Local
Lesbian files bias complaint against Silver Spring diner
Tastee Diner manager allegedly asked her to leave the establishment because of her sexual orientation
Aiyi'nah Ford and Torian Brown at the Tastee Diner (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
A lesbian from Laurel, Md., has filed a complaint with the Montgomery County Office of Human Rights accusing the Tastee Diner in Silver Spring, Md., of discrimination for allegedly asking her to leave the establishment because of her sexual orientation.
The complaint filed by Angel Cox comes two years after a lesbian couple filed a similar complaint against Tastee Diner, saying a manager asked them to leave because they were displaying too much affection for a family-oriented restaurant.
The two women, Aiyi’nah Ford and Torian Brown, said they were merely leaning against one another and displayed much less physical affection than heterosexual couples at the diner who were not asked to leave. Ford noted that the dispute occurred about 2 a.m. on a weekend evening.
Cox’s complaint, which was accepted by the Human Rights Office on Aug. 2, says several of the diner’s managers entered the dining room and began to stare at Cox and her female partner as the two women sat at a table at Tastee Diner on July 16.
“I asked one of the other waitresses why the managers were starring at us and she said, “They don’t like our kind here,’” Cox says in her complaint.
Cox states that her partner, who works at the diner, left the table to begin her shift and Cox ordered more food before moving to a different location to use one of the slot machines at the diner.
“After finishing desert, I played poker on the slot machine again,” she said. “The manager of the restaurant, a man named Romanee, came over to me and asked me to leave the restaurant. I was not told why I was asked to leave,” she wrote in her complaint. “I believe that it was because of my sexual orientation.”
John Littleton, general manager of Tastee Diner, told the Blade on Wednesday that the diner had not been contacted by the Montgomery County Human Rights Office about the complaint.
When asked about Cox’s allegation, Littleton said his manager named Romanee told him that Romanee noticed that Cox had been sitting at the counter for about two hours socializing with her partner Kisha while Kisha was performing her duties as a counter waitress.
“He said he called Kisha to the back and said ‘Kisha, I’m sorry, you’ve been talking for two hours now and I need you to get to work and pay better attention to the customers,’” Littleton told the Blade. “He said he told Kisha she needs to ask [Cox] to leave or, if she’d like, she can sit in the dining room if she wants to be a customer,” Littleton said.
According to Littleton, Romanee never spoke directly to Cox. He said the management considers Kisha a good employee and the diner is happy to have her as a waitress.
“I clearly state that we don’t discriminate against anybody in any way,” Littleton said. “She’s welcome to come down here and talk to myself or Romanee, and I’m looking into the situation,” he said.
When asked to respond, Cox acknowledged that Romanee never talked to her directly, saying he asked her through Kisha to leave the diner or move to a table.
“That’s their alibi,” Cox said. “They know I was not distracting Kisha. I was sitting there as a customer, ordering food and playing the slot machine. And I will request that they turn over their video that they have from their camera to prove that I wasn’t distracting Kisha. They did this out of prejudice.”
Esther Greene, the intake officer at the Office of Human Rights, who signed a copy of Cox’s complaint, said the office would send the diner a copy of the complaint as soon as Cox completes the final paperwork for the document.
Rehoboth Beach
Former CAMP Rehoboth official sentenced to nine months in prison
Salvator Seeley pleaded guilty to felony theft charge for embezzlement
Salvator “Sal” Seeley, who served as an official with the Rehoboth Beach, Del., CAMP Rehoboth LGBTQ community center for 20 years, was sentenced on April 5 by a Sussex County Superior Court judge to nine months in prison and to pay $176,000 in restitution to the organization.
The sentencing took place about five weeks after Seeley pleaded guilty to a charge of Theft in Excess of $50,000 for allegedly embezzling funds from CAMP Rehoboth, a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Justice told the Washington Blade.
Seeley’s guilty plea came shortly after a grand jury, at the request of prosecutors, indicted him on the felony theft charge following an investigation that found he had embezzled at least $176,000 from the nonprofit LGBTQ organization.
“Salvatore C. Seeley, between the 27th day of February 2019 and the 7th day of September 2021, in the County of Sussex, State of Delaware, did take property belonging to CAMP Rehoboth, Inc., consisting of United States currency and other miscellaneous property valued at more than $50,000, intending to appropriate the same,” the indictment states.
“The State recommended a sentence of two years of incarceration based on the large-scale theft and the impact to the non-profit organization,” Delaware Department of Justice spokesperson Caroline Harrison told the Blade in a statement.
“The defense cited Seeley’s lack of a record and gambling addiction in arguing for a probationary sentence,” the statement says. “Seeley was sentenced in Superior Court to a nine-month prison term and to pay a total of $176,000 in restitution for the stolen funds,” Harrison says in the statement.
Neither Seeley nor his attorney could immediately be reached for comment.
At the time of Seeley’s indictment in February, CAMP Rehoboth released a statement saying it first discovered “financial irregularities” within the organization on Sept. 7, 2021, “and took immediate action and notified state authorities.” The statement says this resulted in the investigation of Seeley by the state Department of Justice as well as an internal investigation by CAMP Rehoboth to review its “financial control policies” that led to an updating of those policies.
“As we have communicated from day one, CAMP Rehoboth has fully cooperated with law enforcement,” the statement continues. “At its request, we did not speak publicly about the investigation while it was ongoing for fear it would jeopardize its integrity,” according to the statement. “This was extremely difficult given our commitment to transparency with the community about day-to-day operations during the recent leadership transition.”
The statement was referring to Kim Leisey, who began her job as CAMP Rehoboth’s new executive director in July of 2023, while the Seeley investigation had yet to be completed, following the organization’s process of searching for a new director. It says Seeley left his job as Health and Wellness Director of CAMP Rehoboth in September of 2021 after working for the organization for more than 20 years.
“Mr. Seeley’s actions are a deep betrayal to not only CAMP Rehoboth but also the entire community we serve,” the statement says.
Maryland
Christian Siriano to serve as grand marshal of Annapolis Pride Parade
Fashion designer is an Annapolis native
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | He’s conquered fashion week. His designs have slayed the red carpet during award season. And now Christian Siriano is coming home.
The Annapolis native will serve as grand marshal and keynote speaker June 1 for the annual Annapolis Pride Parade and Festival, which is a major coup as the event enters its fourth year.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
As You Are bar closes temporarily, citing problems with building
Shutdown comes two months after fundraising appeal brought in $170,000
As You Are, the LGBTQ café and bar located in the Barracks Row section of Capitol Hill near the Eastern Market Metro station, has announced on its Instagram page that problems associated with its building at 500 8th St., S.E., forced it to “temporarily” close on April 8.
“As you may be aware, As You Are’s location in Eastern Market has been closed since April 8, when we began to have concerns about the physical condition of the building,” the Instagram message states. “We worked quickly to alert our landlord, and they have assessed the building with their engineers,” the message says.
“We understand that certain repairs need to be made to ensure the safety of our staff, patrons, and community,” the message concludes.
In one of two more recent videos posted on Instagram on April 17 and 26, As You Are co-owners Jo McDaniel and Rachel Pike said they did not have any update on when they can reopen. “The engineers and contractors have all come into the space, and we’re just waiting on a plan and a timeline from our landlord,” McDaniel said in the video.
Pike mentioned in one of the videos that As You Are has a Venmo app set up, and said they appreciate the support they have been receiving from the community. McDaniel added, “We’re really interested in supporting our team through this, as this is an unexpected loss of income for all of us.”
McDaniel didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for a further update on where things stand with the building repair project and the specific nature of the problems with the building. An earlier message posted on the As You Are website said, “Heavy rain damaged the back wall of our building, and we are closed to assess and repair.”
The message added, “Regular updates and ways to support can be found on our Instagram page @asyouaredc.”
The April 8 shutdown came a little over two months after As You Are issued a GoFundMe appeal on Feb. 5 seeking emergency financial support to prevent it from closing in February due to a $150,000 debt. In a display of strong community support, its $150,000 fundraising goal was reached in less than a week. By the following week, the GoFundMe appeal had pulled in more than $170,000 from more than 3,000 individual donations.
Many of the donors left messages on the GoFundMe page for As You Are expressing their strong support for the bar and café, saying it served as a uniquely supportive space for all members of the LGBTQ community.
In the GoFundMe message, McDaniel and Pike said their goal in opening their business in March 2022 was to offer community center type programming beyond just a bar and café.
“AYA is a café, bar and dance floor that hosts diverse programming nearly every night of the week, including social sport leagues, Queer youth socials, weekly karaoke, book clubs, open mics, Queer author events, dance parties, and much more,” the two said in their message.
The building’s owner and the As You Are landlord, Rueben Bajaj, who is the principal operator of the Bethesda, Md., based real estate firm White Star Investments, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. The Washington Post reported that he contributed $500 to the As You Are GoFundMe appeal, saying, “I personally want to see As You Are succeed.”
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