District of Columbia
Scooping heritage and Pride: Inside D.C.’s newest ice cream shop
Yala opened on July 20 in Georgetown, where its co-owners celebrate their queer identity through Mediterranean flavors.
Just in time for National Ice Cream Day, D.C. landed the country’s first-ever Greek ice cream shop—operated by two LGBTQ community leaders.
On July 20, Yala Greek Ice Cream (3143 N St., N.W.) opened its bright blue doors at N and Wisconsin Avenue in the heart of Georgetown, marking the first time a Greek ice cream shop has opened in the U.S.
Chrys Kefalas and Salah Czapary are the duo behind the project. Kefalas, a proud Greek and vice president of brand strategy at the National Association of Manufacturers, joined forces with Czapary, a former MPD officer and D.C.’s former Nightlife and Culture Officer of Palestinian-Hungarian descent. Together, they’ve infused every scoop with the flavors of their Mediterranean roots—and their shared queer identity.
The idea for Yala traces back more than 40 years, to a Greek island where Kefalas’ family spent summers.
“My business partner and our CEO, Chrys Kefalas—he’s Greek—and when he was young, he grew up going to an ice cream shop on a [Greek] island where his family is from,” said Czapary. “His family has always been a part of the food industry.”
During the pandemic, the two friends reconnected over a shared hobby: making homemade ice cream. What started as a quarantine distraction evolved into a business plan.
“It’s always been a running joke for me that when I retire, I would open an ice cream shop,” Czapary said. “When [Chrys] had the opportunity to bring these recipes from Greece to the U.S., he came to me and said, ‘Why don’t we do it now?’ It suddenly became very real.”
After months of taste-testing recipes at Mess Hall DC, the Yala Greek Ice Cream team began scouting locations, sourcing ingredients, and developing a brand that honored their roots.s.
The name “Yala” is a blend of influences: “It’s a play off the word in Greek for milk (γάλα), but it’s also spelled in a way that one would say ‘yalla,’ which in Arabic means ‘let’s go,’” said Czapary. “It’s a play off of our shared heritages.”
So what is Greek ice cream, exactly? Czapary says it’s somewhere between gelato and traditional American styles. “Gelato is too heavy. American ice cream is too sweet. This is just perfect,” he recalled an Italian chef saying after trying it.
Yala will offer 16 rotating flavors, combining local ingredients with imports from across the Mediterranean. Mix-ins like pistachios are sourced from EU countries, while milk comes from Maryland “A2” cows, which some say is easier to digest.
“There’s going to be classic hits like mint chocolate chip, vanilla, and chocolate,” he said. “But there’s also going to be flavors that we’re bringing from Greece—like Greek yogurt with tart cherry, and another with orange preserves.”
When asked for a favorite, Czapary was quick to answer: “I am a pistachio guy. I told Chrys, ‘I’m only going to do this if we can make the best pistachio.’ And I think it is the best.”
His close second? “Mornings with Thea,” a Greek yogurt flavor with orange preserve. “It’s not a flavor people gravitate to right away, but I think when people try it, they’re going to love it.”
But Yala is about more than just dessert.
“What we’re really hoping to bring—beyond just a really great product—is the feeling you get when you go to an ice cream shop in Greece,” Czapary said. “A homey feel of a family-owned place that really welcomes everyone.”
The values behind the shop—Φιλοξενία (Philoxenia, or welcoming all), Αγάπη (Love), and Κοινωνία (Community)—are painted across its walls. Czapary said these stem not only from their Mediterranean roots but also their identities as LGBTQ men.
“A lot of our team wears a shirt that says, ‘all flavors welcome,’” he said. “It’s a nod at how we feel: this is a space where everyone can come and enjoy great ice cream. But it’s also a tribute to Chrys’s grandfather— who was known to be someone who welcomed everyone, who enjoyed being a host, and providing the best product to people. We want that space to reflect that.”
District of Columbia
Gay priest credited with boosting church support for LGBTQ Catholics
Fr. Tom Oddo’s biographer speaks at Dignity Washington event
The author of a biography of a U.S. Catholic priest said to have advocated for support by the Catholic Church of gay Catholics in the early 1970s has called Father Thomas ‘Tom’ Oddo a little known but important figure in the LGBTQ rights movement.
Tyler Bieber, author of the recently published book “Against The Current: Father Tom Oddo And the New American Catholic,” told of Oddo’s life and work on behalf of LGBTQ rights at a March 22 talk before the local LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity Washington.
Among Oddo’s important accomplishments, Bieber said, was his role as a co-founder of the national LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity U.S.A. in 1973 at the age of 29.
But as reported in the prologue of his book, Bieber presented details of the sad news that Oddo died in a fatal car crash in 1989 at the age of 45 in Portland, Ore., where he was serving as the highly acclaimed president of the University of Portland, a Catholic institution.
“He was a major figure in the gay rights movement in the 1970s, an unsung hero of that movement,” Bieber told Dignity Washington members, who assembled for his talk in a meeting room at St. Margaret Episcopal Church near Dupont Circle, where they attend their weekly Catholic mass on Sundays.
“And Dignity U.S.A. saw intense growth in membership and visibility” during its early years under Oddo’s leadership, Bieber said. “The story of Father Tom and his contemporaries is a story largely untold in the history of the gay rights movement, but one worth knowing and considering,” he said.
As stated in his book, Bieber told the Dignity Washington gathering Oddo was born and raised in a Catholic family on Long Island, N.Y., and attended a Catholic high school in Flushing Queens. It was at that time when he developed an interest in becoming a priest, according to Bieber.
After studying at the University of Notre Dame and completing his religious studies he was ordained as a priest in 1970 and began his work as a priest in the Boston area, Bieber said. It was around that time, Bieber told the Dignity Washington audience, that gay Catholics approached Oddo to seek advice on how they should interact with the Catholic Church. It was also around that time that Oddo became involved in a group supportive of then gay Catholics that later became a Dignity chapter in Boston.
In a development considered unusual for a Catholic priest, Bieber said Oddo in 1973 testified in support of gay rights bill before a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature and collaborated with then Massachusetts gay and lesbian rights advocate Elaine Noble.
In 1982, at the age of 39, Oddo was selected as president of the University of Portland following several years as a college teacher in the Boston area, Bieber’s book states. It says he was seen as a “vibrant and capable administrator who delivered real results to his campus,” adding, “His magnetism was obvious. One student described him as ‘John Kennedyesque’ to the university’s student newspaper.”
Bieber said that although Oddo was less active with Dignity U.S.A. during his tenure as UP president, he continued his support for gay Catholics and what is now referred to as LGBTQ rights.
“For those that knew him prior to his term at UP, though, he represented something greater than an accomplished university administrator and educator,” Bieber’s book states. “He was a new kind of priest, a gay man living and ministering in a world set loose from tradition by the Second Vatican Council,” the book says.
It was referring to the Vatican gathering of worldwide Catholic leaders from 1962 to 1965 concluding under Pope Paul VI that church observers say modernized church practices to allow far greater participation by the laity and opened the way for sympathetic consideration of gay Catholics.
District of Columbia
HRC to host National Rainbow Seder
Bet Mishpachah among annual event’s organizers
The 18th National Rainbow Seder will take place at the Human Rights Campaign on Sunday.
The sold out event is the country’s largest Passover Seder for the Jewish LGBTQ community.
Organizations behind the event include Bet Mishpachah, a local D.C. LGBTQ synagogue that Rabbi Jake Singer-Beilin leads, and GLOE, an Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center program that sponsors events for the queer Jewish community. The theme for this year’s Seder is “Liberation For All Who Journey: Remembering, Resisting, Rebuilding.” Rabbis Atara Cohen, Koach Frazier, and Avigayil Halpern will lead it.
The Seder will honor the late GLOE co-chair Michael Singer. Singer also served on the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center’s board.
“This Seder is both a celebration of how far we have come and a call to continue building a more just and inclusive world.” Bet Mishpachah Executive Director Joshua Maxey told the Washington Blade.
District of Columbia
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Rally on the National Mall scheduled for Saturday
The Christopher Street Project has a number of events planned for the 2026 Trans Day of Visibility, including a rally on the Mall and an “Empowerment Ball” at the Eaton Hotel. Plenaries, panel discussions and meetings with members of Congress are scheduled in the three days of programming.
Announced speakers include N.H. state Rep. Alice Wade; Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Precious Brady-Davis; activist and performer Miss Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”); Lexington, Ky. Councilwoman Emma Curtis; Rabbi Abby Stein; D.C. activist and host Rayceen Pendarvis; Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland; among other leaders, advocates and performers.
Conference programming on Thursday and Friday includes an educational forum and a Capitol Hill policy education day. Registration for the two-day conference has closed.
The “Trans Day of Visibility PAC Reception” is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 from 7:30-9 p.m. at As You Are (500 8th St., S.E.). Special guests include Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). Tickets are available at christopherstreetproject.org starting at $25.
The National Council of Jewish Women and the Christopher Street Project host a “Trans Day of Visibility Shabbat” on Friday, March 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth & I (600 I St., N.W.). The service is to be led by Rabbi Jenna Shaw and Rabbi Abby Stein.
The “Now You See Me: Trans Empowerment Social & Ball” is scheduled for Friday, March 27 from 6-11 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.). The trans-themed drag ball is hosted by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute with support from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, the Capital Ballroom Council, the Christopher Street Project, the Center for Black Equity, Generation for Common Good, and Parenting is Political. RSVP online at christopherstreetproject.org.
The National Transgender Day of Visibility Rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28 on the National Mall at 11 a.m. The rally will include speakers and performances. Following the rally, attendees are encouraged to participate in the “No Kings” rally being held at Anacostia Park.
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