District of Columbia
HRC partners with D.C. bar for Pride
Patrons can record messages in As You Are phone booth
Washingtonians until mid-July can visit As You Are bar in Southeast D.C. to record messages of hope and inspiration in a phone booth the Human Rights Campaign has funded.
The phone booth is one of HRC’s Pride activations, which help connect LGBTQ people with their identities through different installations at businesses and public spaces.
As You Are received an HRC grant last year to help expand and promote their business, and this year the bar installed a phone boothfor patrons to record different inspirational messages related to their LGBTQ identities and younger selves.
“There’s a need for us to have that positive messaging for folks and it’s also a very self-fulfilling thing to be able to communicate with your former self whether you were living in an unwelcoming environment, your closet, wherever that may be,” said HRC Deputy Director of Creator and Partnership Strategy Brandon Hooks. “So we looked at different businesses in the D.C. area that were LGBTQ+ owned and operated. We landed on As You Are because we had an existing relationship and we also just really appreciate their mission of really making an inclusive space for all.”
Partners Jo McDaniel and Rach Pike opened As You Are at 500 8th St., S.E., in 2021. The bar functions as a daytime cafe and a nighttime lounge on the first floor and an upstairs 18+ dance boutique.
“Being a block off the Eastern Market Metro stop makes us accessible to people who don’t drive or don’t have money to Uber,” McDaniel told Washington City Paper in 2021. “We wanted to stay out of the west side of town. It’s inundated and has some inaccessibility issues mostly to do with money. Being in Southeast has less of a pay wall.”
The Lesbian Bar Project, a documentary that captures the work LGBTQ people are putting into supporting and preserving the U.S.’s few remaining lesbian bars, featured the work to open As You Are. As of 2023, there are less than 30 lesbian bars in the country, with many having closed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
HRC in 2020 launched the Queer to Stay grant program, which has supported more than 50 LGBTQ businesses across the country. Businesses of all kinds are encouraged to apply for the program.
The 2023 grant application cycle will close on Aug. 31.
Hooks said that while the number of recipients and the grant amount changes from year to year, the program has been invaluable for the businesses that have been a part of it. For As You Are, the phone booth has been a great way for customers of all kinds to connect with their identities and gives way for similar “activations” at other D.C. businesses and events in the future, Hooks said.
“The goal is that this is really successful and that we can not only replicate it with other businesses in the D.C. area, but … is there a way that we can bring that to local D.C. events when we have our events on Capitol Hill?” Hooks said. “This is really kind of the inception of just a way for people to like speak with the community and kind of break through all the negativity that we’ve been seeing in the news lately.”
Messages recorded in the phone booth are expected to be published on the HRC’s social media profiles and website in late July, after the booth is moved from As You Are.
“We’re really just sitting in that theme of, ‘how do you stay resilient, but also celebratory during a time like Pride?’” Hooks said. “Because in 2023, we should be moving forward. So we really did this as kind of a way to energize people and like, keep that pride going, but at the same time, instill that need to keep being resilient.”
District of Columbia
D.C. bar, LGBTQ+ Community Center to mark Lesbian Visibility Week
‘Ahead of the Curve’ documentary screening, ‘Queeroke’ among events
2026 Lesbian Visibility Week North America will take place from April 20-26.
This year marks the third annual Lesbian Visibility Week, run by the Curve Foundation. A host of events take place from April 20-26.
This year’s theme is Health and Wellness. For the Curve Foundation, the term “lesbian” serves as an umbrella term for a host of identities, including lesbians, bisexual and transgender women, and anyone else connected to the lesbian community.
The week kicks off with a flag-raising ceremony on April 19. It will take place in New York, but will be livestreamed for the public.
“Queeroke” is one of the events being held around the country. It will take place at various participating bars on April 23.
As You Are, an LGBTQ bar in Capitol Hill, is one of eight locations across the U.S. participating. Their event is free and 21+.
On April 24, the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center will hold a screening of “Ahead of the Curve,” a documentary about the founder of Curve, Franco Stevens. The event is free with an RSVP.
April 25, is Queer Women in Sports Day. And on April 26, several monuments in New York will be illuminated.
Virtual events ranging from health to sports will be made available to the public. Details will be released closer to the start of Lesbian Visibility Week. Featured events can be found on the official website.
Some ways for individuals to get involved are to use #LVW26 and tag the official Lesbian Visibility Week account on social media posts. People are encouraged to display their lesbian flags, and businesses can hand out pins and decorate. They can also reach out to local lawmakers to encourage them to issue an official Lesbian Visibility Week.
District of Columbia
Whitman-Walker Health to present ‘Pro Bono Excellence’ award to law firm
Health center set to celebrate 40th anniversary of legal services program
Whitman-Walker Health, the D.C.-based community healthcare center that specializes in HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ-related health services, announced it will present its annual Dale Edwin Sanders Award for Pro Bono Excellence to the international law firm McDermott Will & Schulte at a May 6 ceremony.
“This year’s award is especially significant as it coincides with the 40th anniversary of Whitman-Walker Health’s Legal Services Program, marking it as the nation’s longest running medical-legal partnership,” a statement released by Whitman-Walker says.
“As a national leader in public health, Whitman-Walker celebrates our partnership with McDermott to strengthen the health center and to enable Whitman-Walker to reach more medical and legal clients,” the statement adds.
“McDermott’s firm-wide commitment to Whitman-Walker’s medical-legal partnership demonstrates a shared vision to serve those most in need,” Amy Nelson, Whitman-Walker’s director of Legal Services, says in the statement. “Our work protects individuals and families who face discrimination and hostility as they navigate increasingly complex administrative systems,” Nelson said.
“Pro bono legal services – like that of McDermott Will & Schulte – find solutions for people who have no place else to turn in the face of financial and health threats,” she added.
“Our partnership with Whitman-Walker Health is a treasured commitment to serving our neighbors and communities,” Steven Schnelle, one of the law firm’s partners said in the statement. “We are deeply moved by Whitman-Walker’s unwavering dedication to inclusion, respect, and equitable access to health care and social services,” he said.
The statement notes that the award for Pro Bono Excellence honors the legacy of the late gay attorney Dale Edwin Sanders. It says Sanders’s pro bono legal work for Whitman-Walker clients “shaped HIV/AIDS law for more than four decades by securing key victories on behalf of individuals whose employment and patient rights were violated.”
It says the Whitman-Walker Legal Services program began during the early years of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s at a time when people with AIDS faced widespread discrimination and often needed legal assistance. According to the statement, the program evolved over the years and expanded to advocate for transgender people and immigrants.
Whitman-Walker spokesperson Lisa Amore said the presentation of the Dale Edwin Sanders Pro Bono Excellency Award will be held at the May 6 fundraising benefit for Whitman-Walker’s Legal Services Program. She said the event will take place at the offices of the DC law firm Baker McKenzie and ticket availability can be accessed here: https://www.whitman-walker.org/gtem-2026/
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
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