District of Columbia
Spark Social House: D.C.’s first non-alcoholic LGBTQ bar debuts
New LGBTQ ‘bar’ is redefining sober nightlife looks on 14th and U Streets
The intersection of 14th and U Streets has become a focal point of Washington’s growing LGBTQ presence.
As the city’s LGBTQ population has steadily increased, the intersection has reflected this shift. Since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has emerged as one of the gayest corners in D.C.
The transformation accelerated with the opening of Bunker, an LGBTQ dance bar that fulfilled the longtime wish of many queer Washingtonians for a new gay dance club after the city lost two beloved venues — Town Danceboutique and Cobalt — before the pandemic. Since then, the corner has only grown more queer.
Three other LGBTQ bars have opened at the intersection of 14th and U since Bunker debuted in 2023: Crush Dance Bar, District Eagle, and, most recently, Spark Social House. Each of these venues offers a distinct environment for Washington’s LGBTQ community to socialize and connect. However, the newest addition to the corner is taking a different approach by removing one key element that ties the others together: Spark is an alcohol-free bar.
Nick Tsusaki, founder of Spark Social House, sat down with the Washington Blade to discuss what sets Spark apart from other LGBTQ spaces in the city, and how his experience working in LGBTQ nightlife has set him up for success.
“I had been bartending at some of these other [gay] bars when I decided, ‘Oh, maybe I could open one too and this could be my whole life,’” Tsusaki said. “I didn’t want to compete against my friends. I tried to think about it, and I noticed alcohol isn’t really me. So I was like, ‘Okay, well, what can I bring to the table that’s filling a gap? And that’s not taking any business from right next door, Crush?’ Those are my friends. And so the way I thought about it was ‘What’s missing in D.C.?’ And it was when I realized ‘Oh, we don’t really have a daytime place to hang out.’
Spark Social House, created by Tsusaki and Shua Goodwin, is Washington’s first LGBTQ alcohol-free bar.
By day, the staff serves coffee and tea, creating a cozy café atmosphere where you can work ‘from home.’ By night, the space transforms into a vibrant sober party spot — complete with DJs, dancing, and an emphasis on expertly crafted mocktails.
“It took us a really long time to figure out what to call it, because there really isn’t another kind of space like this,” Tsusaki said. “That’s why we just ended up going with house. I want you to feel like you’re coming over to our house for a hang out.”
One of the major reasons the pair decided not to include alcohol in Spark was because of Tsusaki’s personal experiences with alcohol when he was younger.
“I myself don’t really drink that much,” Tsusaki said. “Basically, because I’m Asian, I get Asian glow,” he continued, laughing. “I tried so hard in college to fit in. I remember on my 21st birthday I was supposed to go to Town and have fun with all my friends. So I drank and then fell asleep on the couch because my body just doesn’t process alcohol well.”
His lack of a relationship with alcohol only grew after he began working.
“Then for the next eight years of my life, I was almost involuntarily sober because I was in the military. I couldn’t do drugs, and my body couldn’t tolerate alcohol. I just had to figure out how to have fun without that. And then my ex boyfriend, who is part of the Spark team, is sober. That’s really when I realized, like, ‘This is a huge community that isn’t coming out.’”
People choose sobriety for many reasons; whether to prioritize their health, save money, or simply prefer an alcohol-free lifestyle. Ultimately, it’s a personal decision. One reason that LGBTQ individuals may choose to become sober is because they are more likely to engage with alcohol abuse than their straight counterparts. Alcohol abuse within the LGBTQ community may be as high as 25 percent, compared to 5–10 percent in the general population, according to recent research conducted by the American Addition Center.
“One statistic that I found when I was doing my market research for this was that 38% of American adults don’t drink alcohol for whatever reason,” Tsusaki said. “Having bartended at four bars now around the city, Dacha, Dirty Goose, Shakers, and Crush next door, we would always get asked, ‘Oh, do you have any mocktails?’ And there was always a twang or tinge of shame when people would ask for that.”
Tsusaki hopes that by creating a space dedicated to queer nightlife without alcohol, he can help shift the culture — making it easier for people to embrace sober socializing without shame.
“It’s [LGBTQ nightlife] very difficult for somebody who’s sober. I was always so impressed with how he [my ex] navigated it. Being sober in these spaces can be difficult when you don’t have a buzz going on. And so I figured there’s a lot of people that like that. Alcohol is not a requirement for hanging out with your friends. I don’t have alcohol in my house, so when they come over we just make tea and we hang out and chat. That’s kind of the vibe.”
Another group that is now invited to take space in Spark that had not been given the opportunity to in the past is younger members of the LGBTQ community.
“What’s really cool about being non alcoholic is that we now can have anybody come in,” Tsusaki said. “We’re gonna be 18 and up after 9 p.m. but during the day we’ll be in a space where any queer person under 21, any college student, can come and experience being in a queer space. Anyone under 21 previously didn’t really have access to a queer space. We know that the highest risk of suicide is in LGBTQ youth, from 10 to 14. For me, when I went to Town for the first time when I was 18, that was the first time that I was like, ‘Oh, being gay could actually be cool. Like, this is actually kind of cool. This could be a really fun life.’ I’m excited that other people might be able to have that moment earlier in their life.”
David Draper was one of the invited guests to Spark’s soft opening on March 7. While sipping “The Wanda, Not Cosmo” in the sitting room past the bar he told the Blade this is a needed space in Washington’s LGBTQ scene.
“I’m friends with Shua and Nick, and I was grateful to be invited,” Draper said. “I’m also on a new sobriety journey within the last year, and excited. I wanted to support my friends, but also wanted to see this space. Just because you start a sobriety journey doesn’t mean you stop liking to go out. I still enjoy going out, and I am just excited to have a unique space like this.”
The space, Draper went on to explain, will help provide a space for members of the LGBTQ community who had been left to the side of an alcohol-centered culture.
“It makes me feel great. I think a lot of people are looking for options when they’re going out,” he said. “And I think the traditional gay bar is important, and an important part of gay culture and gay life, but I think there’s somewhat of a culture shift, as people have started abstaining from alcohol and other substances. So I think it’s cool to have a space like this”
Jerry Krusinski was sitting across from Draper, sipping on another signature mocktail, the “Jalapeño Business” that uses zero proof tequila.
“I’m pretty newly sober — like just over a month, and so I’m still just kind of exploring what that life means,” Krusinski said. “It’s been really surprising to me how much is actually out there. When you’re not in the sober community, you don’t really see it that much. It’s kind of comforting to see that the world has really kind of embraced it a lot more than I feel like its used to. It leaves me excited for the future.”
Spark Social House is located at 2009 14th St., N.W, and opens daily at 8 a.m. It closes at 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, 11 p.m. on Thursday and Sunday, and midnight on Friday and Saturday. For more information visit their website at https://spark-dc.com/ or their Instagram @sparksocialdc.
District of Columbia
Imperial Court of Washington drag group has ‘dissolved’
Board president cites declining support since pandemic
The Imperial Court of Washington, a D.C.-based organization of drag performers that has raised at least $250,000 or more for local LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ charitable groups since its founding in 2010, announced on Jan. 5 that it has ended its operations by dissolving its corporate status.
In a Jan. 5 statement posted on Facebook, Robert Amos, president of the group’s board of directors, said the board voted that day to formally dissolve the organization in accordance with its bylaws.
“This decision was made after careful consideration and was based on several factors, including ongoing challenges in adhering to the bylaws, maintaining compliance with 501(c)(3) requirements, continued lack of member interest and attendance, and a lack of community involvement and support as well,” Amos said in his statement.
He told the Washington Blade in a Jan. 6 telephone interview that the group was no longer in compliance with its bylaws, which require at least six board members, when the number of board members declined to just four. He noted that the lack of compliance with its bylaws also violated the requirements of its IRS status as a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c) (3) organization.
According to Amos, the inability to recruit additional board members came at a time when the organization was continuing to encounter a sharp drop in support from the community since the start of the COVID pandemic around 2020 and 2021.
Amos and longtime Imperial Court of Washington member and organizer Richard Legg, who uses the drag name Destiny B. Childs, said in the years since its founding, the group’s drag show fundraising events have often been attended by 150 or more people. They said the events have been held in LGBTQ bars, including Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, as well as in other venues such as theaters and ballrooms.
Among the organizations receiving financial support from Imperial Court of Washington have been SMYAL, PFLAG, Whitman-Walker Health’s Walk to End HIV, Capital Pride Alliance, the DC LGBT Community Center, and the LGBTQ Fallen Heroes Fund. Other groups receiving support included Pets with Disabilities, the Epilepsy Foundation of Washington, and Grandma’s House.
The Imperial Court of Washington’s website, which was still online as of Jan. 6, says the D.C. group has been a proud member of the International Court System, which was founded in San Francisco in 1965 as a drag performance organization that evolved into a charitable fundraising operation with dozens of affiliated “Imperial Court” groups like the one in D.C.
Amos, who uses the drag name Veronica Blake, said he has heard that Imperial Court groups in other cities including Richmond and New York City, have experienced similar drops in support and attendance in the past year or two. He said the D.C. group’s events in the latter part of 2025 attracted 12 or fewer people, a development that has prevented it from sustaining its operations financially.
He said the membership, which helped support it financially through membership dues, has declined in recent years from close to 100 to its current membership of 21.
“There’s a lot of good we have done for the groups we supported, for the charities, and the gay community here,” Amos said. “It is just sad that we’ve had to do this, mainly because of the lack of interest and everything going on in the world and the national scene.”
District of Columbia
Two pioneering gay journalists to speak at Thursday event
Blade’s Chibbaro, Falls Church News-Press’s Benton talk long careers
Two local gay journalists will speak on a panel this week about their long, pioneering careers.
A celebration of the Falls Church News-Press’s Nicholas Benton and the Washington Blade’s Lou Chibbaro Jr., two trailblazing LGBTQ journalists who have spent decades reporting on the front lines of social, cultural, legal, and political change in America, will be held this Thursday, Jan. 8, at the Women’s National Democratic Club of Washington. D.C., 1526 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., at 6 p.m., according to a statement from organizers.
The program will explore their journeys, the evolution of LGBTQ journalism, and the ongoing fight for equality and justice. Benton and Chibbaro will also examine the various factors causing many news outlets to cease print publication and their energetic efforts to continue publishing their work both in print and online.
EVENT DETAILS:
- Remarks and Q&A, in-person and via Zoom.
- 6 p.m. complimentary hors d’oeuvres and cash bar; 6:30–7:30 p.m. program followed by book signing.
- Zoom only: $10. In-person: members: $20, nonmembers: $30 plus tax.
Benton’s latest book, “Please Don’t Eat Your Children, Cult Century, and Other Essays,” will be available for purchase at the event.
Benton is a longtime local journalist and LGBTQ rights activist whose work has had a lasting impact on both community journalism and social justice. Author of the first-ever editorial in the pioneering Gay Sunshine newspaper in 1970, he is best known as the founder, owner, and editor of the Falls Church News-Press, an independent weekly newspaper he launched in 1991 and is the paper of record for the City of Falls Church, Virginia.
Chibbaro is the senior news reporter for the Washington Blade and a pioneering journalist in LGBTQ news coverage. He has reported on the LGBTQ rights movement and community continuously since 1976, first as a freelance writer and later as a staff reporter, joining the Blade in 1984.
The year 2025 brought unprecedented challenges to D.C. as President Trump initiated a takeover of local police operations and implemented ICE raids in the city. Below are our picks for the top 10 LGBTQ news stories of the year.
10. Man gets 15 years for drug sale that led to deaths of two gay men
A D.C. man was sentenced by a federal judge on June 26, 2025, to 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty three months earlier to conspiracy related charges that he distributed large amounts of fentanyl and cocaine in the D.C. area, including the sale of fentanyl that resulted in the December 2023 deaths of two D.C. gay men.
A statement released by the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. said Jevaughn Mark, 33, was charged, among other things, with selling fentanyl rather than the requested ketamine, known as “Special K,” to one of the two gay victims who shared the drug with his gay friend. Police identified the men as Brandon Roman, 38, a prominent D.C. attorney and LGBTQ rights advocate, and Robbie Barletta, 28, a home renovation business owner and historic preservationist.
An official with the D.C.-based group HIPS, which provides services to drug users, called the deaths of the two men a poisoning rather than an overdose because they unknowingly consumed the highly toxic fentanyl rather than the ketamine they thought they had.
9. Drag queens, protesters denounce Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover
D.C. drag performer Tara Hoot was among other drag queens and about 100 supporters who marched in February from Washington Circle to the Kennedy Center to protest President Donald Trump’s Kennedy Center “takeover” by his appointment of Trump supporters to the performing arts facility’s board of directors.
Hoot and three other local drag performers followed up with their own Kennedy Center protest in June by attending the Kennedy Center’s opening night performance of “Les Misérables” while Trump himself was in attendance. Among the concerns raised by the protesters was the Kennedy Center’s decision in February to cancel a performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington scheduled for May to celebrate the upcoming WorldPride 2025 DC events. A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the performance was canceled because of “financial” and “scheduling” factors and not by the Trump initiated management changes.
8. D.C. LGBTQ Center celebrates opening of new, larger offices
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center officially opened its new expanded offices on April 26 at 1828 Wiltberger St., N.W., located one block from the Shaw Metro station.
Spanning 6,671 square feet of intentionally designed space, Center Director Kimberley Bush said the new space would offer a wide range of resources for LGBTQ individuals in need – including mental health services, job readiness programs, cultural events and community support groups, all under one roof.
7. Deaths of five key local LGBTQ advocates in 2025
The LGBTQ community took note of the passing of at least five highly regarded local LGBTQ advocates in 2025. Among them were Jeri Hughes, 73, a longtime local transgender rights activist; Dale Sanders, 75, a highly acclaimed D.C. attorney for more than 40 years who played a leading role in providing legal services to people with HIV/AIDS; Patrick Shaw, 60, a highly regarded D.C. public schools teacher; Thomas Mangrum, 61, an acclaimed advocate for people with disabilities and LGBTQ rights activist involved in the city’s Capital Pride events; and Loraine Hutchins, a nationally known and acclaimed advocate for bisexual and LGBTQ rights, and co-author and editor of a groundbreaking book on bisexuality.
6. Pro-LGBTQ Spanberger elected Va. governor
Former congresswoman and longtime LGBTQ rights supporter Abigail Spanberger (D) won her race for governor of Virginia on Nov. 6, defeating the state’s Republican lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, who expressed strong opposition to LGBTQ equality. Spanberger, who will succeed incumbent GOP Gov. Glenn Youngkin in January, becomes Virginia’s first female governor.
Meanwhile, John Reid, a gay conservative radio talk show host in Richmond for many years, lost his race as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia, falling short of becoming the state’s first openly gay person to win a statewide office. Reid lost to Democrat Ghazala Hashmi, a member of the Virginia State Senate, who became the first Muslim woman to win election to a statewide office in any state.
5. Trans erasure hits D.C.
The National Park Service, which owns and maintains Dupont Circle as a federal park, in February removed all references to transgender people from its website devoted to Dupont Circle history. In a development believed to be linked to one of President Trump’s early executive orders banning federal support for trans related issues, the Park Service removed all mention of trans people from its website but left on the site multiple references to the “GLB community.”
In yet another act of what LGBTQ activists are calling “trans erasure,” D.C.’s Children’s National Hospital in July announced it would discontinue beginning Aug. 30 gender transition medical care it has provided for juvenile patients for at least the past 20 years. In a statement posted on its website, the highly acclaimed pediatric hospital said the change was made “in light of escalating legal and regulatory risks to Children’s National.” Most observers interpreted that to mean the risk of federal funding cuts linked to the Trump administration’s animus toward trans supportive programs or policies.
4. D.C. Mayor Bowser announces she will not run for re-election
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, a longtime vocal supporter of the LGBTQ community, announced on Nov. 25 that she will not run for a fourth term. Since first taking office as mayor in January 2015, Bowser has been an outspoken supporter on a wide range of LGBTQ-related issues, including marriage equality and services for LGBTQ youth and seniors.
LGBTQ activists have pointed out that Bowser’s record of support on LGBTQ issues dates back to her tenure as the Ward 4 D.C. Council member from 2007 through January 2015, when she took office as mayor. They also credit her with expanding and significantly increasing funding for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and appointing the largest number of openly LGBTQ officials to D.C. government jobs than any prior D.C. mayor.
“It has been the honor of my life to be your mayor,” Bowser said in a statement.
3. D.C. LGBTQ bars ‘hanging in there’ amid tough economy
The owners of several of D.C.’s at least 25 LGBTQ bars told the Blade in November they had been negatively impacted by a series of developments and issues impacting most other D.C. bars, restaurants, and nightlife venues. Among the lead issues impacting them, they said, were the deployment by President Trump of National Guard troops on city streets, the nearly two-month-long federal government shutdown that ended in late November, and skyrocketing prices of food and other supplies brought about by the Trump administration’s tariff program.
Other factors cited were a decline in tourist visits to D.C. due to alienation from the Trump administration and a large increase in the number of LGBTQ bars in recent years that some observers said has resulted in fewer people going to each of the LGBTQ bars, the latest one, Rush at 14th and U Street, N.W., having opened in December.
2. At least 1.2 million turn out for WorldPride D.C.
At least 1.2 million people turned out from throughout the U.S. and internationally for WorldPride D.C. 2025, which took place from mid-May through June. It included hundreds of events held across the city. Among them were an international human rights conference, a March on Washington for LGBTQ Equality, sporting events with LGBTQ athletes, concerts by LGBTQ choral groups and nationally acclaimed pop musicians.
The events culminated with a six-hour-long WorldPride Parade on June 7 that drew hundreds of thousands of participants and bystanders and included a 1,000-foot long rainbow flag that led the parade. The WorldPride street festival and concert took place that same day and the following day, on June 8, along Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. that included hundreds of booths.
The 1.2 million attendance and the a $310 million economic impact it had on the city were significantly less that what had been initially predicted by city officials, who, along with LGBTQ activists, said the lower attendance and economic impact was due in part to the anti-LGBTQ policies and alienation of many potential foreign visitors by the Trump administration.
1. Trump takes control of D.C. police, deploys National Guard
LGBTQ rights advocates joined community leaders across the city in condemning President Donald Trump’s decision in August to take control of the D.C Metropolitan Police Department and deploy 800 National Guard troops to address what he called a crime wave caused by “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth.”
A coalition of local LGBTQ advocacy organizations joined other community leaders, including gay D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), in calling Trump’s action a “power grab” aimed at eliminating D.C.’s locally elected government that would adversely impact people of color, the LGBTQ and immigrant communities.
In a development that captured national attention, a gay man was arrested on Aug. 10 on a misdemeanor assault charge for tossing a hero sandwich into the chest of a uniformed U.S. Customs and Border Control agent on a street near several gay bars in what he called an act of protest and defiance of the Trump deployment of federal troops and agents in D.C. In what some observers called a gesture of support for gay sandwich thrower Sean Charles Dunn, a federal court jury handed down a verdict of not guilty for the assault charge.
PHOTOS: Freddie’s Follies
Imperial Court of Washington drag group has ‘dissolved’
What to watch for in 2026: midterms, Supreme Court, and more
A reminder that Jan. 6 was ‘textbook terrorism’
Claudia López criticizes Trump over threats against Colombian president
D.C.’s 10 best theater productions of 2025
A look back at the best books of 2025
The year in photos
Safer Ways to Pay for Online Performances and Queer Events
