Local
D.C. man found guilty of assault — but not guilty of hate crime
Victim suffered broken nose, loss of teeth after being called anti-gay slurs
A D.C. Superior Court jury on Feb. 27 found a 42-year-old District man charged with a May 2022 assault against a gay man while shouting anti-gay slurs guilty of assault causing significant bodily injury but not guilty of committing a hate crime.
Court charging documents show that Anthony Duncan allegedly punched the male victim in the face and head, breaking the victim’s nose and breaking three of the victim’s teeth, after the two men crossed paths while walking along 15th Street, N.W. at the intersection of V Street at about 4:50 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, 2022.
An arrest affidavit filed in court by police and prosecutors says Duncan remained on the scene after the victim called police on his cell phone. It says Duncan attempted to blame the victim for instigating a fight.
The affidavit says Duncan told police officers who arrived on the scene that while he walked past the victim the victim “grabbed his nuts at me,” which police interpreted to mean he accused the victim of making a sexual gesture toward him.
“Defendant 1 stated that when he confronted Victim 1 over ‘grabbing his nuts’ that Victim 1 turned around and swung on him unprovoked but missed. Defendant 1 stated that they then got into a physical dispute resulting in Victim 1’s injuries,” the affidavit says.
It says the victim strongly disputed that assertion, saying he attempted to walk away from Duncan after Duncan began calling him a “faggot” and punched him in the back of his head.
The affidavit says the victim “was wearing a Stonewall Bocce shirt which is a well-known LGBTQ sports league.”
The affidavit and a separate court document filed by prosecutors says Duncan told police he recorded some of the incident with his phone, which police obtained at the time they arrested Duncan at the scene of the incident.
“Defendant 1 can be heard approaching Victim 1 while he was walking away and calling him a ‘fag’ several times while the altercation was taking place,” the affidavit says in describing the video obtained from Duncan’s phone.
In a court motion filed by prosecutors asking the judge to allow the video from Duncan’s phone to be submitted as evidence, the motion further describes what was recorded and observed on the video.
“On the video, you can see the defendant approach [the victim] and start verbally accosting him,” the court motion says. “The defendant then proceeds to punch [the victim] in the face,” it says. “After reviewing the video, the police arrested the defendant,” the prosecutors’ motion says.
Court records show Duncan was charged with Assault With Significant Bodily Injury, which was designated as a bias-related crime based on the victim’s sexual orientation. Court records show Duncan was held without bond until a court appearance on May 26, 2022, when he was released under the court’s high intensity supervision program with a stay away order prohibiting him from coming into contact with the victim.
The court records show that Duncan appears to have complied with the terms of his release and that his trial began on Feb. 21 and continued until Feb. 27 when the jury handed down its verdict of guilty on the assault charge and not guilty on the “Bias Related Crime” charge.
Duncan’s defense attorney, Quo Mieko Judkins, declined a request by the Blade for comment on the case. A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said the office would consider a request by the Blade for comment on the case.
Court records show that Superior Court Judge Lynn Leibovitz scheduled a sentencing hearing for Duncan on April 28. A statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office says he faces a possible maximum sentence of three years in prison.
Former Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Mike Silverstein, who has monitored the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s handling of crimes targeting LGBTQ people, praised the office for prosecuting the case against Duncan as a hate crime. Silverstein said the U.S. Attorney’s Office has chosen to drop hate crime designations in other cases brought by D.C. police.
Spokespersons for the office in the past have said the charging decisions are based on the strength of the evidence in each individual case.
“One would hope that the judge will take into account the circumstances of this case,” Silverstein told the Blade. “The extreme circumstances of someone actually filming an assault and celebrating it. And that should play a part in her decision on a sentence,” he said. “This is not open season on gays.”
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Jamie Leeds, chef extraordinaire, on celebrating the 20th anniversary of Hank’s Oyster Bar in Dupont Circle. Leeds said, “I am feeling grateful that Hanks has been in such a supportive and friendly neighborhood for 20 years.”
Leeds is a pioneering and tenacious entrepreneur who has spent her career fostering community, mentoring other female business owners and culinary professionals, and supporting sustainable practices across her restaurants and the seafood industry at large.
She has 40 years of experience, from kitchens in Europe, to the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia-area. A self-taught chef, she began her career in New York in the early 1980s at Danny Meyer’s famed Union Square Cafe, working her way up from potato peeler to sous chef. With Meyer’s encouragement, she moved to France in 1991, where she spent a year honing her skills before returning stateside to work for Rich Melman, of Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises, in Chicago.
From the moment she appeared on the D.C. culinary scene, Leeds garnered positive reviews and accolades, earning nominations in 2003 as a “Rising Culinary Star” in the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington’s Capital Restaurant & Hospitality Awards, and a “Rising Star Chef” by Starchefs’ local awards program.
I met Leeds in early 2005 as she was trying to open Hank’s in D.C.’s Dupont Circle, serving what she coined “urban beach food.” The restaurant was named for her father, whom she credits as her inspiration for becoming a chef. It debuted to wide acclaim. A few of us joined with Jamie to fight some local neighborhood residents who were trying to stop her opening for a host of invalid reasons. Thankfully, they lost, and the neighborhood, and people of D.C., won. Now celebrated for its range of proprietary oysters and other locally sourced seafood, Hank’s Oyster Bar continues to draw recognition as a D.C. institution and industry stalwart, recently winning “Best Raw Bar” in Washingtonian’s Best of Washington Readers’ Poll 2019, “Best Bloody Mary” and “Best Chef-Jamie Leeds” (a second consecutive win) from Washington Blade’s Best of Gay D.C. in 2019, 2020, and 2021 among numerous other accolades. Leeds now has a Hank’s Oyster Bar in Old Town Alexandria, Va., and her largest location, Hank’s on the Wharf, which opened in October 2017.
In June of 2021 she was recognized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for inspiring LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs in the DMV area, and her approach to sustainable and inclusive business practices. A resident of North Chevy Chase, Md., when she’s not busy at the helm of her burgeoning restaurant empire, she enjoys spending time with her wife, Tina, and two children, Hayden and Hazel.
Rehoboth Beach
Ashley Biden to speak at Blade’s Summer Kickoff Party in Rehoboth Beach
May 16 event to honor Beau Biden, feature speech from Gov. Matt Meyer
The Washington Blade’s 18th annual Summer Kickoff Party is scheduled for today in Rehoboth Beach, Del.
Ashley Biden, daughter of President Joe Biden, has joined the list of speakers, the Blade announced on Friday. She will accept an award on behalf of her brother Beau Biden for his LGBTQ advocacy work as Delaware attorney general.
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer has also joined the list of speakers.
The event, held at the Blue Moon (35 Rehoboth Ave.) from 5-7 p.m., is a fundraiser for the Blade Foundation’s Steve Elkins Memorial Fellowship in Journalism, which funds a summer position reporting on LGBTQ news in Delaware. This year’s recipient will be introduced at the event.
The event will also feature remarks from state Sen. Russ Huxtable, who recently introduced a state constitutional amendment to codify the right of same-sex couples to marry. CAMP Rehoboth Executive Director Kim Leisey and Blade editor Kevin Naff will also speak. The event is generously sponsored by Realtor Justin Noble, The Avenue Inn & Spa, and Blue Moon.
A suggested donation of $20 is partially tax deductible and includes drink tickets and light appetizers. Tickets are available in advance at bladefoundation.org/rehoboth or at the door.
District of Columbia
LGBT exhibition at D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum opens May 16
‘LGBT Jews in the Federal City’ arrives for WorldPride and beyond
The D.C. Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum is opening a special exhibition called “LGBT Jews in the Federal City” on Friday, May 16, that will remain at the museum at 575 3rd St., N.W. until Jan. 4, 2026.
Museum officials have said they are pleased that the LGBT exhibition will be open concurrently with WorldPride 2025 D.C., which takes place May 17-June 8. The exhibition also takes place during Jewish American Heritage Month in May and during LGBTQ Pride Month in June, the museum points out in a statement.
“This landmark exhibition explores a turbulent century of celebration, activism, and change in the nation’s capital led by D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Jewish community,” the museum statement says. “This is a local story with national resonance, turning the spotlight on Washington, D.C. to show the city’s vast impact on LGBTQ+ history and culture in the United States.”
LGBT Jews in the Federal City includes “more than 100 artifacts and photographs representing the DMV region’s Jewish LGBTQ+ celebrations, spaces, struggles, joys, and personal stories,” the stamen points out.
A pre-opening tour of the exhibition provided for the Washington Blade shows that among the displays are first-ever shown materials from Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ supportive synagogue, which is the nation’s fourth-oldest LGBTQ friendly synagogue.
Also included is a prominent display about Barrett Brick, a longtime D.C. LGBT rights advocate and Jewish community leader who served as a board member and president of Bet Mishpachah in the 1980s and as executive director of the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish organizations from 1987 to 1992. Brick passed away following a 10-year battle with cancer in 2013.
Another display in the museum’s several rooms accommodating the exhibition includes the ability to listen to audio clips of local LGBTQ community members sharing in their own voices their oral histories provided by D.C.’s Rainbow History Project.
Other displays include campaign posters and photos of prominent gay rights icon Frank Kameny, who led efforts to end discrimination against LGBTQ people from the federal government; and a panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt that includes the name of a prominent Jewish Washingtonian who died during the AIDS epidemic.
“Through prompts, questions, and thoughtful design throughout the exhibition, visitors will be encouraged to ponder new ways to understand Jewish teachings and values as they relate to gender and sexuality,” the museum’s statement says.
“After leaving the exhibition, visitors can contribute to the Museum’s collecting and storytelling by sharing photographs, personal archives, or by recording stories,” it says.
The museum is open for visitors to see the LGBT exhibition and other museum exhibits 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission to LGBT Jews in the Federal City is $12.
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Down to shuck!
