District of Columbia
Here comes the Pride: Freddie Lutz, Johnny Cervantes to wed during WorldPride Parade
‘Love is good for business’

For 28 years, Freddie Lutz and Johnny Cervantes have been through nearly everything together. From starting one of the most successful and well-known LGBTQ bars in the DMV — Freddie’s Beach Bar and later opening a second location in Rehoboth — to navigating a pandemic and even overcoming death threats for supporting the LGBTQ community, the pair has been through a lot.
So it only makes sense for them to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and get married in the middle of the WorldPride parade as it makes its way down 14th Street.
For the longest time, the couple had contemplated getting married, but according to Lutz, none of those times felt quite right.
“When they passed gay marriage in Virginia, I asked him if he wanted to get married the following day,” Lutz told the Blade. “And [Cervantes] said, ‘No, but you can take me to Tiffany’s.’”
Cervantes shared that although the thought had crossed his mind, he had seen the two as committed long before the courts deemed them worthy.
“I don’t think it was until about 2009 that we really considered marriage,” Cervantes said. “We had gone to some fundraiser where Gavin Newsom was speaking — he was such an advocate for gay rights and gay marriage, that that’s what kind of got us both thinking. Like any other marginalized group, you learn to feel that you’re not worthy, that you’re not entitled to certain rights. However, his speech at that time got us realizing that we were worthy and were entitled to marriage.”
“We still hadn’t taken advantage of marriage because it’s like—we have our daily lives together, both in Arlington and in Rehoboth,” Cervantes added. “I think spiritually, we have been committed as if we were married to each other. Going through a ceremony wouldn’t change things.”
Another—and seemingly bigger—concern the pair had about throwing a wedding was who would make the guest list—and which one of their friends would have to sit out due to the nature of hosting such an event.
“We’ve thought about getting married a few times over the past 28 years, but we know so many people that I said to him, ‘Oh my gosh, where would we cut off the invitation list?’ I’d have a lot of pissed off people at me. This way, we’re literally inviting the entire world,” Lutz said.
And invite the world they have. As their home becomes the center of the gay universe this week with WorldPride coming to Washington, the pair decided to get married with some special help and support from the Equality Chamber of Commerce DC (ECCDC).
“If you know Freddie, the idea of his wedding being in the middle of a Pride parade embodies the joy of who he is and his whole spirit,” said Kat Dean, director of the Equality Chamber Foundation. “It was this perfect alignment of continuing to lift up queer economic empowerment and give the spotlight back onto him. I mean, this is what we do as a chamber. Our whole purpose is to continue to uplift businesses—and this is a great way for us to uplift a cornerstone of queer businesses in the area. He’s brought a lot of joy and community into a lot of people’s lives. This is our way of kind of thanking him for the work that he’s done by serving the community.”

When asked what has been the most exciting part of making this idea a reality, Dean—one of the float’s original concept creators and one of the people responsible for the Pride Parade wedding idea—was ready with an answer.
“To watch the design that’s being built by this incredible designer, and seeing that concept start to come to life—it’s been, honestly, a lot of joy when a project like this unfolds,” she said. “The float designer is scenic designer August Henney; Kevin Fenton of Walla Design helped us with the concept and branding. … We’ve received some donated material as well and some support from the community. But really, it’s less about the organizations that have been helping, and more about the individuals who are helping to build the float, to get it up there. There’s some people from our board, some volunteers from our community—a bunch of people coming together to help make this super duper fun.”
This project has been in the works since February, according to Dean, and was inspired by her own recent path to marriage.
“We knew that we, ECCDC, were going to have a float in the parade. We got approved at the beginning of the year that we were actually able to have a float,” Dean said. “I believe it was because of our February Chamber Connect [the monthly networking series], that was conveniently at Freddie’s. But that was not the correlation at the time. It was at Freddie’s in Arlington, but no direct tie-in at all that it had come out.”
“My partner and I had just decided to get engaged and get married,” she added. “The chamber was still coming up with what the idea was for the float, and one conversation led to the next, and the topic of gay marriage came up. The day after the Chamber Connect, I sent out an email—I think at like 6:30 in the morning—to a couple people that I started talking to, including our executive director, and said, ‘Hey, here’s a rough idea following our conversation from last night,’ and everyone just jumped on it.”
As discussions of logistics continued, Dean and her wife took some time to get married ahead of the chaos of WorldPride. This led them to a mini-honeymoon in Rehoboth, where they met Lutz.
“We connected with Freddie and we were talking to him about our wedding. My wife and I were actually in Rehoboth, and we were having a little ‘mini-moon’ there after we just got married. We were telling him about the wedding and the decision of why we wanted to get married sooner rather than later.”
“He told me that he had had similar thoughts with his partner of 28 years, and they were deciding to do the same thing. And after a couple orange crushes, I turned and looked at him, and I said, ‘Hey, how about you do this in the middle of the Pride parade? We’ve got a chapel already being built.’ It was fate! This was almost identical to the idea that he and Johnny wanted to have, and there was just no better choice for us than having somebody who’s been an incredible member of the DMV queer community and an awesome chamber member for many years.”
Lutz explained that this organic conversation between the two sparked an unexpected but perfect alignment of dreams and opportunity.
“I have a second Freddie’s location in Rehoboth Beach, and I’m literally down there two weeks ago, and I’m chatting this girl up at the bar, and she says, ‘I’m with the Equality Chamber of Washington. We are doing a wedding chapel float in the WorldPride Parade,’” Lutz said. “And I said, ‘Wait, what? That’s my all-time dream—to get married on a Pride float with Johnny.’ I couldn’t believe it. I’ve been actually thinking about doing a wedding float with Freddie’s for years—I’ve been talking about it for years. So she says to me, ‘We’re going to be marrying several couples on the float. Would you like to be one of them?’ And I said, ‘No, but if you’ll do just us and let me put Freddie’s signage on the float, I’ll do it.’”
“I do think I probably owe that couple [Dean and her wife] a nice wedding gift,” Lutz added, laughing.
“I know that this is something that he always wanted,” Cervantes said. “Freddie and I are like yin and yang. We’re almost exact opposites of each other. And I like to think I bring the voice of reason to the relationship and he brings creativity and excitement.”
The meeting of Dean and Lutz in an LGBTQ bar—which ultimately led to the wedding coming to fruition—closely mirrors how the soon-to-be-wed grooms first met.
The couple met in another of Washington’s best-known LGBTQ institutions—JR.’s.
“I was actually meeting with a group of people, and we were celebrating my birthday and my friend Dylan’s birthday,” Lutz said. “We all met for a drink at JR.’s, and then went to dinner at Trumpets. Johnny was sitting way down at the end of the table, and I kept looking at him, and that’s how we met.”
The opportunity Lutz and Cervantes had to meet—specifically at an LGBTQ-run business—is exactly the message Dean hopes to highlight with the float and with ECCDC overall.
“We keep going with this tagline—‘Love is good for business,’” Dean said. “Support of queer economic power. But it’s also to remind you guys that we’re here to support you and support our community in whatever it is that they’re doing. We’re just really excited to share in the joy and share in Pride with everyone.”
“I’m so excited,” Lutz said. “I can’t believe that this dropped in my lap just two weeks ago. I mean, we just agreed to do it six days ago.”
“It’s going to be fun,” Cervantes said. “I’ve ridden with Fred in the Pride Parade—just what to expect from the crowd and the number of people there—and it’s always very friendly and celebratory, and I think that’s going to just make our event even more special.”
As the parade rolls through the heart of D.C., the float will transform into the ultimate queer altar, giving the couple the chance to say “I do” while the world celebrates love, visibility, and acceptance around them.
The Little Gay Chapel will be decorated to the nines—with floral arrangements, music, signage, and surprise elements—making it a rolling celebration of queer joy. The float will travel down the increasingly queer 14th Street, pass through Thomas Circle, and head toward Pennsylvania Avenue, where the celebration will culminate at the annual Tea Dance Party overlooking the U.S. Capitol.
When asked if there was anything special about the float—besides the fact that a whole wedding would be taking place as the Little Gay Chapel travels down 14th Street—Lutz said to keep an eye out for the outfits and party invitations.

“I asked them to build a little box for Johnny, because he’s shorter than I, and he will be in black tails with a top hat, and I’ll be in white tails with a white bow tie and a white dress under it,” Lutz said, beaming while showing the Blade inspirational images of the outfits. “And the wedding reception invitation that will be passed out along the parade route says, ‘You are cordially invited to drag your gay asses across the river to celebrate the marriage of Freddie Lutz and Johnny Cervantes at Freddie’s Beach Bar, the only straight-friendly gay bar in Northern Virginia.’”
District of Columbia
GLAA issues ratings in Ward 8 D.C. Council special election
Declines to rate ousted Council member Trayon White who’s seeking re-election

GLAA D.C., formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, announced on June 22 its ratings for three of the four candidates running in the city’s July 15 Ward 8 D.C. Council special election, saying each of the three have records of support for the LGBTQ community.
The election was called earlier this year when the Ward 8 seat became vacant after the Council voted unanimously to expel Ward 8 Council member Trayon White (D) following his arrest by the FBI on a federal bribery charge in August 2024.
White, who has denied any wrongdoing and was released while awaiting his trial scheduled for January 2026, is one of the four candidates running in the special election to regain his seat on the Council. Under D.C. law, he can legally run for office and serve again on the Council if he wins up until the time he is convicted of the criminal offense he is charged with.
While not mentioning White by name, in a statement accompanying its candidate ratings GLAA said it has a policy of not rating any candidates expelled or who resign from an elected position for ethics violations, including “malfeasance.”
The three candidates it rated – Sheila Bunn, Mike Austin, and Salim Adofo – are longtime Ward 8 community advocates who have been involved in local government affairs for many years and, according to LGBTQ activists who know them, have been supportive of LGBTQ rights. All three are running as Democrats.
White also has a record of supporting LGBTQ issues while serving on the Council since 2017.
GLAA rates candidates on a scale of -10, the lowest possible rating, to +10, its highest rating. Since it began candidate ratings in the 1970s it has based the ratings mostly on LGBTQ-related issues.
But in recent years, it has shifted gears to base the ratings mostly on non-LGBTQ specific issues, saying those issues — such as housing, healthcare, and a call for decriminalizing sex work — impact the LGBTQ community as well as all D.C. residents.
The following are the GLAA D.C. ratings for the three Ward 8 candidates it rated:
Sheila Bunn – 7.5
Mike Austin – 6.5
Salim Adofo – 4.5
Bunn is a former staff member for D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and has worked for former D.C. Mayor and later D.C. Council member Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7), a longtime strong supporter of the LGBTQ community.
Austin, an attorney, is a former chair of one of the Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, served as chief of staff in the office of the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Economic Development, and worked on the staff of former Ward 7 Council member LaRuby May (D).
Adofo has served as a Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner since 2018 and chair of his ANC since 2021. His campaign biographical information shows he has been an advocate for affordable housing, improved health care and lower health costs in Ward 8. He is the only one of the Ward 8 special election candidates on the July 15 ballot to express support for LGBTQ rights on his campaign website.
“At the heart of our platform is a steadfast commitment to uplifting LGBTQ+ communities, ensuring that policy is shaped not just for them, but with them,” a statement on his website says.
As of early this week, White did not have a campaign website. He has won re-election for the Ward 8 Council seat in every election since 2017, including the November 2024 election following his August 2024 arrest.
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, which for many years has endorsed candidates running for public office in D.C., decided not to make an endorsement in the Ward 8 special election, according to the group’s president, Howard Garrett.
“We thought that this is best because this is a special election and in these unfamiliar times, we decided not to take a stand,” Garrett told the Washington Blade. But he said his group partnered with the Ward 8 Democrats organization in holding a candidate forum in which the Ward 8 candidates were asked questions “that related to our community.”
Longtime Ward 8 gay Democratic activist Phil Pannell, who is supporting Adofo, said he strongly feels GLAA’s 4.5 rating for Adofo does not reflect Adofo’s strong support for the LGBTQ community.
Fellow Ward 8 gay Democratic activist David Meadows said he is supporting Bunn, who he says also has a strong record of support for the LGBTQ community.
The Blade earlier this week asked each of the four Ward 8 candidates’ campaigns to provide a statement by the candidates explaining their position on LGBTQ issues. As of the end of the business day on June 24, the candidates had not yet responded. The Blade will report on those responses when they are received.
The GLAA ratings and the group’s statement describing the responses to its questionnaire that each of the three candidates it rated submitted can be accessed here:
The websites of the three candidates who have campaign websites, which provide full details of their positions and background, can be accessed here:
Sheila Bunn
Mike Austin
Salim Adofo
District of Columbia
Activists fight to protect LGBTQ services in D.C. budget
LGBT Budget Coalition leading effort

As temperatures rise in Washington, so does the pressure on the D.C. government to pass a budget for the 2026 financial year.
The Washington Blade followed up with Heidi Ellis, coordinator of the DC LGBT Budget Coalition, to discuss progress made — and the steps still needed — to ensure Washington’s LGBTQ community remains a priority for the D.C. Council and Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office.
Asked about the current state of the budget, Ellis was clear: the dust hasn’t settled. The process is still unfolding. Still, she shared that the overall city budget has been cut.
“There was a large cut in the mayor’s budget for Financial Year 2026 — over a million dollars,” Ellis said. “We took a hit of over $6 million in this in the city due to the federal funding cuts.”
According to Ellis, the cuts are due in large part to declining local tax revenue and a Republican-controlled federal government that has shown little support for LGBTQ-specific funding.
“The biggest challenge is the city is in a different place financially,” Ellis said. “The city’s CFO has now had two years plus in a row of forecasts of lower revenue for the city in general, and then we had congressional interference when they cut a billion dollars out of our budget — that still has not been resolved on the federal level. That happened during the continuing resolution on the Hill to pass like their spending bill, which has not been resolved. The mayor had to essentially cut a billion dollars out of the FY 25 budget to make it balanced. That was huge, and then the city is looking at lower revenue over the next couple of years.”
Although the entire city faces challenges, Ellis said the intersectional needs of LGBTQ residents — especially those who are Black, brown, low-income, or otherwise marginalized — demand specific, equitable funding.
“Whatever issues the city has, whether it be housing instability, food insecurity, safety issues, they are always exacerbated when you think about it through the lens of queer people — specifically Black and brown queer folks and folks that are low to no income,” she said. “So the folks that are living at the margins of our community are always going to feel whatever is happening 10 times more. And this administration has brought in a lot of consternation and fear to the city.”
Still, despite the broader financial setbacks, there have been some “wins.”
Ellis named five of the 12 sitting council members who have stepped up to support the goals outlined by the LGBT Budget Coalition: Council Members Matthew Frumin, Christina Henderson, Brianne Nadeau, Zachary Parker, and Robert C. White, Jr.
Each of these members has offered support through their committee work — addressing areas from healthcare to homelessness.
Parker, the council’s only gay member, helped fight for expanded funding for the youth homelessness continuum. A 2024 study found that 40 percent of unhoused youth in D.C. identify as LGBTQ.
Frumin has advocated for additional funds for transgender workforce programs, the youth homelessness continuum, and the D.C. Department of Human Services, which provides critical support for low-income residents.
Henderson backed the LGBT Budget Coalition’s healthcare and HIV-related goals by pushing for expanded hours at the D.C. Health and Wellness Center.
“She’s actually recommending now that they be open on one week night and then two Saturdays a month,” Ellis said. “That’s a huge win, because that allows for more people to access that care.”
Nadeau championed continued funding for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which provides $1 million annually in grants to LGBTQ organizations. White advocated for sustaining support for trans workforce programs like Project LEAP, which connects gender-diverse residents with job coaches and employers to build long-term economic stability.
“So far I would say we’ve gotten about four out of the seven to eight things we asked for fulfilled,” Ellis explained. “We were able to get a good chunk of that back to restore some services — like permanent supportive housing and extended transitional housing.”
Ellis emphasized that the LGBT Budget Coalition’s success stems in part from community engagement and platforms like the Blade.
“We launched the letter writing campaign back in April that generated thousands of letters that went directly to the mayor and the council. It was literally folks just signing up and saying, ‘We support this,’ and it automatically created letters. It was a major organizing tool.”
“We did an op-ed in the Blade that ran both in the print and in the online version — that got a lot of traction. Our coalition members have been pushing out what the needs are through their social media and have been testifying before the council through the oversight hearings and the budget hearings. And remember — we just had WorldPride. We reminded them [council members], you all are coming out and waving the flag and taking photo ops for our community, you can’t do that in one breath and then take away our funding.”
Still, critical needs remain unmet — particularly around HIV healthcare funding.
“The HIV funding just continues to close the gap,” Ellis said. “That’s the one that it’s such a big gap that even with the great work of Council Member Henderson is not enough. She even highlighted in her committee report that she’s asking for the Committee of the Whole, which is the whole council, to supplement some of that funding — understanding just how much of a loss we took. The gap is still wide and needs additional funding.”
Beyond HIV-related services, Ellis noted several key areas that still require urgent attention in the final version of the budget. Among them: restoring the D.C. Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which provides housing stability for the city’s most vulnerable; reforming the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act to better support tenant-led housing solutions; and restoring funding for LGBTQ mental health services, which have faced significant cuts in recent years.
The coalition is also pushing for the continued support of LGBTQ+ services administered through the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, including a $450,000 allocation for the Violence Prevention and Response Team initiative. In addition, Ellis emphasized the need for full enforcement of the city’s Language Access Act — and for its expansion to ensure Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, making D.C. services more inclusive for all residents.
Ellis acknowledged the political climate may feel daunting, but pointed to the resilience of the LGBTQ community — both historically and today.
“It’s just a constant reminder that we have been here before,” Ellis said. “We had the Lavender Scare. We had Stonewall. We had the AIDS epidemic. This community has gone through peril, and it continues around me how resilient we are — and actually not just resilient for the sake of being resilient, but that we actually build. We don’t just survive, but we build. I would say that the city has taken a hit, and we’re all trying to figure out how best to move forward and not lose our values.”
She added that while the LGBT Budget Coalition is united in its platform, it does not claim to speak for every LGBTQ person in D.C.
“The coalition is a voice that is united because we wanted to make sure we walk in lockstep, but we do not represent all of the LGBTQ community. We know there’s many factions. We are multifaceted as a community, but we do have a wide range of folks represented in our coalition, and we do our best to advocate with a wider lens and also make sure that we’re thinking about the most marginalized folks in our community. I just wanted to clarify where we enter this process, and I would just say that we’re going to continue to fight. It’s Pride month. It’s crazy that we’re going back to some of these original arguments around humanity, and whether we’re worth this dollar amount, but that’s where we are. But we’re not giving up. So I would just encourage everybody not to give up and get involved where they can get involved.”
When asked how individuals can support the LGBT Budget Coalition’s goals, Ellis had a clear answer: speak up.
“I would just argue for folks to email their council members and call their council members to show up. Just letting them know that you support funding of key services for LGBTQ folks. You don’t have to be part of our coalition to do that. These issues intersect; housing is an issue for all, healthcare is an issue for all. We’re just asking for it to be equitable.”
District of Columbia
Victim of anti-gay rock-throwing assault in D.C. speaks out
Homeowner says arrested juvenile harassed him, husband prior to attack

Addam Lee Schauer-Mayhew, the gay man who was struck in the face by a rock thrown through the front window of his house in Northeast D.C. on June 6 allegedly by a 13-year-old juvenile male says he and his husband think it’s important for the community to know more of the details surrounding this incident.
Schauer-Mayhew spoke to the Washington Blade about the incident after the Blade reached out to him for comment. He said he and his husband, Bryan C. Schauer, wanted to point out that the rock-throwing attack was the most recent in a series of incidents in which the same juvenile and others accompanying him have targeted them with anti-gay slurs and throwing rocks at their house and car since last October.
D.C. police announced on June 16 that they had arrested a 13-year-old juvenile male one day earlier on Sunday, June 15, on a charge of Assault With Significant Bodily Injury, in connection with the rock-throwing attack against Schauer-Mayhew.
A police report says the rock struck Schauer-Mayhew in the left eye causing a laceration under the eye.
A separate police statement said the charge against the juvenile was listed as a “Hate/Bias” incident and noted that “LGBTQ+ flags were displayed at the front of the home.”
Schauer-Mayhew told the Blade he and his husband have displayed at least one Pride flag at the front of their house since they purchased it in the city’s Kingman Park neighborhood four-and-a-half years ago, essentially “coming out” to their neighbors. He said the neighbors have been fully supportive of the two as a gay couple since they moved into their house.
But around October of last year, around the time of Halloween, a few juvenile males began targeting the couple at their house by yelling homophobic slurs, including the word “faggot,” Schauer-Mayhew said, with the juvenile who assaulted him on June 6 of this year being among them.
Last November, over Thanksgiving weekend, the same juvenile male and a few of his cohorts broke into the couple’s backyard and carport while the couple was out of town visiting relatives, according to Schauer-Mayhew.
He said the break-in, as was the rock-throwing attack, was captured on video by surveillance cameras they have installed in several places on their house and property. Schauer-Mayhew said the couple provided D.C. police with video footage of the rock-throwing incident, in which he said the juvenile can be seen walking up to the house and throwing the rock through the window.
“I was sitting on our sofa in our living room, and I was just sitting there minding my own business,” Schauer-Mayhew told the Blade, while watching a tennis tournament on television.
“I heard the window break and then I felt something hit my face,” he said. “And my husband was upstairs, and he comes running down the stairs. And he was the one that called 911.”
He added, “My face was covered with blood. My hands were covered with blood. I walked over to my kitchen sink, and I collapsed on the floor.”
But when paramedics arrived in an ambulance in response to the 911 call, he said he declined an offer to take him to a hospital.
Schauer-Mayhew pointed out that the attack occurred on the day he and his husband planned to attend the WorldPride Music Festival held at the RFK Stadium grounds located close to where they live.
“I did decline to go in an ambulance to the hospital because I very much still wanted to be able to enjoy Pride weekend,” he said. “I did receive a lovely black eye. But it has since subsided, and the wound is healing well. But I will have a gash on my face,” he told the Blade.
“And after all of this happened, and everything calmed down, I soldiered up and we went to the festival,” he said. But while there he said bleeding under his eye resumed, prompting him to go to an emergency medical services tent on the festival grounds. “I was able to get the proper attention, and then the wound kind of glued up and then I rejoined the rest of the festival.”
According to Schauer-Mayhew, people in the neighborhood played an important role in helping D.C police locate and arrest the juvenile who assaulted him. The arrest took place on June 15.
He said the youth who assaulted him and others who hung out with him were known as neighborhood troublemakers who, among other things, broke into homes and cars to engage in thefts.
Just by chance, Schauer-Mayhew said he was in his car driving to a nearby grocery store on June 15 when he saw the juvenile who assaulted him leaning out of the window of another car driving nearby.
“And I instantly called my husband, and I said they’re back,” he said. By the time he arrived home he and his husband learned through an online “neighborhood chat chain” that others had also seen the juvenile and his cohorts and called police. The calls and follow-up sightings the next day, on June 16, enabled police to track down and arrest the 13-year-old juvenile.
“My message has always been I feel no malice toward them,” Schauer-Mayhew said when asked if he had a message for the juvenile who assaulted him and those he hung out with. “I just want them to get help and go down a better path than terrorizing people they don’t even know.”
Because court records of cases involving juveniles are sealed from public access, the Blade could not immediately determine the status of the case, including whether prosecutors with the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which prosecutes juvenile cases, was prosecuting the case as a hate crime.

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