can talk with, where they can just be a young person, understand their LGBTQ identity and find community and support,ā Stokes said. āThatās what our programs really strive to do, everything from our housing programs to our mental health services, even just our weekly drop-in programs.ā
District of Columbia
D.C. gay bar Uproar issues GoFundMe appeal
Message says business struggling to pay rent, utilities
The D.C. gay bar Uproar located in the cityās Shaw neighborhood at 639 Florida Ave., N.W., has issued a GoFundMe appeal seeking financial support as it struggles to pay rent and utilities.
The GoFundMe appeal, which was posted by Uproarās owner Tammy Truong, says its goal is to raise $100,000. As of Dec. 10, the posting says $4,995 had been raised.
āFor over nine years Uproar has been an integral part of the D.C. LGBTQIA+ community,ā the GoFundMe message says. āIt has been a place of refuge for many people and has been a space where people have been allowed to express themselves freely.ā
The message adds, āWe have recently faced unexpected challenges and are asking for help from the community that weāve given so much to. We want to be able to continue to pay and support our staff and our community. All donations will be used to pay for these unexpected costs and will be used to improve the space for staff and patrons.ā
On its website, Uproar provides further details of the unexpected costs it says it is now faced with.
āDue to significant increases in insurance costs for 2025, weāve had to deplete our reserves from our summer sales,ā the website message says. āAs a result, we are now struggling to cover rent and utility costs through the winter.ā
The message adds, āOur top priority is to ensure that our amazing staff, who are the heart and soul of Uproar, are fully supported. We are committed to keeping them fully employed and scheduled during this difficult time so they can continue to provide for themselves and their families.ā
Uproar, which caters to a clientele of the cityās leather and bear communities, has faced challenges in the past when the local D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted to oppose the routine renewal of its liquor license.
In November 2019, ANC 1B voted unanimously to oppose the license renewal of Uproar and 22 other liquor serving establishments in the U Street-Florida Avenue area on grounds that they have a negative impact on āpeace, order, and quietā in the surrounding neighborhoods. The cityās liquor board nevertheless approved the license renewals for Uproar and most of the other establishments.
Local nightlife advocates criticized the ANCās action, saying it was based on an anti-business and anti-nightlife bias that requires bars such as Uproar to expend large sums of money on retaining lawyers to help them overcome the license opposition.
The Uproar GoFundMe page can be accessed here:
District of Columbia
Mayor, police chief highlight āsignificantā drop in D.C. crime
Officials cite arrests in two LGBTQ-related cases
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser joined District Police Chief Pamela Smith and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice Lindsey Appiah in crediting a series of stepped-up crime fighting and crime reduction programs put in place over the past year with bringing about a 35 percent reduction in violent crime in the city over the past year.
Bowser, Smith, and Appiah highlighted what they called a significant drop in overall crime in the nationās capital at a Dec. 9 news conference held at the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department headquartersā Joint Operations Command Center.
Among other things, the city officials presented slides on a large video screen showing that in addition to the 35 percent drop in overall violent crime during the past year, the number of carjackings dropped by 48 percent, homicides declined by 29 percent, robberies declined by 39 percent, and assaults with a dangerous weapon also dropped by 29 percent.
āI want to start by thanking MPD and I want to thank all of our public safety teams, local and federal, and the agencies that support their work,ā Bowser said in noting that the improved crime data this year was due to a combined effort in adopting several new programs to fight crime.
Bowser also thanked D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) who introduced legislation backed by the mayor and approved by the Council in March of this year called the Secure D.C. bill, which includes a wide range of new crime fighting and crime prevention initiatives.
In response to a question from the Washington Blade, Chief Smith said she believes the stepped-up crime fighting efforts played some role in D.C. police making arrests in two recent cases involving D.C. gay men who were victims of a crime of violence.
In one of the cases, 22-year-old Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, a gay man, was attacked and beaten on Oct. 27 of this year by as many as 15 men and women at the D.C. McDonaldās restaurant at 14th and U Street, N.W., with some of them shouting anti-gay slurs. D.C. police, who listed the incident as a suspected hate crime, arrested a 16-year-old male in connection with the case on a charge of Assault with Significant Bodily Injury.
The other case involved a robbery and assault that same day of gay DJ and hairstylist Bryan Smith, 41, who died 11 days later on Nov. 7 from head injuries that police have yet to link to the robbery. Police have since arrested two teenage boys, ages 14 and 16, who have been charged with robbery.
Smith said the police departmentās Special Liaison Branch, which includes the LGBT Liaison Unit, will continue to investigate hate crimes targeting the LGBTQ community.
āAnd so, I think that what we will do is what we have been doing, which is really making sure that the reports are coming in or the incident reports are coming in and weāre ensuring that the Special Liaison Branch is getting out to the communities to ensure that those types of hate crimes are not increasing across our city,ā she said.
Smith added, āWe will continue to work with the community, work with our members, our LGBTQ, our other groups and organizations to ensure that we are getting the right information out and making sure that people, when they see something, they say something to share that information with us.ā
Data posted on the D.C. police website show from Jan. 1-Oct. 31, 2024, a total of 132 hate crimes were reported in the District. Among those, 22 were based on the victimās sexual orientation, and 18 were based on the victimās gender identity or expression.
During that same period, 47 hate crimes based on the victimās ethnicity or national origin were reported, 33 were reported based on the victimās race, and six were based on the victimās religion.
The data show that for the same period in 2023, 36 sexual orientation related hate crimes were reported, and 13 gender identity or expression cases were reported.
District of Columbia
Dupontās Soho Coffee and Tea closes
Neighborhood institution holds fond memories for many older gay residents
Beloved Dupont Circle Soho Coffee and Tea has closed unexpectedly.
During the early evening of Nov. 25, Soho Coffee and Tea employees began taking down artwork and menus of the establishment. Within 12 hours, everything from the rolling counters to the patio furniture had disappeared. Today, only the yellow walls remain.
On May 30, 2018, Eduard Badalyan received his new business license: Group Soho and closed on the sale of Soho Tea and Coffee at 2150 P St., N.W., in Dupont Circle. Eduardās sister Liana Badalyan became the manager. Conveniently, they lived in the neighborhood.
Eduard Badalyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia and earned his masterās in Public Administration. Liana had experience in the service industry. She was front office manager for the Remington Hotel Marriot in Beverly Hills and Santa Monica, Calif.
So the stage was set for a great neighborhood coffee and tea shop.
Owner Edward and manager Liana transformed it into a clean and organized establishment. But business gradually fell off and the rent continued to rise so Edward closed Soho unexpectedly.
For many older gay residents, the closing brought back fond memories when Soho Coffee and Tea was the gay hub of West Dupont Circle. At that time, 22nd and P Streets, N.W., aka West Dupont Circle, was D.C.ās gayborhood. Across the street from Soho was a section of Rock Creek Park known as P Street Beach, a large grassy area perfect for sunbathing. For many years starting in 1972, this was home for the unofficial Gay Pride celebration. In fact, for many years the Gay Pride Parade kicked off at 22nd and P streets.
Adjacent to the so-called P Street Beach was the Black Forest, a popular cruising area occasionally raided by the National Park Police. They chopped down many bushes and trees so their cruisers could drive directly onto P Street Beach.
Entrepreneurs and lesbians Helene Bloom and Fran Levine opened Soho in 1994. At that time, this was the center of many gay bars including the dance bar Badlands (1984-2002 which then became Apex) on 22nd Street; Fraternity House, which became Omega, was located down the Twining Alley (closed 2013); Friends Piano Bar on P Street then became gay Latino bar Escandalo; and finally Deco Cabana, as well as P Street Station (rebranded as The Fireplace) and Mr. Pās. Each night when the bars closed, the patrons would flood to Soho for eggs, bacon, and coffee.
Helene and Fran had envisioned a New York City-style eclectic restaurant hangout. It became a spot for book clubs, art shows, political meetings and wine parties.
Longtime Dupont Circle residents and Soho customers Gordon Binder and Michael Rawson lamented the loss of Soho.
āSoho was around the corner from where we live, we’ve been going to Soho several times a week since it opened in the ā90s, 30 years enjoying the atmosphere, the patrons, the friendly albeit ever changing staff, the chicken salad sandwich, and so much more,ā Binder said. āSad news indeed. We will surely miss this neighborhood hangout.ā
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