District of Columbia
Chefs for Equality returns with 150 pros serving up their best
‘Restaurants are central to their neighborhoods’
One year after its fabulous post-pandemic re-debut, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation and hospitality veteran, food writer, and lead organizer David Hagedorn are hosting Chefs for Equality on Oct. 21, featuring 150 chefs, bakers, mixologists, sommeliers, and restaurateurs across 50 savory and 20 dessert stations, under the theme “Fully Committed.”
Proceeds from this night of culinary decadence and altruism support HRC Foundation’s fight for LGBTQ equality across the country.
Chefs for Equality, however, is more than an annual event. This year, for certain, it contains weight and meaning, coming days before a consequential election that may decide how inclusive, welcoming, and equity-focused state, local, and national governments will be.
While many industries and companies have pulled back on DEI efforts this year, the restaurant industry has maintained its strong stance on inclusivity. Research from the National Restaurant Association showed that even during difficult financial landscapes, restaurant operators still give back to their communities. According to the 2023 State of the Restaurant report, “84% of restaurant operators said that since 2020, they’ve made charitable contributions to assist those in need.”
This national report proves that the industry is deeply entrenched in the communities they serve and Hagedorn says the industry continues to serve in an inclusive way.
Echoing the survey findings, he says that in D.C., “The industry continues to step up for the LGBTQ+ community even though they have come through the hardest economic challenge they ever faced with the pandemic.”
Hagedorn, who has been part of the organizing committee since the event’s inception, says that the “chef community in D.C. is the most generous in the country. They have been supportive of Chefs for Equality since our first event in 2012.”
Indeed, even prior to Chefs for Equality, in 1990, Hagedorn started the annual Chef’s Best Dinner & Auction, a benefit for Food & Friends to support delivery of meals and nutrition counseling for people living with HIV/AIDS. Even then, he notes, the industry made an effort to support a highly marginalized community. He continued that the “industry in D.C. continues to support the diversity that is represented across our various communities. Looking at the participating businesses this year, there are more women and people of color represented than ever.”
Plus, he says that many restaurants have LGBTQ owners, staff, and family, and, of course, clientele. “We love to eat out and spend a lot of disposable income doing it.”
RaShawn Hawkins, Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s senior director of the Workplace Equality Program, echoed that, “LGBTQ+ people exist in all spaces. We’re managers, chefs, bartenders, and customers. By being fully committed to LGBTQ+ allyship, food and beverage businesses can not only create environments that people are excited and proud to work in, but they get to reap the financial benefits. LGBTQ+ allyship is not only better for people, it’s simply better for business.”
Those employees and leaders have come out in full force. Community members include Patrick O’Connell (Inn at Little Washington, one of the original participants) Jason Berry and Michael Reginbogin (KNEAD Hospitality), Harley Peet (Bas Rouge), Kareem Queeman (Mr. Bake Sweets) and Voula Tripolitsiotis (Blue Lace Cakes), AJ Johnson and JP Sabatier (Jane Jane; and on the planning committee), Joy Crump (FoodE), Ruth Gresser (Pizzeria Paradiso), and Jamie Leeds (Hank’s Oyster Bar), among others. Dozens of allies have participated for multiple years, underlining their personal and professional dedication to the LGBTQ community, including Michelle and Christophe Poteaux, Georgetown Cupcake, Todd Thrasher, Matt Adler, Amy Brandwein, Scott Drewno, Ris Lacoste, Mike Friedman, David Guas, and Jose Andres.
One of the strongest allies, participating chef Masako Morishita (and Beard Foundation Emerging Chef winner) from Perry’s, said that taking part carries special meaning for her. “The restaurant industry has historically been male dominated, even though women are integral to the space. As an immigrant woman myself, I have seen how elements of the industry can be oppressive or exclusive, and I have made it my priority to create an inclusive environment in my kitchen.”
Perry’s, she notes, has long been a champion of LGBTQ rights, and has hosted the longest-running drag brunch in D.C., dating to the 1980s. “As executive chef, I continue to celebrate the community. Working at a restaurant that champions LGBTQ+ culture, particularly drag culture, was important to me. Funnily enough, when I moved to the U.S., I picked up a lot of my English from watching ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’ which is still one of my favorite TV shows.”
Participating baker Kareem (“Mr. Bake”) Queeman said, “As a Black gay man who has hidden his sexuality in the food space in the past, this event truly shows the strength and community that we have here in the DMV. Still, he says, there’s more work to do, like “providing training to staff on cultural sensitivity and inclusive practices to create a more understanding and supportive work environment.”
The 2024 version of Chefs for Equality features 13 personal chef tables, providing an opportunity to dine with celebrity chefs for a lavish five-course meal in the middle of the action.
Last year, the event premiered the Speed Diner Drag Brunch, during which five chefs prepare a 20-minute brunch while three of D.C.’s top queens — Shelita Ramen, Tara Hoot and Shi-Queeta Lee — put on a show. Upstairs, VIP ticketholders gain access to an exclusive Upper Tier Apero Champagne and Petrossian and Caviar Lounge; there is also an after-party at the Mayflower Club.
“It’s the largest LGBTQ+-focused event of its kind in D.C., if not the entire country. The chefs always seem to make more of an effort for CFE — the food is truly remarkable,” says Hagedorn. “Restaurants are central to their neighborhoods, and I don’t see their support for our community wavering,” Hagedorn concluded.
Tickets are available at chefsforequality.org.
District of Columbia
D.C. nude dance club Archibald’s to feature male strippers beginning Pride weekend
Popular downtown venue to debut new lower floor gay ‘underworld’
Archibald’s Gentlemen’s Club, which has offered adult entertainment in the nation’s capital involving nude female dancers since it first opened in 1969 at 1520 K St., N.W., will offer nude male dancers beginning Saturday night, June 20, according to co-owner Thom Naylor.
The female dancers will continue as usual on the upper two floors of Archibald’s three-story building, according to Naylor, who released a flier promoting the opening of the male dancer venue as an event “for Gay Pride.”
He told the Washington Blade he expects a dozen male dancers to perform beginning at 9 p.m. Saturday when D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride Parade will take place earlier in the day.
Following its opening night for the male dancers, Naylor said he plans to continue offering male nude dancers on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. The club is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
“I want to have an official Champagne grand opening probably in July,” he said referring to the male dance venue. “This is like a soft opening just to get going and to get everybody acclimated.”
The decision by Archibald’s to offer nude male dance entertainment for an LGBTQ clientele will mark the first time such entertainment will take place in D.C. since March 2020, when the LGBTQ nightclub Ziegfeld’s-Secrets, which featured nude male dancers, was forced to close at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The owner of the building at 1824 Half St., S.W., discontinued the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets lease a short time later to demolish the building and construct a high-rise residential condominium.
Naylor, who identifies as gay, said he has long believed nude male entertainment should be available in D.C. for a gay clientele as well as anyone else interested in that type of entertainment.
“So, we decided to go with three days in the summer and then come September go into a full swing when we’re open five days a week,” he said, referring to the male dancers.
District of Columbia
LGBTQ seniors honored at D.C. Silver Pride event
City officials, activists credit them with playing lead role in movement
About 250 people turned out on Friday, June 12, for D.C.’s annual Silver Pride celebration, which honors and recognizes LGBTQ seniors and their role in advancing LGBTQ rights.
The event was held in a large conference hall in the building of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, which was among the event’s sponsors
According to local event organizer and longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Rayceen Pendarvis, who served as host of the event, the D.C. Department of Aging and Community Living and the D.C.-based Seabury Resources for Aging, a nonprofit group that provides services and support for seniors, were the two lead organizers of this year’s Silver Pride.
In addition to presentations by several speakers, a DJ played music for dancing and two popular local drag performers — Shi-Queeta Lee and Capri Bloomingdale — performed at the event drawing loud applause.
Among the speakers were Japer Bowles, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; Jody Wright, a member of the board of the Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events; Craig McCullough, board chair of Seabury Resources for Aging; Jermaine Dillon, an official with the D.C. Department of Aging and Community Living; and Bianca Ward, an official with the ViiV Healthcare company, which was one of the sponsors of the event.
“It is a joy to be a senior in this community,” Pendarvis told the crowd in opening remarks at the event. “And every part of every Pride movement is built on the backs and the foundations of the elders,” she said.
“We have to have a day when we’re celebrated and we are honored and we are represented in our fullness,” Pendarvis told the Washington Blade. “Because sometimes unfortunately, various Prides forget about our elders. And we have to let them know that we’re here, we’re queer, and we ain’t going anywhere,” Pendarvis said.
“It is my distinct honor and privilege to be here among the elders,” Wright, the Capital Pride board member, told the gathering. “Because what we do at Capital Pride is because of what you’ve done and you continue to do, because we are standing on the shoulders of giants,” he said, in referring to LGBTQ seniors.
District of Columbia
D.C. Council approves expanded grant funding for Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs
Measure introduced by Zachary Parker faces second vote
The D.C. Council on June 9 gave its first round of approval to an amendment to the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget that calls for increasing the number and size of funding grants that the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs provides for local organizations providing services for the LGBTQ community.
The amendment, titled the “LGBTQ Community Grant Amendment Act of 2026,” was introduced by D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member.
The amendment calls for the LGBTQ Affairs office to issue a $980,000 grant in fiscal year 2027 to a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with the office “for the purpose of supporting programs that promote the welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.”
The organization would also initiate its own fundraising effort to expand the amount of funds beyond the amount the office would provide, enabling it to provide larger grants to a greater number of local LGBTQ organizations.
Among other things, the amendment says the organization chosen for this new role should have a “proven track record of success in grant making and fundraising” and agree to undergo an annual audit and submit quarterly reports to the office on its use of the funds it receives.
Under its rules for approving legislation, the Council must hold the second vote on the budget bill with the Parker amendment before it is sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser for her signature. It must then go to Congress for a congressional review that does not require approval, but could result in a vote to disapprove the measure, an action Congress usually does not take.
In a June 12 statement, the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition called the D.C. Council’s initial approval of the Parker amendment, “a historic measure that establishes the District’s most sustainable model for a vehicle for investing in LGBTQ communities.”
The statement adds, “The legislation arrives at a critical moment, as LGBTQ-serving organizations face unprecedented uncertainty. Growing demand for services is colliding with shrinking resources, federal attacks on LGBTQ programs, and ongoing threats to local funding streams.”
It says the new program that the Parker amendment would create, if it reaches final approval, “creates a durable mechanism to protect and expand investments in the organizations that thousands of District residents rely upon every day.”
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said he was looking into the mayor’s position on the Parker amendment but didn’t immediately get back with a response.
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