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‘SWAT’ team raids Baltimore gay bar after COVID complaints Eagle owner says action was unnecessary use of force By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
The owner of the Baltimore Eagle, an LGBTQ leatherLevi bar that has been in business for 30 years, has raised strong objections to what he says was an Aug. 7 raid on his establishment by a dozen representatives of city regulatory agencies who claimed they were investigating a complaint that the Eagle was violating COVID-19 social distancing rules. Eagle owner Ian Parrish told the Washington Blade the raid came shortly after he alerted officials with the Baltimore Board of Liquor License Commissioners that he learned that people associated with a competing LGBTQ establishment filed complaints against the Eagle with the liquor board and the city Health Department falsely claiming the Eagle was violating social distancing requirements. He said his attempt to alert the liquor board and health department about the false complaints apparently did not reach the people who conducted the raid. Parrish said one of the officials in charge of the agents that conducted the raid, all of whom wore “black body armor,” became angry when he asked to take their temperature as they arrived at the Eagle’s door. Parrish said taking people’s temperature “is part of our COVID-19 protocols for all people entering the premises.” “’We’re the f[**]king liquor board,’ was their answer to my request,” Parrish said in an email to Maryland State Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore), a copy of which he sent to the Blade. “Then, the horde of the agents in body armor walked through me. I was ping-ponged from side to side as each agent physically pushed me from left to right and back about ten feet as they forced their way past me,” he said in his email to Washington. “Not only did those agents abuse their authority by assaulting me, they put our patrons at risk by willfully ignoring State of Maryland COVID protocols, and some of them weren’t even wearing masks!” Parrish said in his email message. “The SWAT style show of force put upon us was grossly out of proportion for the circumstances, it frightened our patrons to the point of them leaving, and the worst part of it was that we were subjected to this gross abuse of authority for absolutely no valid reason,” said Parrish in the email. Adam Abadir, a spokesperson for the Baltimore City Health Department, responded by email to a Blade inquiry about the concerns raised by Parrish that the Health Department was part of an unnecessary raid on the Baltimore Eagle. Abadir characterized the visit to the Eagle by the various city agents as an “inspection” that was conducted by members of the Baltimore Social Club Task Force, which consists of several city agencies, including the Health Department, liquor board, and the police and fire departments. He said the inspection visit was prompted by complaints received from citizens that the Eagle was allegedly in violation of social distancing orders issued by Baltimore Mayor Barnard Jack Young to address the COVID pandemic. Abadir said that at least one of the individuals that filed a complaint against the Eagle sent the Health Department a flier issued by the Eagle advertising a “foam party” scheduled to take place Aug. 7 and 8. The flier, a copy of which Abadir sent the Blade, states: “Throw on your harness and get naughty under piles of safe, antibacterial foam on our social distance patio. Thank you for respecting our COVID-19 guidelines.” According to Abadir, the task force members determined through their inspection that the Eagle was in violation of a mayoral order issued on Aug. 7 just hours before the Eagle raid that banned indoor operations at bars and restaurants
The Baltimore Eagle was raided last month by agents in body armor, according to its owner. (Washington Blade photo by Chris Jennings)
after 10 p.m. He said that during the inspection visit the Eagle’s management immediately complied with the order by moving all indoor patrons to the Eagle’s outdoor space and no penalty was imposed. Abadir said that due to threats made against members of the Social Club Task Force during past inspection visits to other establishments, the task force members “unfortunately must wear bulletproof vests/flak jackets for their protection.” He said the “body armor,” as Parrish called it, is worn by task force members on all inspection visits and the inspection visit to the Eagle was handled the same as inspections for all other bars, restaurants and other establishments. Matt Achhammer, a spokesperson for the Baltimore Board of Liquor License Commissioners, provided the liquor board’s explanation of the raid on the Eagle in a Sept. 2 email to Baltimore City Council member Ryan Dorsey. Dorsey asked the liquor board about the raid after being contacted by Parrish. Achhammer said in his message to Dorsey that the inspection visit to the Eagle was prompted, among other things, by the Eagle’s flier advertising its foam party as well as two complaints about the Eagle from citizens who called the city’s 311 non-emergency services phone line to report the complaints. “In this case please note that on August 7, though the location had major COVID violations, it was issued a warning,” Achhammer told Dorsey in his email. Achhammer acknowledged Parrish’s concern that multiple executive orders by the Baltimore mayor have created confusion among businesses required to put in place COVID related restrictions and policies. Parrish said that he later learned that the mayor’s order banning indoor operations at restaurants and bars was issued at noon on Aug. 7, just hours before the raid took place at the Eagle. He said no one from the liquor board or health department contacted the Eagle to inform the club about the revised order. “There is no reason why a call, a text, an email can’t be sent out to licensees to keep us informed so that nobody is causing an infraction unwittingly,” Parrish told the Blade. He said that at least one of the task force members participating in the Eagle raid acknowledged that the COVID related orders and rules have changed frequently over the past several months, making it difficult for businesses to keep abreast of the changes. In his email message to State Sen. Mary Washington, a
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lesbian, a copy of which he sent to the Blade, Parrish said the Baltimore Eagle has a long record of operating as a responsible bar, restaurant, and retail shop. “I mention this because in 30 years the Baltimore Eagle has never – not once – never been called before the Liquor Board for any wrongdoing,” Parrish states in his email to Washington. “We are a bar with a very long and verifiable history of community involvement and charitable giving, and we enjoy the formal written support of over 1,200 residential and commercial neighbors of all backgrounds and beliefs, the Charles North Community Association, and the support of 5,000-plus people who follow the Baltimore Eagle on social media,” he said. Parrish told the Blade the agents participating in the raid never explained to him what the alleged multiple COVID violations were that Achhammer referred to in his email message to Councilmember Dorsey. Parrish said it was possible that Eagle patrons moved closer together than required for social distancing during the confusion that took place during the raid when the agents walked through all of the Eagle’s different rooms and spaces. “Regarding the presence of foam, that has absolutely no bearing on social distancing or our other COVID-19 protocols,” Parrish said in a follow-up email to Councilmember Dorsey. “[T]he antibacterial soap-based foam has a deleterious effect on the COVID-19 virus, which is one of the reasons why we moved forward with it in the first place,” Parrish told Dorsey. “So that certainly was not a reasonable impetus for the raid,” he continued. “What was actually relevant about the theme was that it was a threat to a competing venue’s performers to the point they openly discussed in the very same Facebook post their plan to file false complaints – which they did; and again, I personally made the authorities aware of this prior to the raid,” Parrish said in his email. Parrish said he believes the people who filed what he says were false complaints against the Eagle were drag performers associated with a competing LGBTQ venue. But he declined to identify the competing venue. “I think this story has a real chance of just touching off more negativity and a bigger problem,” he said. “I’m not trying to point fingers, even though these people really frightened our patrons and affected our business,” Parrish said. “But we’re talking to them since this whole incident. We started talking. We’re really not trying to go backwards and inflame anybody.”
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Lesbian, gay man nominated as D.C. presidential electors
Democrat Helmick expected to win post in heavily Democratic city By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
The D.C. Democratic Party on Sept. 3 selected longtime lesbian activist and D.C. statehood advocate Barbara Helmick as one of the District’s three Democratic presidential elector nominees. Helmick’s nomination came a short time after the chair of the D.C. Republican Party, in consultation with the Trump presidential campaign, named gay Republican activist and D.C. Republican Committee treasurer Michael McHugh as one of the city’s three Republican presidential elector nominees. Under the U.S. Constitution, 538 presidential electors from all 50 states and the District of Columbia become part of the Electoral College that meets following U.S. presidential elections to formally elect the president and vice president. Political parties have traditionally selected their own slate of electors who are loyal to the party’s presidential and vice BARBARA HELMICK presidential candidates. The presidential and vice presidential candidates that win the statewide popular vote and the D.C. popular vote determine which party sends its slate of elector nominees — who then become actual electors — to the Electoral College, which convenes in December following the presidential election, to vote in each state capital and in D.C. D.C. became the only U.S. jurisdiction other than a state to take part in the Electoral College under the 23rd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which was ratified in 1961. With D.C.’s registered voters overwhelmingly Democratic, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is considered the odds-on favorite to win the D.C. popular vote on Nov. 3 to capture the city’s three electoral votes. That means Helmick and the other two D.C. Democratic presidential elector nominees – party activists Meedie Bardonille and Jacqueline Echvarria – are certain to become the District’s actual presidential electors and cast their vote for Biden and his vice presidential running mate Kamala Harris. Helmick serves as director of programs for DC Vote, an organization that advocates for D.C. statehood. She is a longtime member of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization. She has also served as a Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, a member of the Executive Committee of the Ward 1
Democrats, and a member of the D.C. Democratic State Committee. From 2012 to 2016, Helmick served on the D.C. Mayor’s LGBTQIA Advisory Commission “She has played a key role in building coalitions and developing strategy for a multitude of organizations across D.C.,” according to a statement released by the D.C. Democratic Party announcing Helmick’s selection as an elector nominee. In addition to serving as treasurer of the D.C. Republican Committee, McHugh has served as chair of the Ward 1 Republican Committee and has served on the D.C. GOP’s Executive Committee. He served as an alternate delegate to this year’s Republican National Convention in support of President Trump. MICHAEL McHUGH McHugh is a partner in the Washington lobbying firm Urban Swirski & Associates, where he works on issues related to international taxation, financial services, and charitable and non-profit organizations, according to a write-up on the firm’s website. The D.C. Republican Party, which nominated McHugh as an elector, has been supportive of LGBTQ rights and has had gays and lesbians as members for at least the past 20 years. Helmick becomes the second known LGBTQ person to be selected as a Democratic presidential elector in D.C. The late Jeff Coudriet, a longtime gay Democratic activist who served as president of both the Stein Club and the D.C. Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, was selected as a D.C. presidential elector in 1996. McHugh likewise becomes the second known LGBTQ person to be selected as a Republican presidential elector nominee in D.C. In 2012, the D.C. Republican Committee selected gay GOP activist Jose Cunningham as a presidential elector nominee. Cunningham later became chair of the D.C. Republican Committee before being named by the Trump administration to his current job as Executive Director of the Advocacy Center at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s International Trade Administration.
Comings & Goings
Clark named ass’t deputy counsel for D.C. Risk Management 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: comingsandgoings@washblade.com. Congratulations to Peter Clark who has been named Assistant Deputy General Counsel for the District of Columbia’s Office of Risk Management. “I am privileged to be a District of Columbia employee and to work alongside dedicated colleagues,” Clark said. Clark has worked for the District for four years. He moved here from Boston to join his partner and to take a job with the city. Prior to coming to D.C. he worked as a Claims Administrator with Amity Insurance Co. in Massachusetts. His other experience includes working as a claims administrator/staff attorney at Arthur J. Gallagher in Braintree, Mass.; and as a unit coordinator/training manager, New England Medical Center (Tufts) in Boston. He had a solo legal practice as well. Clark earned his bachelor’s degree from Suffolk University in Boston, and his JD from Southern New England School of Law, North Dartmouth, Mass. He did a comparative law barrister internship in London, receiving highest honors. PETER ROSENSTEIN
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PETER CLARK
(Photo courtesy Clark)
Trump admin: It’s OK for Catholic school to fire gay teacher differentiating him from other teachers at The Trump administration on Tuesday the school, the Archdiocese designates filed a legal brief with the Indiana Supreme all teachers as responsible for its ministry Court, formally making the case a Catholic of training students in the faith, titling school has a First Amendment right to their expectations document for teachers fire a teacher for entering into a same-sex as ‘Ministry Description[:] Teacher’, and marriage. Cathedral specifies that teaching is a The 36-page brief, signed by U.S. ‘vocation,” Minkler writes. Attorney Josh Minkler for the Southern Minkler also cites in the legal brief District of Indiana, asserts the Archdiocese guidance from former U.S. Attorney of Indianapolis had a constitutional right General Jeff Sessions in October to terminate Joshua Payne-Elliott from his 2017 urging federal departments to job as a world language and social studies accommodate in their policy and actions teacher at Cathedral High School, despite religious freedom, which critics at the time contractual obligations he had with the said would essentially green light antischool. LGBTQ discrimination. Although a trial court in Indiana in Eric Dreiband, assistant attorney May 2020 rejected a request from the general for the Civil Rights Division, Archdiocese of Indianapolis to throw out hailed the legal brief in a statement as the lawsuit, saying the First Amendment an example of the Trump administration’s only applies to the “highest authority” commitment to religious liberty. of jobs within a church on certain issues, “Our ancestors arrived on our shores the litigation is now before the Indiana The Justice Department under President DONALD TRUMP has filed a legal brief siding with a school that fired a teacher for being gay. (Screen capture via C-SPAN) to establish a country where the people Supreme Court because the archdiocese would be secure to practice their faiths has since appealed. and to gather freely with their religious communities,” Dreiband said. “To that end, Minkler makes his case based on legal principles under the First Amendment — the the First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the right of religious church-autonomy doctrine, the archdiocese’s right to expressive association and the institutions and people to decide what their beliefs are, to associate with others who ministerial exception — which he says prevent a former Catholic high school teacher share their beliefs, and to determine who will teach the faithful in their religious schools. from suing the archdiocese over his termination. Let there be no doubt: The Department of Justice will continue to defend the First “[T]he First Amendment right of expressive association protects Amendment rights to believe, worship and associate in a manner that respects the the Archdiocese’s right not to associate with Cathedral, whose forced presence dignity and choice of all individuals.” within the Archdiocese’s associational umbrella if it continued to employ Payne-Elliott as According to the filing, the Cathedral High School where Payne-Elliott taught had a teacher would interfere with the Archdiocese’s public expression of Church doctrine initially declined to obey the directive from the archdiocese to terminate him after he regarding marriage,” Minkler writes. entered into a same-sex marriage. However, after the archdiocese informed the school Much of the legal precedent on which Minkler bases his brief is the Supreme Court’s it must either fire Payne-Elliott or disassociate with the Catholic Church, the school in recent decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru. Although the ruling June 2019 decided to terminate him, informing the Cathedral family the decision was stopped short of defining the ministerial exemption under the First Amendment, it did an “agonizing decision, made after 22 months of earnest discussion.” assert a variety of factors can determine whether it applies to a Catholic school employee. The Trump administration’s participation in the case isn’t new. When the case was Minkler argues the Our Lady decision — which sided with Catholic schools before the trial court, the Justice Department last year filed a statement of interest siding asserting a First Amendment exception in lawsuits filed by teachers asserting wrongful with the Archdiocese of Indiana based on similar arguments. termination — applies to the Payne-Elliott case because the plaintiffs in both cases are Although the case is before the Indiana Supreme Court, it may soon reach the U.S. teachers at schools that “entrusts a teacher with the responsibility of educating and Supreme Court because of the federal questions involved in the case. forming students in the faith.” CHRIS JOHNSON “Although, Payne-Elliott, like the teachers in Our Lady, lacked a special ministerial title
Tony McDade case leaves unanswered questions TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Activists in Florida’s capital city say the case of a Black transgender man who was shot to death by a police officer earlier this year has left many unanswered questions. The police officer, who remains unidentified, shot McDade in the Leon Arms apartment complex in Tallahassee’s south side on May 27. The Tallahassee Democrat newspaper reported witnesses said the police officer who killed McDade is white. A Tallahassee Police Department press release notes McDade “made a move consistent with using the firearm against the officer, who fired their handgun, fatally striking” him. The press release and a police report use McDade’s birth name and describe him as a “female.” The police officer shot McDade less than an hour after he allegedly stabbed Malik Jackson, 21, to death a few blocks away from the apartment complex. Jackson’s mother was reportedly dating McDade, who lived next door to her. Jackson and a group of other men on May 26 reportedly attacked McDade after he assaulted his mother in her home. McDade subsequently threatened his attackers in a Facebook Live video he made. Janel Diaz, a Black trans woman who is a member of the Tallahassee Mayor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Council, on July 31 spoke with the Blade about the McDade case during an interview at her office.
Diaz noted McDade struggled with mental health issues and had previously been incarcerated. The Florida Department of Corrections’ website notes McDade was incarcerated from Feb. 21, 2009, to April 23, 2009, after his sentencing on charges that included armed robbery and burglary. The Tallahassee Democrat reported McDade reportedly pleaded with a judge for mental health treatment after his arrest on a probation violation. The newspaper reported a federal grand jury later indicted McDade on a gun charge, and he served a 10-year sentence at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City. The Federal Bureau of Prisons’ website notes McDade was released on Jan. 17, 2020. “This is sadness — period — for our community because we lost lives,” said Diaz. Equality Florida Public Policy Director Jon Harris Maurer agreed. “There are multiple tragedies there because there are two folks in the community who would still be alive today if things played out differently,” he told the Blade on July 31 during an interview in the conference room of his law firm’s office that is a few blocks from the Florida Capitol. “We see where the system really failed Tony. There were mental health needs that went unmet and that’s compounded with the trans community’s vulnerability to violence already and a lack of security.” MICHAEL K. LAVERS
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Torres set to become first out Afro-Latino in Congress Sees opportunity for major changes to country amid pandemic By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com
“The conventional wisdom among the political establishment [was Diaz] could The coronavirus pandemic has instigated civil unrest, an economic downturn and not be beat because he’s been a larger than life political figure longer than I’ve been a public health crisis, but Ritchie Torres sees an opportunity for bold leadership to alive, and that I as a gay man had no chance of winning in the South Bronx, where the improve the nation. median voter is a church-going senior citizen,” Torres said. “The thinking was the South Torres, who’s set to make history as the first openly gay Afro-Latino in Congress, said Bronx was too conservative to elect an LGBTQ person…Not only did I win, but I won so in an interview Sept. 3 with the Washington Blade the pandemic is “not only a challenge, decisively that it sent Ruben Diaz Sr. into retirement, which is exactly where he belongs.” but a historic opportunity to govern as boldly in the 21st century as FDR did in the 20th Another priority, Torres said, would be addressing housing affordability, citing a century.” statistic — even before the coronavirus — that more than half of the residents of the South “We have a once in a century opportunity to make a massive investment in the Bronx were spending more than half their income on rent. United States, on the scale of the New Deal,” Torres said. “We have a once in a century “We have to establish that housing is a human right because without stable housing, opportunity to fight catastrophic climate change, create the next generation of jobs, you have no fighting chance at a decent life,” Torres said. enable our economy and society to recover from COVID-19 and build a comprehensive Torres said he’d work to expand housing vouchers so that Americans need to pay no safety net that catches all of us when we fall and fight systemic racism, which has been more than 30 percent of their income on housing. centuries old. We are living in the makings of an FDR moment.” In terms of LGBTQ issues, Torres Torres is already ruffling feathers said legislation to ban anti-LGBTQ in seeking change. After calling for an discrimination was needed in the form investigation into the New York Police of the Equality Act, which he said was Department’s apparent slowdown of still necessary despite rulings from policing, the Sergeants Benevolent the Supreme Court advancing LGBTQ Association colorfully called him a “first rights that have radically changed the class whore,” tweeting out an unrelated legal landscape. 2017 photo of Torres being arrested “I worry that in a post-Obergefell while participating in a rally against the world, we have to be careful not Trump administration’s cuts to public to prematurely declare mission housing. Torres shot back, calling accomplished,” Torres said. “We have the attack and choice of language to be as committed to equality with the homophobic. standard sense of urgency before the Having defeated Ruben Diaz Sr., decision of marriage equality. In most one of the few remaining anti-LGBTQ states, it remains illegal to discriminate Democrats, in his June primary, Torres against members of the LGBTQ will almost assuredly become the next community in matters of housing, member of Congress representing New public accommodation, and all the York’s 15th congressional district, which rest. So what we need is the Equality is one of the most “blue” in the nation. Act, which would amend the iconic Torres will represent three Civil Rights Act to protect the LGBTQ marginalized communities — Black community from discrimination in Americans, the LGBTQ community, matters of employment, housing, public and Latinos — upon taking office in RITCHIE TORRES is set to be the first openly gay Afro-Latino in Congress. (Photo via Twitter) accommodation and every sense.” January, becoming the first person with Brian Romero, president of the that distinction. (Another congressional Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, said via email to the Blade the election candidate, Mondaire Jones, will likely share the distinction with Jones of being the of Torres in the primary and his likely seating in the U.S. House “is a historic victory for first Black openly gay member of Congress.) Torres has already called for a change in LGBTQ communities, particularly Black and Brown queer people who have witnessed a rules to allow him to join both the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional rainbow wave sweep through the nation in the last few years.” Hispanic Caucus. “A champion of working-class New Yorkers, public housing, and LGBTQ runaway Acknowledging the significance of tricolour identity as a forthcoming member of and homeless youth, Ritchie represents a younger electorate that has been organizing Congress, Torres said he “instinctively know[s] that legal equality is only part of the to see themselves reflected in our legislative bodies,” Romero said. “His election was broader struggle for social equality.” also an important message that homophobia and misogyny will not be tolerated in “I want to see to it that LGBTQ communities of color get their fair share of resources the Democratic Party nor in the Bronx. We look forward to his ongoing work toward from the federal government, that we create housing and provide services that equity for all Americans in the halls of Congress and stand proudly beside him.” specifically are tailored toward the needs of LGBTQ elders and LGBTQ youth,” Torres But Torres isn’t the only voice calling for change. Waves of civic unrest are gripping said. the country amid ongoing incidents of police brutality and anger over structural racism, Torres said LGBTQ youth face disproportionately higher rates of homelessness than most notably in Kenosha, Wis., and Portland, Ore. the rest of the population (an estimated 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ), so Torres placed the blame for the unrest squarely on Trump, saying “his management housing needs to be made available to them, and LGBTQ elders disproportionately of COVID-19 and his inflammatory rhetoric is destabilizing the country,” and the first have higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation, so they need access to mental step in ending the strife is defeating him in the presidential election. health resources. “It is hardly an exaggeration to say that this is the most consequential election of “A wise person once that if you don’t have a seat at the table, then you’re probably our lifetimes because Donald Trump is a singular threat to social cohesion, the social going to be on the menu,” Torres said. “And when you have LGBTQ people of color in contract, our planet and our democracy: Everything is at stake,” Torres said. “He’s a the room where decisions are made, then communities like mine have a fighting chance uniquely odious figure in American politics.” of securing its fair share of federal budget.” But asked whether Trump’s defeat is all that is needed to end the unrest, Torres Torres, who before winning his primary had represented the Bronx on the New York conceded that will simply “begin the process of healing.” City Council since 2014, pointed to the defeat on his anti-LGBTQ opponent — which was “The goal is not to return to the status quo before Trump,” Torres said. “The goal is a reversal from initial polls showing a victory for Diaz, but turned around when LGBTQ to create a society that treats everyone equally, and that gives everyone, including the and progressive groups sprang into action — when asked if he learned anything in his most vulnerable members of our society, a fighting chance to succeed.” campaign to help him make the transition to congressman. 1 0 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 • NAT I O NA L NE WS
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Philippines president pardons Grenell snaps when asked about U.S. Marine in trans killing decriminalizing homosexuality
Philippine President RODRIGO DUTERTE
(Photo public domain by Ryan Lim of Malacañang Photo Bureau)
The president of the Philippines on Monday pardoned a U.S. Marine who was convicted of killing a transgender woman. The Philippine Star newspaper reported prosecutors’ attempts to block Lance Cpl. Joseph Pemberton’s early release from prison prompted Rodrigo Duterte to pardon him. Prosecutors contend Pemberton in October 2014 murdered Jennifer Laude in a motel room in Olongapo City on the Philippines’ main island of Luzon after he discovered she was trans. The murder took place after Pemberton met Laude at a local nightclub while his ship was docked at the Subic Bay Freeport. Laude’s death sparked outrage among Philippine activists. The case also highlighted opposition to the U.S. military presence in the country A court on Dec. 1, 2015, sentenced Pemberton to 6-12 years in prison, but he received credit for the time he spent in custody before his trial. A judge in 2016 reduced Pemberton’s sentence. Gender and Development Advocates (GANDA) and more than 30 other Philippine LGBTQ advocacy groups on Monday issued a joint statement in which they sharply criticized the pardon. “We strongly condemn the absolute pardon granted by President Rodrigo Duterte to Lance Corporal Joseph Scott Pemberton, the U.S. Marine convicted for killing Filipino trans woman Jennifer Laude in Olongapo City in 2014,” reads the statement. The statement criticizes Duterte’s human rights record that includes his government’s anti-drug crackdown that has left thousands of people dead. The groups also say Pemberton’s pardon confirms “how his government has been using the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to promote and kowtow to foreign interests which have caused profound suffering, indignity, and injustice to the Filipino people.” “President Duterte’s pardon of Pemberton sends out a loud and clear message that a Filipino trans woman’s life does not matter, that it is open season for discrimination and violence against transgender people, and that American soldiers will continue to get away with murder in Philippine soil,” reads the statement. GANDA Executive Director Naomi Fontanos in a separate statement she sent to the Washington Blade described the pardon as “absolutely unacceptable, unconscionable and unforgivable.” “This proves that President Duterte is not a friend or ally of the LGBTQIA+ Filipinos and that he has just been using our community to promote his populist image in spite of the fact that he is misogynistic and homo/bi/transphobic,” said Fontanos. “It is an injustice not only to Jennifer Laude and her family but to the Filipino people,” added Fontanos. “This pardon calls into question his understanding of LGBTQIA+ people’s needs, issues and concerns and calls into question his assertion that he is not an American lackey much like the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos whom he idolizes.” Dindi Tan — a trans woman and activist who Duterte late last year appointed as the Philippines’ Department of Agrarian Reform — also questioned the pardon. While I cringed at the thought of Pemberton being scotch-free, I am definitely sure there must be a far deeper reason as to why the president decided in this direction,” wrote Tan in a Facebook post. “I am a part of the administration and I am committed to furthering PRRD (President Rodrigo Roa Duterte)’s agenda for the people no matter what,” she added. “Like in all relationships, I would like to treat this as a ‘heartbreak’ that can be mended. And, like in many relationships, this too, shall heal.” The State Department has yet to publicly comment on the pardon. MICHAEL K. LAVERS
RICHARD GRENELL snapped at a reporter who asked about the global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality. (Screenshot via CSPAN)
Richard Grenell, the former acting director of national intelligence who’s now the face of the Trump campaign’s LGBTQ outreach, rebuked a reporter Friday at the White House briefing for asking him about the global initiative he led to decriminalize homosexuality. In response to a question from the New York Post’s Steven Nelson, Grenell, who was speaking at the White House to announce a Serbia-Kosovo agreement the Trump administration facilitated, insisted questions should be focused on the deal. “I’m going to just talk about Kosovo and Serbia,” Grenell said. “I don’t know if you can find it on a map, but this is atrocious. I have to tell you guys. You might be too young to understand what this issue is about. Maybe the older journalists should step and say, ‘This is a big deal. This is a big issue.’” Grenell wouldn’t let up in his tirade, declining to say anything about the global initiative he once praised as a cornerstone of Trump’s LGBTQ record. “I’m astounded at what happens in Washington D.C., especially in this room,” Grenell said. “I got to tell you: Get substantive. Maybe it’s too complicated of an issue for you all.” Touting the agreement before the questioning began — which President Trump, Kosovo Prime Minster Avdullah Hoti, and Serbia President Aleksandar Vučić signed moments before in the Oval Office — Grenell said the Serbia-Kosovo deal he helped negotiate came about after a more than 20-year long stalemate in negotiations. The Trump administration shook things up, Grenell said, by making economics, not politics, the priority in talks. Tariffs were the “political sticking point” of why the parties wouldn’t come together, which he said was addressed in the deal. Coming to Nelson’s defense were other reporters in the White House press corps. NBC News’ Peter Alexander pointed out “this is the first time we’ve had the opportunity to speak with these individuals.” Grenell replied, “OK, but today’s on Kosovo and Serbia.” “Let’s take a little time and talk about this 21-year issue here,” Grenell said. “I mean, 21 years. We’re getting the same questions that are all politics. You guys don’t understand what’s happening outside of Washington, D.C. People aren’t listening to you anymore. It’s really a crisis in journalism. And I think it’s because people are too young to understand issues like Kosovo and Serbia.” Jeff Mason, White House reporter for Reuters and former president of the White House Correspondents Association, also told Grenell his response was unacceptable. “I don’t think any of us came here for a lecture about our questioning,” Mason said. Grenell replied: “I didn’t come here to talk about anything other than Kosovo and Serbia.” A look at the Serbia-Kosovo deal, as put out on Twitter by Klan Kosova CEO Adriatik Kelmendi, reveals the global initiative was, in fact, part of the agreement. One of the bullet points states “both parties will work with the 69 countries that criminalize homosexuality to push for decriminalization.” The Washington Blade has placed a request with the White House seeking comment on why support for the global initiative was included as part of the deal. Despite Grenell’s insistence the briefing be focused on the Serbia-Kosovo deal, reporters said the content wasn’t known to them at the time of the briefing. When Grenell asked indignantly whether reporters had read the agreement, Bloomberg News’s Justin Sink pointed out it wasn’t yet made available to them. “It’s out,” Grenell insisted. CHRIS JOHNSON
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KEVIN NAFF
is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at knaff@washblade.com
Vote for Biden (duh)
He will restore sanity, compassion, and stability to the gov’t and world deference to his corporate golfing buddies further illustrate just how unfit Trump is for office. The list of Donald Trump’s affronts is long. The unlikely evangelical darling operated Make no mistake that all of this chaos is by design — the plan all along was to gut and cripple casinos, paid off porn stars, bragged of grabbing women by the “pussy,” mocked a disabled the federal government. We’ve seen it agency by agency, from the Education Department’s reporter, praised white supremacists, insulted a Gold Star family, attacked a revered POW, efforts to promote the privatization of public schools through vouchers, to the Interior flirted with his own daughter, tweeted support for a murderer, and bullied foreign leaders Department being coopted to host Trump campaign events on federal lands, to even the into helping him steal the election. Postal Service being undermined to thwart mail-in voting, no agency has been unaffected. And those are just some of the most infamous of Trump’s transgressions. Let’s not forget Trump was impeached for his efforts to undermine our democracy and he There’s no reason for any informed American voter to grant Trump another four years. presided over the longest U.S. government shutdown in our history. There’s even less reason for LGBTQ voters to support him, no matter what the hypocrites at What about Trump’s record on LGBTQ issues? It’s the disaster many of us predicted it Log Cabin tell you. would be. In a 2016 endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president, I wrote: “the Republicans His botched COVID response has needlessly cost tens of thousands of lives. Rather than have turned their party over to a racist, sexist bully with zero experience in elected office. … model commonsense mask use, Trump mocked those like Joe Biden for wearing them. The LGBT community cannot risk a Trump presidency.” Rather than level with the American people back in JOE BIDEN will restore decency to the White House if elected. I was right. From Trump’s very first day in office, when February and March about the severity of what was LGBTQ issues were deleted from the White House coming our way, he downplayed coronavirus, called website, right up to today, when his State Department it a “hoax” and ridiculously said it would “go away is denying citizenship to children of same-sex couples like a miracle.” Even as we watched heartbreaking born via surrogacy overseas, the attacks have been and frightening YouTube clips of Italians suffering in constant and sometimes cruel. quarantine as bodies piled up in morgues, Trump Trump’s tweet banning transgender patriots from held firm that it was not a threat to us. He was dead serving their country in the military “in any capacity” wrong. When we sought answers and comfort from is perhaps the most egregious and blatant of those leading infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci attacks, but there are countless others. The blame — well known to the gay community from his days for a nationwide dramatic rise in hate crimes, which fighting AIDS in the 1980s — Trump turned on him disproportionately impact the LGBTQ community, too, unleashing opposition research to undermine his lies at Trump’s feet. Previously, Americans who held credibility. bigoted views felt at least some pressure to keep The resulting chaos has left nearly 200,000 those opinions to themselves. But under Trump, those Americans dead and the economy in shambles. views are validated and encouraged, motivating When everyday Americans and small business owners scores of “deplorables” to come out and express needed another relief package, Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s their hatred openly, as we saw in Charlottesville, and House responded swiftly with a bill and passed it, sometimes violently as seen in the FBI’s report noting while Senate Majority Leader and Trump loyalist Mitch that attacks motivated by bias or prejudice reached McConnell let his colleagues go home for an August a 16-year high in 2018. The Trump administration vacation. I don’t know any small business owners who has allowed discrimination under the guise of “religious freedom” across the board, from took a vacation this summer; we are all struggling to stay afloat without any communication adoption agencies to faith-based schools. This administration has worked overtime to or direction from the federal government. render us invisible, removing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” from the list of This sad performance alone on coronavirus should be enough reason to vote Trump out categories the Education Department tracks in compiling data on bullying and canceling in November, but, of course, there is more. plans to include us in the Census. The administration has filed a long series of court briefs The parallel crisis of police brutality against Black Americans has reminded us yet again attacking LGBTQ rights, from seeking to block workplace protections for trans workers to of the stubborn entrenchment of systemic racism. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and allowing discrimination against same-sex couples seeking to foster children. Jacob Blake joined the unending list of Black victims of police abuse. As protests flared Attacks on the trans community are particularly acute and nasty, including allowing around the country, Trump gassed peaceful demonstrators at the White House so he could homeless shelters to discriminate against transgender people and rescinding Obamastage a clumsy photo op with an upside-down Bible, a book he has never read and cares era guidance that allowed trans students to use facilities that correspond to their gender nothing about. When 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, armed with an AR-15, shot and killed identity. two protesters in Kenosha, Wis., Trump defended him. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway He opposes the Equality Act, despite originally supporting it. He named notorious later admitted what the rest of us already knew: that Trump believes violence in American homophobe Mike Pence as his vice president, who famously signed a bill as Indiana governor cities benefits his campaign. He’s encouraging his armed supporters to show up at Black allowing businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ customers. He has named scores of Lives Matter protests to intimidate and taunt peaceful demonstrators. It’s unconscionable judges hostile to LGBTQ equality to the federal bench, jeopardizing our community’s gains and people are dead as a result. More blood on Trump’s hands and his Republican enablers for years to come. He surrounds himself with bigots and homophobes, like Tony Perkins, in Congress, on state propaganda Fox News, and online invoke inane conspiracy theories Gini Thomas, Brent Bozell, Franklin Graham and Jerry Falwell, Jr. to justify his reckless assault on our democracy. I could go on for pages, but you get the point. The Blade’s archives over the last four Make no mistake that this election will determine whether the great American experiment years are filled with reasons for queer voters to reject Trump. continues or it unravels. Trump’s admiration for dictators like the murderers Vladimir Putin So, why vote for Joe Biden and not just against Trump? Again, the list is long. and Kim Jong-un; his attacks on our allies like Germany, France, and the Kurds; and his Biden has vowed to make the Equality Act his top legislative priority in his first 100 days. backing out of the Paris climate accord and rolling back myriad environmental protections in 1 4 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 • V I E WP O I NT
This is an important step, as the historic Bostock ruling can be undermined by other lawsuits seeking “religious freedom” carveouts to legalize discrimination and by interpreting the ruling narrowly to allow discrimination in other areas outside of the workplace. Back in March, Biden unveiled a comprehensive plan to advance LGBTQ rights. In addition to the Equality Act, he pledges to support international LGBTQ human rights and to ban harmful, discredited conversion therapy nationwide. He vows to reappoint a special envoy to advance international LGBTQ rights, form a coalition of countries to advance international LGBTQ rights and guide the GLOBE Act into passage, as the Blade reported. Further, Biden will work to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2025 and expand PEPFAR. “As president, Biden will stand with the LGBTQ+ community to ensure America finally lives up to the promise on which it was founded: equality for all,” the plan says. “He will provide the moral leadership to champion equal rights for all LGBTQ+ people, fight to ensure our laws and institutions protect and enforce their rights, and advance LGBTQ+ equality globally.” The 17-page plan is detailed and thoughtful and offers a clear vision of how he will work for LGBTQ equality. Biden praised the historic June Supreme Court ruling in Bostock that the U.S. Civil Rights Act of 1964 includes LGBT people in its prohibition on employment discrimination based on gender or sex. “Today, by affirming that sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination are prohibited under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Supreme Court has confirmed the simple but profoundly American idea that every human being should be treated with respect and dignity.” Biden said. “That everyone should be able to live openly, proudly, as their true selves without fear.” In other words, Biden will use the bully pulpit for good and to inspire others, rather than to foment division and hurl juvenile insults. Biden endorsed marriage equality in 2012, beating his boss President Obama to the punch. Make no mistake that the bully pulpit is powerful; when the president of the United States speaks, the world listens. When Biden and days later Obama endorsed marriage equality, the floodgates were opened and a slew of celebrities, politicians, and everyday Americans followed, eventually aiding the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling. Imagine a president using that awesome power again for good rather than for exacting petty revenge on real and imagined enemies. Trump and his toadies like Ric Grenell — who likes to boast of being the first gay Cabinet member, even though he was not Senate confirmed and lacked qualifications for the job — have foolishly tried to paint Biden as anti-gay, citing 1970s era comments about gay federal workers. If Trump wants to talk about the 70s, let’s do that. At that time, Trump’s mentor was Roy Cohn, the notorious closet case who died alone of AIDS after devoting his career to ridding the federal government of gay employees in the Lavender Scare era. Also in the 1970s, Trump was investigated for discriminating against Black renters seeking to live in his apartment buildings. The Justice Department filed a civil rights case against the Trump firm, accusing the company of violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968. The case was eventually settled after a protracted court battle. Trump should be careful about re-litigating the 1970s with Biden. And if you needed more reason to vote for Biden, think of the Supreme Court. Trump has already had two conservative picks, but in a second term he could get at least two more. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is 87 years old with recent health scares, and Justice Stephen Breyer is 82. That’s two of the court’s remaining four liberal justices in their 80s. A second Trump term could mean a solid 7-2 conservative majority for years to come. In that case, Roe v. Wade, Obergefell and Bostock would all be in jeopardy. That’s not hyperbole. Challenges to those rulings continue and will only intensify under a second Trump term. Last year, nine states passed bills restricting abortion rights. Undermining and overturning Roe remains the #1 goal of the right, and marriage equality is next on their target list. Whatever you think of Biden’s policies, there’s no disputing he is a decent man, an honorable father and husband who has dedicated his life to public service. His first big decision as the presumptive nominee was to pick Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate, a historic and stellar choice. The California senator is a longtime LGBTQ ally who will work with Biden to reverse Trump’s attacks on our community and to advance an equality agenda. Joe Biden will work to advance LGBTQ equality. He will restore America’s reputation around the world as an ally in the struggle to protect and expand human rights. His administration will look like America and we could finally see an openly LGBTQ Cabinet member and a roster of senior government officials that showcases our great diversity. Once again, it will take a Democratic president and Congress to fix the economic mess created by the outgoing Republican administration. Biden will ensure that science wins the day and procure and distribute a coronavirus vaccine that is proven safe and effective. He will embrace an overdue dialogue on race and enact new policies to address systemic racism. He will stand up to our enemies like Putin and aid our allies. And he will use the bully pulpit to inspire all Americans to achieve their full potential. There is only one rational choice for president this year. Joe Biden has the experience, the wisdom, and the compassion to restore sanity to government and stability to the world.
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PETER ROSENSTEIN
is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
My Dad served in WWII — he was a hero, not a loser
Trump dishonors military with latest comments Jeffrey Goldberg wrote in The Atlantic, “Trump said Americans who died in war are ‘losers’ and ‘suckers.’” He went on to write, “The president has repeatedly disparaged the intelligence of service members, and asked that wounded veterans be kept out of military parades, multiple sources tell The Atlantic.” Trump now calls this fake news yet much of it has been corroborated by Fox News, his favorite outlet. While this story is percolating and resonating with veterans, military families, their friends and all decent people, another headline in the Washington Post screams Trump’s latest move: “White House directs federal agencies to cancel race-related training sessions it calls ‘un-American propaganda.’” This story is about how the White House thinks diversity training and discussion of ‘White Privilege’ and ‘Critical Race Theory’ is simply un-American propaganda. They report OMB Director Russell Vought said, “The president has directed me to ensure that federal agencies cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions.” Trump is perhaps the most glaring example of ‘white privilege’ in the nation. A total moron who screws up even with inherited wealth, while blustering through life knowing nothing. He lies, buys his way out of military service with a doctor’s note, and then badmouths those who chose to serve. My Dad chose to serve and he definitely wasn’t a loser. He was a hero. He escaped from Nazi Germany while his parents were rounded up and gassed in Auschwitz. Shortly after arriving in the United States, he volunteered to join the Army and went back and fought in Europe. He understood what fascism means and what the Nazis stood for. Trump says there are good Nazis and good white supremacists. He has no idea what the brave men and women who have fought and even died in war for our country, and those in the military today protecting our freedoms, stand for. It must strike at the heart of every member of the military after hearing his comments to know they have to salute the pig who is their commander in chief. It is up to the rest of us to make sure after Jan. 20, 2021 they will never have to do that again. There have been presidential scandals before like Teapot Dome in the Harding administration. But those will pale compared to what we will find about Trump’s family after he is out of office. Like the Mafia Dons of old, they will be brought down by the IRS for their financial crimes. As to Trump calling every story he doesn’t like by the media ‘fake news’ we learned from my friend Harold Holzer’s recently published and positively reviewed book “The Presidents vs. the Press,” which details other presidents who had either a too-close relationship with, or disparaged the media, Trump is not alone in his treatment of the press. My take is while Trump may not be worse than those others, with the proliferation of social media today the fight Trump is having with the media, calling everything they say he doesn’t like a hoax or fake news, is resonating more, especially with his cult. Yes even good reporters get stories wrong occasionally and we must not believe everything we read in the press. But what is crystal clear is our democracy won’t continue to exist unless we have a free press and we need to learn to be good consumers of the news. When accepting her nomination as Biden’s vice presidential nominee, Kamala Harris said, “We’re at an inflexion point. Right now we have a president who turns our tragedies into political weapons. Constant chaos leaves us adrift. The incompetence makes us feel afraid. The callousness makes us feel alone. It’s a lot. And here’s the thing - we can do better and deserve so much more.” Every American citizen has the chance on Nov. 3 to weigh in on the direction our nation will take in the coming years. Your vote is your voice. I hope Americans will use their combined voices to speak out loud and clear on the direction they want our country to take and that decent people will reject the stink he is leaving on our nation and say, “we reject your cowardice, your racism, your homophobia, and your sexism. We vote to again have Americans welcomed around the world instead of facing signs saying, “Americans cannot enter.” 1 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 • V I E WP O I NT
HANS JOHNSON
has advised LGBT organizations and ballot measure campaigns in nearly every state. A longtime Washingtonian and former Blade columnist, he now lives in Los Angeles.
LGBTQ: The letters Republicans didn’t utter
Convention silence a testament to Trump’s cowardice Call it the convention that dared not speak our name. LGBTQ people earned not a single mention during Republicans’ pageant in red, through four nights of televised speeches last month. This refusal to acknowledge the existence of more than 15 million LGBTQ people, 5 percent of the populace and residents of every ZIP code in America, shows a paralyzing hypocrisy. The Republican Party depends on anti-gay intolerance to rev up its base at election time but has to feign tolerance when the broader public is watching, knowing bigotry turns off a key slice of getable voters. The GOP platform, held over from 2016, embraces the brutal practice of reparative therapy to coerce youth to renounce their emotions and identity. Most Republican candidates oppose and even seek to nullify existing protections in law that protect the safety of LGBTQ people, including in medical settings, marriage and the adoption process. Still, the party covets the support of donors who cringe at overt homophobia. Stuck in this dilemma of the party’s own making, silence can be as good as it gets. The run-up to the GOP convention included two anti-LGBTQ slurs that were anything but quiet. In Kansas City, the baseball play-by-play announcer of the Cincinnati Reds, Thom W. Brennaman, was caught on a microphone talking about “a fag capital of the world.” During the game, and despite apologies, Brennaman, who happens to be a past donor to the Republican Party and candidates, was suspended and banished from the broadcast booth. Several commercial sponsors and professional sports have at long last put anti-gay slurs on a par with other forms of bigotry as disqualifiers. Conservative politics have not caught up. Witness U.S. Senate candidate Don Bolduc in New Hampshire, who last month labeled his opponents as “liberal, socialist pansies,” a dated anti-gay epithet. The silence observed at the GOP convention is familiar to those of us who contended for years with Republican parents and relatives. No mention was a concession or, as perhaps they let us know later, an indulgence of our presence at the dinner table or the reunion. But times are changing. By disappearing any mention of gay people, the GOP convention reflects a state of denial that is itself disappearing. More than 75 percent of Americans claim an openly LGBTQ friend, coworker or family member (and where exactly are the outliers hiding?). Polling in 2019 at the outset of the firstever serious campaign for president by an “out” candidate, Pete Buttigieg, showed that 68 percent of Americans were comfortable or enthusiastic about a bid like his for the nation’s highest office. That message of inclusion and pride was both shown and told at the Democratic convention the week before. Buttigieg, a military veteran, spoke plainly about coming out and getting married. Lori Lightfoot, the lesbian mayor of Chicago, Danica Roem, the transgender state delegate from Virginia and Robert Garcia, the gay mayor of Long Beach, all had significant moments on camera. So did Judy and Dennis Shepard, parents of gay hate crime victim Matthew Shepard, in Wyoming. The late conservative commentator Marvin Liebman argued that homophobia was a glue that held the Republican Party together. A gay man who came out late in life, he gave many conservative operatives their first jobs and lived long enough to make them reckon with the inconvenient fact of his sexuality, repressed for decades but expressed without shame in the seven years before his death in 1997. Coming out still takes courage, as many a teenager can testify. The policies of the Trump administration, whether to take away anti-bias protections in health care, to deny transgender students access to restrooms of the gender they identify with or to ban transgender people from the military, perpetuate stigma and make the path of openness no easier. At Republicans’ convention in Cleveland in 2016, one month after the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, this president showed he could say “LGBT.” But in his quest for re-election, while flouting laws against using federal installations as props and staging areas during four nights on television, the large and diverse community of LGBTQ Americans never got named a single time. That refusal to value the lives and votes of one in 20 Americans—and those who love us unconditionally—is another testament to the cowardice of this presidency and the party that made it possible.
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We owe it to places like the Tabard Inn Iconic business is ‘month-to-month’ in COVID economy By BROCK THOMPSON
“How bad is it,” I asked sitting across from Dave Roubie, the general manager of the Tabard Inn. “We’re month-to-month at this point,” he said calmly. I was appalled to hear that. Just so plainly and matter of fact, that such a cherished Washington, D.C. institution like the Tabard Inn could be teetering so. But he reminded me that is far better off than some of their counterparts in the city. Many he said are probably operating week-to-week, or even day-to-day. Economists predict that the COVID economy will wipe out 30 percent of restaurants nationwide. Roubie, a veteran of the hospitality industry, thinks a more accurate estimate will be upwards of 65 percent. What does all that mean for the Tabard? And for Dupont Circle and Washington in general? I’m a little embarrassed to admit that after some 14 years of living in Washington, my sit-down with Roubie and his staff was my first actual visit there. Like so many of our museums and monuments, it’s always some place
you’ve been meaning to go. And honestly it’s rather tucked away. Sitting on the almost overlooked block of N Street off 17th, that bit that’s not quite the Dupont neighborhood and not quite downtown either. The building itself is really three buildings. Walking in the place sort of reminds one of an East Coast Winchester house, curiosities and eccentric furnishings abound, with hallways and staircases jutting in all directions. Walking up the main staircase you’re greeted by portraits of Mikhail Gorbachev, Pablo Neruda, and, of course, George Washington. There’s lots of Navy memorabilia as well, up as a testament to the building having been used to house women naval volunteers during World War II. There are 35 guest rooms, with only 18 or so occupied currently. Weddings and receptions are all postponed. Last spring, hundreds of bookings and events evaporated almost instantly. Sunday brunch seatings are down to about 100 patrons, that’s from the usual 350. But they’re adapting. Sidewalk dining is now an
The Tabard Inn on N Street offers 35 guest rooms and a restaurant. The business is owned by its employees. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
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Part of the beauty of the Tabard Inn is that everyone thinks it’s their little secret, their special spot. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
option. Wood partitions separate diners on the patio. Despite it all, staff still try to make your experience there special. Like so many of us who choose to go out now in the District, dinner has become the main event. Well, really the only event. There’s no show to catch after, no movie times to make. Eating out is going out. And unlike so many other restaurants around, the Tabard doesn’t time tables, scooting diners out after a set time has expired. There are egg timers, sure. But those time the set sanitation period when tables are turned over. Seven minutes after a good spraying and wiping down. Sitting in the gorgeously appointed and wonderfully shaded patio, there was plenty of room to socially distance, and the ideal spot to taste mid-Atlantic staples like their soft shell sandwich. Or summer time treats like the scallops with peaches and the flavorful BLT and gazpacho, the latter on their delicious house-made bread. The Tabard Inn isn’t gay owned, per se. But it is employee owned, which is remarkable in and of itself. Since 1993, all employees, from the dishwasher to the housekeepers to general manager Dave Roubie, own effectively 51 percent of the Tabard Inn. The interest makes the workers more nurturers, and it shows. And while not being gay owned, a significant number of the 100-member staff identifies as LGBTQ, no real surprise for the hotel and restaurant industry. Given the Black Lives Matter movement, the Tabard Inn is very much aware of its responsibility, as well as its position in the hospitality industry, an industry notoriously lopsided in its racial makeup. Typically in a hotel of any size, more than 90 percent of the bellhops are Black, and 90 percent of management, white. The Tabard consciously works against that trend. There’s real diversity in management, certainly in ownership, at the Tabard. And with a larger social conscience, when they were hit hard by COVID, it was management that sacrificed their salaries for a month, not the staff. And the Tabard was an early supporter of this paper’s Blade Foundation, our charitable arm that offers college scholarships to aspiring LGBTQ journalists. Part of the beauty of the Tabard Inn is that everyone thinks it’s their little secret, their special spot. But that’s also the trouble. They’ve never advertised, though that will be changing soon. With its classic bar and varied rooms, the whole place is simply beguiling. And I’d hate to see a spot this special go. These places, these non-corporate spots do so much to add valuable texture and character to our neighborhoods. They’re just special. There are so many places one could go for dining and receive a perfectly fine meal with perfectly fine service. But after leaving many, ask yourself, was there anything really special about it? There are special places like that, like Floriana up the street, or Martin’s Tavern over in Georgetown. The Tabard is certainly as celebrated and cherished as those. And in a lot of ways as valuable as any monument or museum we have in what it provides — that special experience from staff who know their responsibility to each other and to this city. And that’s truly the best of us, and the best of Washington. S E PT E M B E R 1 1 , 2 0 2 0 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 9
CALENDAR
By PHILIP VAN SLOOTEN
TODAY
Women in their Twenties and Thirties meets via Zoom tonight at 8 p.m. This social discussion group for queer women in the D.C. area is meeting virtually during the pandemic as a way for queer women to meet and make new friends in a fun and friendly setting. For more information, visit thedccenter.org. Blade Foundation Summer Closing Party in Rehoboth Beach is today at 5 p.m., featuring remarks from U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, at the Blue Moon (35 Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth Beach, Del.). Tickets at bladefoundation. org/rehoboth.
Saturday, September 12
LGBTQ+ Survivor ArtMake: Who I Am SoulCollage is today from 2:30-5 p.m. via Zoom. This event hosted by the D.C. Anti-Violence Project is an opportunity for LGBTQ survivors of various levels of violence, trauma and abuse to heal and express themselves through art. RSVP by Friday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m. by completing a short survey for the link. Visit thedccenter.org for details.
Sunday, September 13
A Scavenger Hunt of the National Zoo (3001 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) hosted by ThingstodoDC.com is today from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $20. Participants will look for items, answer trivia and win prizes all while learning and exploring the zoo. All attendees must wear a mask, be in good health, and social distance while in their teams. For tickets and information, visit thingstododc.com.
Monday, September 14
Showtunes in the Streets hosted by JR.’s Bar (1519 17th St., N.W.) continues tonight at 8 p.m. Videos are streamed both online via Twitter @JRsBar_DC and inperson on a giant projector. Masks and reservations are required for this weekly event. For more information and to make a reservation, visit https://host.tablesready. com/p/book/add/jrs_bar_dc.
Tuesday, September 15
KhushDC presents Game Night via Zoom tonight at 7 p.m. Queer and trans South Asians are invited to play games and build community every third Tuesday of the month. For more information and the link, visit the group’s Facebook page or thedccenter.org. Profs & Pints Online: Black Colleges and Jewish Refugees tonight at 7 p.m. This free event discusses how scholars fleeing Hitler’s Germany found a refuge with new lives at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. For free tickets and information, visit the registration page.
Wednesday, September 16
Transcendence: A Sufi Music Festival is presented virtually by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art (1050 Independence Ave., S.W.) today from noon to 1 p.m. this Free music festival features worldrenowned performers from Morocco, France, Iran and India all using dance, recitation, poetry and music to gain
U.S. Sen. CHRIS COONS speaks at the Blade Foundation’s Summer Closing Party in Rehoboth on Sept. 11.
transcendence and enlightenment. The music expresses longing and yearning as well as the joy and ecstasy of union. For more details and to register, visit asia.si.edu/ events or their Facebook page.
Thursday, September 17
Shirtless men drink free during shirtless night at the Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.). Masks are still required and seating is limited so reservations are encouraged. For more information, visit greenlanterndc. com or their Facebook page.
OUT&ABOUT Stacey Abrams on ‘Protecting the Vote’ A Conversation with Stacey Abrams hosted by the National Council of Jewish Women via webinar is Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 4:30 p.m. Guests can ask Abrams a question when they register for this free event. Abrams, the founder of Fair Fight Action, is a voting activist and a former democratic gubernatorial candidate in the 2018 race in Georgia. She formerly served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017 and as minority leader from 2011 to 2017. During the webinar titled “Promoting the Vote and Protecting the Vote,” held in celebration of women’s suffrage, Abrams will also discuss racial justice and voting. To register and for more information, visit ncjw.org and the event’s Facebook page.
Outdoor yoga to support Black Lives Matter Yoga for Black Lives Matter hosted by Evolving Lives Body and Mind is Sunday, Sept. 20 at 6 p.m. at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (1400 Constitution Ave., N.W.). Tickets start at $5.50.
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(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Attendees will participate in a 60-minute Power Vinyasa-style class focused on traditional yoga postures with a longer hold in an outdoor setting. All levels are welcome to this event designed to promote self-care as a political act through strengthening and self-preservation. This ongoing series runs until Sept. 27 and proceeds from specified sessions will be donated to a different organization promoting peaceful change, including Black Voters Matter, the Color of Change, the NAACP and many others. Tickets and information are available on Eventbrite and evolvinglivesbodyandmind.com.
OktoBearFest starts Sept. 21 at Red Bear OktoBearFest kicks off Monday, Sept. 21 at 4 p.m. and runs until Sunday, Oct. 4 at 11 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing (209 M St., N.E.). This annual celebration of Bavarian craft beer, food and lederhosen features hearty fare for the inner bear. The seasonal pint of OktoBearFest Martzen is paired with traditional Oktoberfest foods including Roasted Turkey, Schnitzel and Spaetzle, a Bratwurst Sandwich and more. For more information, visit redbear.beer.
Queer Femme / Womxn of Color Virtual Panel Sept. 26 The Rainbow History Project presents Queer Womxn Creating Spaces, a virtual panel discussion hosted by the D.C. Center, via live stream on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 1 p.m. This event features a multi-generational panel of queer femme/womxn-identifying people to answer questions related to what it means to be a queer womxnidentified organizer of color. Different generations of featured Black and Latinx LGBTQ femme / womxn from the D.C. area discuss social and political events they have worked for across decades while organizing empowering spaces for queer people of color in D.C. For more information on this event, visit thedccenter.org.
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GUGU MBATHA-RAW in ‘Belle.’
(Photo by David Appleby for Fox)
FROM THE VAULTS: Straight, but not narrow
Outstanding films you might have missed in theaters By BRIAN T. CARNEY
While the Blade’s media coverage generally focuses on movies and television shows with LGBTQ content or creators, our Top Ten and Year in Review lists do include outstanding mainstream films. As fall nights start to get longer, here are some “straight but not narrow” movies to keep you busy while sheltering in place. One of the most progressive and thought-provoking movies of 2014 was “Belle,” a beautifully filmed movie about a mixed-race heiress being raised by her aristocratic uncle in eighteenth-century England. Director Amma Asante and a knockout ensemble cast led by Gugu Mbatha-Raw tackled complex themes of race, class and gender and tell a moving story that combines intimate details and epic historical sweep. In 2018, the delightful “Stan and Ollie” unfortunately got lost in the holiday release shuffle and did not get the box office or the reviews it deserved. In this heart-warming movie, the famous comedy duo of Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) are well past their prime but embark on a grueling tour of post-war England and environs while they wait for their Robin Hood movie to be greenlighted. The movie is a pitch-perfect portrait of two aging comedians and their exasperated but devoted wives (great performances by Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson). Writer/director Jordan Peele made the Top Ten Lists in both 2017 and 2019. Using the traditional elements of the classic horror movie in exciting new ways, “Get Out” is a searing indictment of American racism. Daniel Kaluuya gives a breakout performance as Chris Washington, a young Black photographer who goes to visit his white girlfriend’s parents for the weekend. Peele won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Get Out;” he was the first African-American man to win in that category. The movie was also nominated for Best Picture and Peele was nominated for Best Director. Peele’s next movie, “Us,” is a terrifying nightmare vision of the American Dream. Lupita Nyong’o stars as Adelaide Wilson. Despite haunting memories of a childhood visit to the boardwalk, Adelaide reluctantly takes her family on a Santa Cruz beach vacation. Her fears become reality when they encounter a mysterious family outside their house and are forced to fight for their lives. Nyong’o turns in an amazing performance as Adelaide (and her nightmare double). Winston Duke adds some much-needed humor as her husband Gabe; Shahadi Wright Joseph and Evan Alex are terrific as their kids and Elisabeth Moss is haunting as Adelaide’s vain friend Kitty. In 2015, Australian director Jocelyn Moorhouse topped the Year In Review list with “The Dressmaker,” her delightful feminist take on the spaghetti Western. Kate Winslet starred as Tilly Dunnage, a glamorous designer who returns to a small town in rural Australia to wreak revenge on the townspeople who abused her and her mother (Judy Davis). Liam Hemsworth plays the rugby star who helps Tilly figure out the family secret and Hugo Weaving plays a cross-dressing police sergeant with a flair for couture. Finally, in “The Death of Stalin (2017),” writer/director Armando Iannucci (HBO’s “Vice”) turns his focus from contemporary Washington to Cold War-era Moscow in this biting satire about the pomp, pageantry and power plays following the death of the Soviet dictator. With caustic wit, Iannucci examines the humanity of his characters and the absurdity of their behavior with both passion and precision. Steve Buscemi is excellent as the scheming Nikita Khrushchev; he effortlessly combines a sardonic sense of humor, finely honed survival skills and an appreciation for both the theatricality of power and the power of theatricality. Simon Russell Beale is completely engaging as the gleeful and ruthless Beria, head of the secret police, and Jeffrey Tambor and Michael Palin are delightful as clueless members of the Council of Ministers with its ineffectual but deadly bureaucracy. Andrea Riseborough brings a welcome sense of humanity to the proceedings as Stalin’s daughter Svetlana; over-the-top military preening is provided by Rupert Friend as Stalin’s ineffectual son and Jason Isaacs as Field Marshal Zhukov. 2 2 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 1 1 , 2 0 2 0
7 Black actors take on ‘March and The Breath Project’
Capturing reactions to 57th anniversary of March on Washington By PATRICK FOLLIARD
In August, Studio Theatre commissioned seven black actors who attended the 57th anniversary March on Washington to create artistic responses that bore witness to their experience at the event and captured their feelings as black men living through ongoing violence and protests for racial justice. It’s called the March and The Breath Project. The actors — Jelani Alladin, Ro Boddie, Jason Bowen, Jonathan Burke, Sean Carvajal, Biko Eisen-Martin, and Michael Rishawn — were asked to share their reactions via video format using documentary-style footage, music, poetry, spoken word, monologue, and whatever else they chose. Out actor Jonathan Burke, was thrilled to be among the cohort of chroniclers. A Baltimore native who now lives in Harlem, Burke was cast in a supporting part in Studio’s production of Tarell Alvin McCraney “Choir Boy” in 2015. He went on to be part of the Broadway premiere and eventually took over the lead role. JONATHAN BURKE was one of seven When COVID-19 shut down Broadway, Burke actors featured in the ‘March and The was winding up a run in Matthew Lopez’s “The Breath Project.’ (Photo by Roberto Araujo) Inheritance.” Since then he’s mostly been holed up in his studio apartment where he’s been keeping busy learning Spanish, working out, performing in online fundraising efforts, and taping auditions. He hopes to soon land some TV and film roles now that those industries are reopening. Burke was eager to attend the March, but careful: “I’ve been very cautious about being in public spaces but have made some exceptions. I’ve attended some Black Lives Matter demonstrations because I felt it would be worth the potential risk of being exposed to the virus. Our lives are stake and I needed to be there.” Organizers checked marchers’ temperatures and everyone was required to wear a mask throughout the entire day, says Burke. “I felt as good as I could feel about that. If we’re going to take a risk to go to CVS, I can take a risk for black lives.” The event was meaning. “It felt great to be in fellowship with like-minded folks working for change. It felt powerful to be standing in a space where forefathers stood fighting for civil rights. I felt like I was carrying the torch. At the same time, it was a little sad that we’re still fighting this fight that they were fighting so long ago. It’s imperative that everyone votes in November.” And as a black gay man, Burke was pleased the conversation included LGBTQ+ members of the black community. In 1963, Bayard Rustin, a giant of the civil rights movement, was leading the troops but not able to be open about his sexuality. “To be able to stand in my truth as a gay Black man and for others to support that is powerful. If you say that Black lives matter, you have to also say that Black queer lives matter too. It’s not some Black lives. It’s all Black lives.” Burke describes his filmed reaction to the March as a sort of documentary musical video. “I took footage from the weekend – video and photos and dialogue from the march, including a lot about George Floyd. It’s a story told of my journey over the weekend highlighted with music.” March and The Breath Project was helmed by Studio’s associate artistic director Reginald “Reg” Douglas who joined the company in late January. He says it’s been a strange time to start a new job, and he’s gotten to know his coworkers mostly on Zoom. The project seemed a reasonable extension of Studio’s personal and activist mission, says Douglas. His only instruction to the participating actors was that their reactions be urgent and personal, and to follow inspiration wherever it took them. Ultimately, he was blown away by the results. “It was freeing for actors who aren’t always the lead artist on a project,” he says. “We had seven African-American actors – a diverse group in terms of age, background, skin tone, and sexual orientation – going from the stage to the street in support of a cause that’s on people’s minds.” Logistically, the project has unfolded without a hitch, which Douglas says is a testament to the Studio staff. And somehow things have come together almost serendipitously which made it both meaningful and a pleasure, he adds. Studio Theatre will be soon be sharing the actors’ videos on Facebook and YouTube.
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Home insurance covers damage from weather and water, theft of belongings, vandalism, fire, and personal injury lawsuits.
Determining your insurance needs
Fire, flood, and pets are just some of the considerations By VALERIE M. BLAKE
When you’re applying for a mortgage loan, you’re going to need homeowner’s insurance. Your lender will need the name and contact information of your insurance carrier before completing your loan. Home insurance covers damage from weather and water, theft of belongings, vandalism, fire, and personal injury lawsuits. You can also add insurance for floods or earthquakes if applicable to your area, at additional cost. There is also insurance for specific items such as jewelry, art, and computers. There are several companies we see frequently in the D.C. metropolitan area. One has a gecco for a spokesperson, another features J.K. Simmons, and a third introduces you at the local diner to a guy named Safe Drivers Save 40 percent. Don’t forget the idiot with the emu, the retired football player who claims to be on your side, and Jake who wears khakis. Those who have a military connection can enroll in USAA and some credit unions also have insurance programs. There’s even a website called www.lemonade.com, which acts as a clearinghouse to shop your insurance with at least half a dozen companies. The point is that you may choose your own insurer. Prices will vary depending on your deductible amount and the size, age and condition of the property, so get a couple of estimates just to be sure you’re getting value for your money. Some people think that the Master Insurance policy in a condo or coop takes care of your insurance needs; it does not. If you’re buying a condo or a coop, you will need what’s called an HO-6 policy. This protects you, your contents, and things from the outer walls in. The same insurers should offer this type of policy. Sadly, there are several types of dogs that some insurance companies won’t cover. Among them are Pit Bulls (also illegal to own in Prince Georges County), Great Danes, Alaskan Malamutes, German Shepherds, Akitas, Chow Chows, Siberian Huskies, Rottweilers, Doberman Pinschers, and the Perro de Presa Canario. Be sure to check with your insurer to see whether your dog might be excluded from coverage. If you have a conventional loan with a down payment of less than 20%, Private Mortgage Insurance (PMI) will insure the lender for the difference from your down payment and 20% of the home’s value so that if you default on your payments, the lender is protected. PMI costs will vary based on the amount of your down payment, your credit score, 2 8 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • SEPTEMBER 1 1 , 2 0 2 0
and the length of your loan, so be sure to check with your loan officer for the most up to date information. Once you pay down to 78% of the home’s value, the required payment ceases. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) also has a Mortgage Insurance Premium (MIP). It is similar to PMI in that it protects the lender and costs vary based on your loan. Since June 3, 2013, MIP can only be terminated if the mortgage is paid in full before the maturity date. There is no mortgage insurance for Veteran’s Administration (VA) loans, but there is a funding fee that must be paid but can be added to the loan amount. There are exemptions from paying the funding fee, most having to do with disability or receipt of a Purple Heart from actions while on active duty. Sometimes people get home insurance confused with home warranties. In general, home warranties cover heating, central air conditioning, plumbing, electricity, and appliances. Some offer roof coverage. With these, you contact your warranty provider, outline the problem, pay a service fee and, if the problem is covered by the warranty, a repair person is assigned to fix or replace the item. Mortgage Protection Insurance (MPI) functions as a life insurance policy: you pay premiums to the insurance company to purchase a specific amount of mortgage protection coverage. Those premiums are based on your attained age and your health, as well as the value of your home and the payoff amount. A term life insurance policy may have more flexibility so check with a life insurance company before you buy to see what is best for you. Finally, make sure you have a system for keeping track of your insured contents in case you need to make a claim. Our phones make it easy; simply make a panoramic video of everything in each room. Take pictures and keep receipts for expensive or one-of-a-kind items, then upload them to the cloud, where things never catch fire or flood. I’ve been there and it’s not pretty.
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