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Comings & Goings
Hank’s Oyster Bar celebrates 20th anniversary
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.
District of Columbia
Norton reintroduces bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ jurors in D.C. Superior Court
Congresswoman notes Congress controls local court system
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Friday, June 20, reintroduced her bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ D.C. residents in the process for selecting people to serve as jurors in D.C. Superior Court.
“The bill would clarify that D.C. residents may not be excluded or disqualified from jury service in the local D.C. trial court, the D.C. Superior Court, based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Norton said in a statement.
“Specifically, this bill would clarify that the term ‘sex,’ which is a protected class under the nondiscrimination law that applies to jurors in the D.C. Superior Court includes sexual orientation and gender identity,” Norton said.
She points out in her statement that under the D.C. Home Rule Act approved by Congress that created D.C.’s local government, including an elected mayor and City Council, the federal government retained control over the local court system.
“Therefore, until D.C. is given authority to amend Title 11 of the D.C. Code, which one of my bills would do, an act of Congress is required to clarify that LGBTQ+ jurors in the D.C. Superior Court are protected from discrimination,” according to her statement.
A spokesperson for Norton couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether Norton is aware of specific instances where residents were denied jury service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Online records of congressional action on Norton’s juror nondiscrimination bill show she had introduced it in 2019, 2021, and 2023, when it died in committee each year, except for the 117th Congress in 2022, when it was approved by a committee but died in the full House.
“During Pride month we are reminded of the many contributions of the LGBTQ+ community,” Norton said in her June 20 statement. “Nobody, including D.C. jurors, should be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and D.C. juries should not be deprived of the service of LGBTQ residents,” she added.
The Washington Blade’s second day of Pride on the Pier at The Wharf DC ended with a fireworks show on Saturday, June 7. The fireworks show was presented by the Leonard-Litz LGBTQ Foundation.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Chesterfield) will face John Reid in the race to become Virginia’s next lieutenant governor.
Hashmi won the Democratic primary with 27.49 percent of the vote. She defeated former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, state Sen. Aaron Rouse (D-Virginia Beach), Babur Lateef, Victor Salgado and Alexander Bastani.
“Tonight, Virginians made history,” said Hashmi in a statement. “We didn’t just win a primary, we sent a clear message that we won’t be bullied, broken, or dragged backward by the chaos in Washington.”
Reid, a gay conservative talk show host, in April won the Republican nomination to succeed Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, who is running to succeed Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The incumbent governor days after Reid secured the nomination called for him to withdraw his candidacy amid reports that a social media account with his username included “pornographic content.” Reid, who would become the first openly gay person elected to statewide office in Virginia if he wins in November, has strongly denied the reports.
Former state Del. Jay Jones defeated Henrico County Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor in Democratic attorney general primary. Jones will face Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares in November.
Youngkin cannot run for a second, consecutive term.
Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger will face off against Earle-Sears in November. The winner will make history as the first woman elected governor in the state’s history.
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