Washington Blade, Volume 53, Issue 35, September 02, 2022

(Washington Blade photo by Daniel Truitt)

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Man who threatened D.C. hotel workers with gun pleads guilty Tennessee suspect accepts plea offer; used anti-gay slur during incident

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

A 21-year-old Tennessee man arrested by D.C. police on Aug. 24 outside the Lyle Hotel near Dupont Circle for threatening two hotel work ers with a hand gun while saying his gun “is only for faggots” pleaded guilty on Tuesday in D.C. Superior Court as part of a plea bargain offer by prosecutors.

Dylan Nation, a resident of Ooltewah, Tenn., who was a guest at the hotel at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty on Aug. 30 to Attempted Assault with a Dangerous Weapon and Carrying a Pistol Without A License Outside a Home or Business.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors with the Of fce of the United States Attorney for the District of Colum bia agreed to drop the charges initially fled against him by D.C. police of Assault With A Dangerous Weapon and Pos session of a Firearm During a Crime of Violence. The plea agreement calls for leaving in place the charge of Carrying a Pistol Without a License that was fled by D.C. police at the time of Nation’s arrest.

Over the objections of Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Court ney, the lead prosecutor in the case, Judge Michael O’Keefe agreed to a request by defense attorney Steven Ogilvie that Nation be released from jail while he awaits a sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 26.

Ogilvie noted that Nation has no prior arrest record or involvement in any past illegal activity. He told the judge that Nation’s parents and his girlfriend, who the attorney

said was Nation’s fancé, were present in the courtroom as a show of support for him and his commitment to stay out of trouble upon his release.

“He had too much to drink,” Ogilvie said in referring to a possible reason for his client’s brandishing a gun at the hotel. “I don’t think we will see any trouble from him.”

An arrest affdavit fled in court by D.C. police last week says the gun related incident at the Lyle Hotel, which was formerly known as the Carlyle Hotel, began about 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24, when a hotel security worker ob served Nation engaged in a verbal altercation with a wom an identifed as his girlfriend outside the front entrance of the hotel located at 1731 New Hampshire Ave., N.W.

The affdavit says the security worker intervened to dees calate the altercation and escorted Nation and his girlfriend back into the hotel lobby. Once inside, Nation requested and was given permission to go to his car in the hotel park ing lot to get some face wipes, and another hotel worker escorted him to the car, the affdavit says. When he reached the car Nation removed a handgun from the glove compart ment and began threatening the worker who escorted him to the car and the security offcer, who minutes later had walked to the site of the car.

The security worker, who is identifed in the affdavit as Complainant 1, told Nation that guns were not allowed in the hotel and asked him to put the gun back in the car. “Complainant 1 stated that while in the back parking lot the suspect points the gun at him and tells him he will blow his skull off,” the affdavit states.

It says police obtained a security camera video from the hotel that also includes an audio recording in which voices of the hotel workers and Nation could be heard during the workers’ attempt to get Nation to return the gun to the car.

According to the affdavit, Nation is heard in the record ing refusing to put the gun back in the car and telling the

workers he didn’t feel safe being around them and they are not tough because they “are from the faggot part of D.C. and that his gun is only for faggots and pussies.”

The affdavit says the security worker reached for the gun and took it out of Nation’s hand without incident and brought it to the hotel lobby and removed the bullets from the loaded gun. It says Nation fed from the hotel after hear ing sirens from arriving police cars and after the hotel secu rity worker told him police had been called.

The security worker chased after Nation and tackled him to the ground a block away from the hotel and held him un til police placed him under arrest, the affdavit states.

During the Aug. 30 court hearing in which Nation plead ed guilty to the lesser charges, defense attorney Ogilvie told the judge Nation had voluntarily surrendered the gun to the security worker. Ogilvie said Nation has since taken full responsibility for his actions.

In response to a series of questions from Judge O’Keefe asking whether he fully understood the terms of the plea agreement, in which he would be waiving his right to a jury trial, Nation repeatedly answered “yes.”

“We are grateful no one was harmed as a result of this incident, and we are grateful to our security team for their quick reaction as well as the support of the D.C. police,” Lyle Hotel spokesperson Ab Kwawu told the Blade in an email message in response to the Blade’s request for comment.

“During the process of de-escalation and while working with D.C. Police to make an arrest, the suspect hurled hateful slurs at our employee regarding the LGBTQIA community,” Kwawu said in his message. “We wholeheartedly condemn the use of such words and work hard to provide an inclusive and safe space for our neighbors, guests, and community here at Lyle D.C.,” he said.

Neither D.C. police nor prosecutors with the U.S. Attor ney’s offce classifed the incident as a hate crime.

Stephen Peter Gorman, 69, died at home Aug. 19 in Washington, D.C., holding the hand of his husband of 26 years, Richard E. Cytowic, M.D.

“The best way to die,” he said, “is in the room of your choice, surrounded by the people of your choice, holding the hand of your choice.” In the 1980s, Gorman served as an AIDS buddy and subsequently had enormous experience assisting the dying.

He grew up in Waterville, Maine, the third of seven siblings to a family deeply steeped in politics, as he would be. Born profoundly hard of hearing and taunted relentlessly for it during his youth, he overcame the mockery to earn degrees in anthropology, economics, and nursing. He worked in emergency medical rescue and became chair of the D.C. May or’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities. He was a champion of the marginalized and misunderstood.

Initially invited to Washington in 1994 to house sit for a Georgetown professor, Gorman never left the city. He became manager of Anton’s 1201 Supper Club not far from the White House, previously managed three restaurants in Manhattan, and owned a retail business on Sanibel Island, Fla.

He met Cytowic, a widower, at a party. At midnight when the former was about to leave, Gorman bounded up and said, “Are you hungry?” to which Cytowic hesitated before saying, “I could be.” That began a conversation that went on for three decades.

Gorman’s hearing loss fortuitously blessed him with a capacious visual memory. He was widely read and equally well traveled. From riding an elephant in Ching Mai to navigating the unlabeled streets of Tokyo, the forests of Australia, or the reefs off Bali, the couple trav eled the globe thanks in part to Cytowic’s prominence and invitations as the scientist who rediscovered synesthesia and returned it to mainstream science.

Brain metastasis from his lung cancer caused expressive aphasia, a devastating develop ment for someone as loquacious, open, and socially engaged as Gorman. He succumbed

peacefully. As a monk friend said, “A peaceful death is the rarest of blessings.”

He is survived by four sisters, two brothers, and more than 250 living relatives in New England. Memorial services in New England and D.C. will be held at a later date. Query Cytowic@gmail.com.

Stephen P. Gorman dies at 69 D.C. resident once served as chair of Mayor’s Committee on Persons with Disabilities

FROM STAFF REPORTS

STEPHEN PETER GORMAN, 69, died at home Aug. 19.

The incident took place at the Lyle Hotel near Dupont Circle. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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Trans man killed by airfa Police responding to mental health crisis Parents say fatal shooting inside cLean home was unnecessary

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

A airfa County Police offcer on uly shot and killed a transgender man who family members say was having a mental health cri sis inside the family home where he lived after the man, identifed as asper Aaron Lynch, , lunged at three offcers while wielding a wine bottle as a weapon and refused the offcers commands to drop the bottle, according to a statement released by Fairfax Police.

Lynch’s parents released their own state ment saying the use of deadly force was un necessary and that the offcers should have handled the incident “far differently.”

The police shooting incident and the re lease by Fairfax Police of body camera foot age of the incident was widely reported in the news media.

ut the news that Lynch was a transgender man did not surface until Aug. , when the uman ights Campaign, the nation’s largest L T advocacy group, released a statement disclosing that Lynch was trans and e pressed support for his parents’ contention that the shooting was uncalled for.

“Aaron’s death marks the third fatal shooting by the police of a transgender person record ed by C since ,” the C statement says. “Transgender people, especially trans gender people of color, are at increased risk of

e periencing police brutality, even in the wake of other encountered violence,” the statement says.

In a detailed statement posted on their website, airfa Police say police involvement leading to the fatal shooting began shortly af ter p.m. on uly when offcers responded to the cLean home where Lynch lived with his parents and sister after receiving a call from a friend. The police statement says the friend said he was concerned for Lynch’s safe ty because he was throwing objects inside the home and “pacing.”

A police team arrived at the home a short time later that included an offcer assigned to the police Crisis Intervention Team and a clini cian from the Sharon Bulova Center for Com munity Health, according to the statement. It says arriving offcers were told Lynch left the residence before they arrived and couldn’t be found. The police team left the scene but shortly after police received a second call at about p.m. from a friend of Lynch’s saying Lynch had returned to the house and he was again acting erratically. A second police team was then dispatched to the house, the state ment says.

“This time, three crisis intervention trained offcers arrived at the home and spoke to a

family member on the scene,” the statement continues. “The offcers found Lynch inside holding a bottle and an object, believed to be a large decorative wooden tribal mask,” the statement says, adding, “The offcers attempt ed to de-escalate the situation with verbal commands inside the foyer of the home.”

The statement continues, “Lynch threw the mask at an offcer and began to swing the bot tle in striking motion. Two offcers attempted to utili e their lectronic Control Weapons,” refer ring to police tasers, it says. “Lynch ran toward offcers while swinging the bottle. One offcer discharged his frearm, striking Lynch four times. Offcers immediately rendered aid until fre and rescue personnel arrived. Lynch was pronounced deceased at the scene,” it says.

The police statement concludes by saying under department policy, the offcers involved have “all been placed on restricted duty pend ing the outcome of an administrative investi gation by our Internal Affairs Bureau. An inde pendent review will also be conducted by the Police Auditor.”

Lynch’s parents, Patrick and athy Lynch, declare in their own statement released to the media but that did not disclose that their son was transgender, that Lynch was “e periencing a severe mental health crisis on uly .”

Their statement adds, “He was scared and asked for both 911 calls that were made that day. We believe that the three police offcers who answered the second 911 call could have, and should have, handled this far differently.”

The statement continues, “To respond to Aaron’s mental health crisis by shooting him at all, let alone multiple times, cannot be justi fed. We recogni e that, at times, police offcers face grave and unknown dangers in the line of duty, but that was not the case for that call at our home regarding our son.”

A spokesperson for the airfa Police couldn’t immediately be reached on riday to determine the status of the Internal Affairs investigation into the fatal police shooting of Lynch.

The full text of the Fairfax Police statement on the Lynch shooting and a link to the police body worn camera video of the shooting can be accessed here:

https://fcpdnews.wordpress. com/2022/07/08/officer-involved-shoot ing-at-mclean-home/

Deceased gay mayor of yattsville accused of embe ling . million Federal lawsuit seeks seizure of homes, cars bought with stolen funds

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

A lawsuit fled in U.S. District Court in D.C. on onday by federal prosecutors accuses the gay former mayor of Hyattsville, Md., who took his own life in anuary, of embe ling . million from a D.C. charter school network he worked for from to uly .

A page complaint in support of the lawsuit fled by prosecutors with the U.S. De partment of ustice charges evin Ward, who served as Senior Director of Technology for IPP DC, one of the city’s largest charter school networks, with using the embezzled funds to purchase property in West irginia, at least cars, and art and sports memorabilia.

“The Defendant ehicles and Assorted Art and Sports emorabilia were sei ed in ary land, irginia, and West irginia, and are cur rently in the custody of the U.S. arshall Ser vice,” the lawsuit complaint states.

It says federal authorities do not seek au thority at this time to seize two houses on large tracts of land in Augusta, W. a., which it says Ward allegedly purchased using embe led funds from IPP DC.

The lawsuit, which identifes itself as a civil forfeiture proceeding, doesn’t say whether the land and houses, e pensive vehicles, and the art and sports memorabilia are currently owned by Ward’s estate and his heirs, includ ing his surviving husband, or whether some of the items had been sold before or after Ward’s death and the start of an investigation into the alleged embezzlement that began shortly be

fore Ward took his own life.

ustice Department spokesperson oshua Stueve told the Washington lade the depart ment would have no further comment on the lawsuit at this time.

The lawsuit says that among the vehicles Ward allegedly purchased using embe led funds were a Tesla odel S Plaid at a cost of , and a Tesla odel for , . .

Ward, , became acting mayor of yatts ville on an. , , following the resignation of former Mayor Candice Hollingsworth. He was next in line to become mayor in his role at the time as president of the yattsville City Council. Ward won election to complete the remainder of ollingsworth’s term through in a special election, receiving . per cent of the vote in a three-candidate race.

L T activists said they considered Ward as highly ualifed to serve as yattsville’s frst openly gay mayor. Ward posted on his cam paign website during the election that he and his family made yattsville their home in after he and his husband adopted their two sons.

Those who knew him, including many in the L T community, e pressed shock and sorrow when the city of Hyattsville released a statement on an. announcing Ward had died one day earlier from an apparent suicide.

“Mayor Ward was a valued and trusted lead er and a ferce advocate for all the people of

Hyattsville,” the statement said. “We are heart broken at this loss and e tend our deepest sympathy to the mayor’s family.”

U.S. Park Police disclosed at the time that Ward was found deceased with a “self infect ed gunshot wound” at Fort Marcy Park in Mc Lean, a.

The federal lawsuit says that in his role as Senior Director of Technology for IPP DC, Ward, among other things, was responsible for purchasing information technology prod ucts and services, including computers, tablets, software, and network services.

It says that shortly after the start of the CO ID pandemic, when the closing of all schools for in person attendance re uired the purchase of additional high tech e uipment to assist in remote learning, Ward reportedly created a company called Tenret Tech that purported to sell computer related e uipment. The lawsuit complaint says the company’s address was list ed as Ward’s home address.

It says a short time later, another company affliated with Tenret Tech, ast Systems, ap peared on the scene that was controlled by Ward.

“ etween April and October ,

IPP DC paid Tenret Tech and ast Systems appro imately . million for laptops, tab lets, and related services, all of which were ar ranged for and approved by Ward,” the com plaint says. “None of the products or services which IPP DC paid Tenret Tech were provided

or delivered to IPP DC,’’ the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit complaint, IPP DC offcials discovered last November or December after conducting an internal review that Tenret Tech had not provided any of the products and services purchased by IPP DC and immediately suspected they had become the victim of fraud.

IPP DC has said it informed the U.S. Attor ney’s Offce in D.C. of its fnding, which prompt ed prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s offce to open an investigation into the matter.

IPP DC told the Washington Post the char ter school network has recovered million from its insurance provider and it was optimis tic that the ustice Department’s recovery pro cess through the lawsuit would recover more than , of the stolen funds.

“Sometime in uly , Ward took a leave of absence from IPP DC and ultimately left its employment,” the complaint says.

Nearby gay mayors Patrick Wojahn of Col lege Park and effrey Slavin of Sommerset, d., said they got to know Ward through Maryland political circles and thought very highly of him.

Former Hyattsville Mayor KEVIN WARD died by suicide in January. (Photo courtesy of the city of Hyattsville)

(Screen capture of Fairfax County Police offcer’s body worn camera. Image via You Tube)

Hanover County, Va. schools adopt anti-trans bathroom policy

In a closed door session the Hanover County School Board voted 5-2 to approve a policy that requires trans gender students to submit a request to use school bath rooms that align with their gender identity and gives the school board the authority to approve or deny those re quests.

In the policy approved Tuesday night, school staff and administrators can request a meeting with the student and their parents/guardians, and “will receive all relevant information, which may include:

• a statement from the student that, among other things, specifes their gender identity and how they have consistently, persistently and insistently expressed that identity

• signed statements from the student’s personal physician, therapist or licensed counselor veri fying that the student has been diagnosed with gender dysphoria and/or that the student consis tently and authentically expresses a binary gen der identity

•statements from the student’s parent or guardian

• student disciplinary or criminal records

• information related to the privacy and safety of other students

• any other relevant information, including docu ments from other interested parties.

offer a free legal review of the school district’s policy re garding equal educational opportunities.

following statement:

Defending Freedom for legal review of Policy 7-1.2 at no have anything further to add to this other than what was discussed and decided upon.” policy was an effort between the board, its attorney and ing all 133 of the state’s school districts to adopt policies consistent with or more comprehensive than the Virginia

made bathrooms more accessible to trans students but In a 4-3 vote not to move forward, the board shot

down a measure that would allow trans students to use identity, but did approve policy revisions that will allow tent with the student’s gender identity,” upon request of the student and parent.

dents.

The Circuit Court for the City of Virginia Beach has of Virginia.

In its ruling the court found that the Virginia state stat

er court determination of probable cause for obscenity. The proceedings were initiated pursuant to Virginia

correct restroom was unconstitutional and violated his

transgender and queer equality responded to Hanover

Breanna Diaz. “Yet, the Hanover County School Board’s vasive policy that will deter youth from accessing school facilities. The school board must listen to Hanover fam ilies and oppose the proposed policy and immediately

“The rights of transgender and non-binary students

nover County School Board’s unnecessary and discrimi natory policy will lead to more harm for transgender and non-binary students in Hanover public schools.”

for the full rights of all Hanover students and teachers.

than renaming schools to avoid further harm to students

population their full rights, Hanover schools are wasting continue to advocate until justice is served and until in clusivity and equity are a normal part of Hanover culture and tradition.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

its distribution could have been made criminal without other distributors who would have been governed by the result.

Court of a Mist and Fury,” a fantasy romance novel by

able to choose what they wish to read.”

er of Dentons, and general counsel to Media Coalition,

BRODY LEVESQUE

Hanover Schools parents and allies of transgender students (Photo courtesy of the ACLU of Virginia)

First fatality reported; end-of-summer parties set to kick off

By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com

At the end of a summer when the number of cases in the monkeypox outbreak rose sharply, the increase in reported infections now appears to be cresting amid increased strategy with a new equity-based effort to combat the disease.

Although the reported number of cases, according to most data from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, has reached 18,417 in the United States, the number of additional cases decreased from the high at the start of the month, suggesting a downward trajectory in the spread of the disease as vaccines become more readily available.

gay and bisexual men, as well as other men who have sex with men, have been limiting contact with casual sex partners, which has been the driving force in the spread of mon keypox. The report from the CDC last week found limiting one-time sexual encounters

who have sex with men are cutting down on sexual activity amid the outbreak, including one-night stands and app hookups.

With the trajectory of monkeypox on the decline, the Biden administration announced a new initia tive with the goal of ensur ing vaccine distribution is consistent with the value of equity, including on the basis of geographic, racial, and ethnic lines. A total of 10,000 doses of vaccines in the federal government’s supply will be earmarked for localities that have used 50 percent of their allocat ed supply to support equity interventions, such as out reach to Black and Latino communities, which have been disproportionately

pox and deputy coordinator for the White House monkeypox task force, laid out the details for the new equity-based supplementary initiative in a conference call Tuesday with reporters.

“So what we mean by an equity intervention is what works in your state, county, or city to reach people who we may not be reaching, especially people of color and members

of shots, and even with new distribution most people won’t have even had their second shot by that time, so how can Southern Decadence think they will be protected, espe cially when vaccines take time to become fully effective?

Daskalakis, while promoting the equity-based approach to vaccine distribution, said

“We’re going to talk to them about lots of other strategies that they can reduce risk of acquiring monkeypox, but also make it clear that that shot is not for today; it’s for four weeks from now, plus two weeks after that second dose when you get maximum

First death of monkeypox patient reported

Although the number of cases is cresting, concern about monkeypox continues as tient in Texas who had monkeypox, but may have to succumbed to other factors, has drawn attention amid a conventional understanding the skin disease isn’t fatal. The case having the condition.

what role monkeypox played in the death. that spread from animals to people, said in response to a question on the casualty that

Despite the cresting in the number of cases, many health experts aren’t sold on the new approach to vaccines announced earlier this month by the Biden administration, cutaneous route (delivery of the vaccine under the fat layer underneath the skin) to the intradermal route (delivery of the vaccine into the layer of skin just underneath the top layer).

White House task force, said about 75 percent of jurisdictions have already adopted the new approach to vaccine injection, while an additional 20 percent are working toward a

“We continue to be laser-focused on doing everything within our power to help ju

these innovative strategies have been reviewed by CDC, vaccines will be supplied to

The additional equity-based approach to monkeypox vaccine distribution is consis tent with the Biden administration’s efforts in recent weeks to distribute additional shots

day and had high praise for the Biden administration for making the additional 6,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine available in time for Southern Decadence, which takes state organize and prepare as well as set up testing and vaccination sites “that are going

idea it will be as effective as subcutaneous injections, although the Biden administration continues to give assurances the new route for injections is tested and safe. According vaccine in Denmark, Bavaria Nordic, privately threatened to cut off supply of the shots proved for intradermal use. lecting newly available real-world information on the results of the new vaccine ap board information from additional states. tem — and we’re actively looking at…different types of events that might be reported different jurisdictions and states and cities about which vaccines they’re administering — whether it’s subcutaneous or intradermal — and we are gathering those data now, as

With Southern Decadence coming up, Biden health offcials have offered an additional , mon eypox vaccines to ew rleans ( lade fle photo by ichael ey)

Libs of TikTok targets Children’s National Hospital

Children’s National Hospital has become the target of threatening phone calls, email messages and social media postings after a widely read far-right Twitter account known as Libs of TikTok posted an incorrect report claiming the hospital routinely performs hysterectomies on transgender patients under the age of 18.

Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik included in her Aug. 25 posting audio recordings of two Children’s National Hospital telephone operators who the hospital says incorrectly stated that a trans boy as young as 16 would be eligible for a hysterectomy.

ing surgery for anyone under the age of 18,” according to

Blade. “In fact, in D.C. you cannot perform a hysterectomy on a minor without a court order,” the statement says.

“We do not provide hormone therapy to children before puberty begins,” the statement continues. “Care is individualized for each patient and always involves families making decisions in coordination with a team of highly trained pediatric specialists,” it says.

“None of the people who were secretly recorded by this activist group deliver care to our patients,” says the statement. “The information in the recording is not accurate. To reiterate, we do not and have never performed gender af-

The statement added, “Since the spreading of misinformation on Twitter, we have been the target of a large volume of hostile phone calls, social media messages and emails.”

encountered by the hospital has included social media posts suggesting that it be bombed, and its doctors placed in a woodchipper.

According to the Children’s National Hospital’s statement: “Children’s National Hospital is committed to fostering a welcoming and inclusive environment for all and to serving our LGBTQ+ patients and families in the full spec-

trum of their care.”

what the hospital says were similar false claims on social media that it was performing hysterectomies on transgender youth under the age of 18.

pedophilia, began to make a variety of false claims regarding Boston Children’s Hospital. One allegation included the mies to children under 18 years old.

are working with law enforcement to protect our clinicians, staff, patients, families and the broader Boston Children’s Hospital community and hold the offenders accountable,” the statement added.

For more than two years, a Brooklyn real estate agent and fanatical adherent of far-right extremist ideology, Chaya

‘Libs of Tik Tok’, attacking LGBTQ+ people with special emphasis on spreading lies and propaganda about transgender people.

spreading lies and falsehoods about the healthcare facility’s treatment of trans youth, her ‘call to arms’ was then joined

ti-trans pundit.

The resulting chaos including death threats against Bosedged by a spokesperson for the Boston Police Departsecurity to augment the efforts by the hospital to protect its staff and that an investigation had been launched.

Rollins.

“Libs of TikTok is synonymous with maliciously targeting LGBTQ organizations, people, and allies by posting lies,

criticism of a video posted on the hospital’s website about hysterectomies. Several conservative social media accounts shared posts about the video on Twitter. The hospital performs hysterectomies on patients 18 and older, but not on children as some of the posts claimed.

“We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms, and we reject the false narratives upon which they are

staff members of Boston Children’s Hospital, and other providers of healthcare to transgender people, receive death threats and hate. These companies are complicit in hosting content which expresses malicious falsehoods and which

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said last week that legislation seeking to codify same-sex fore adjourning for August recess, continues to be “incredibly important” to President Biden.

Jean-Pierre, responding to a question from the Washington Blade on whether Biden would reach out to Senshe had no private conversations to read out, but pointed to a formal Statement of Administration Policy from the White House as evidence of Biden’s support for the bill.

“As you know, we are constantly in conversation with Congress — members of Congress,” Jean-Pierre said. passed the House supporting the marriage equality bill. This is incredibly important to the president. We heard

es to talk about how important marriage equality was being ahead of many others. He has been an advocate for the community. He will continue to be advocate for the community.”

Jean-Pierre referring to Biden’s comments in 2012 on rights for same-sex couples and beat President Obama

to the punch by several days in coming out for gay nuptials.

Asked by the Blade about talk of an amendment for religious accommodations to obtain the necessary 10 Jean-Pierre said the White House would leave the details to Congress.

“We’ve always said we leave the mechanics of the Senate, or Congress, in this case the Senate, to the Senate and the leadership, but we’ll continue to have those conversations,” Jean-Pierre said, “This is an issue that is…tremendously important to this president.”

CHRIS JOHNSON

Children’s National Hospital (Screenshot/YouTube)

Yanhui Peng successfully challenged ‘conversion therapy’ clinic

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

Yanhui Peng, co-founder of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, a Chinese advocacy group, in 2014 sought to expose doctors and therapists who practice so-called conversion therapy.

He saw an ad on Baidu, a Chinese search engine, for a therapist in the city of Chongq ing who used electroshock therapy to “cure” a person’s homosexuality. The therapist

“They will make sure you will be straight,” Peng recalled to the Washington Blade during a May 19 interview in D.C.

ed an hour.

“He asked me to lay down on a sofa and he started to hypnotize me,” recalled Peng. “He asked me to close my eyes, calm down, breathe in, breathe out.”

Peng described the room in which he was as “small” and “very uncomfortable.”

“He then started to ask me to think about a situation, having sex with men, and see

my arms,” he said. “It wasn’t so strong, but it was scary because it was sudden.”

Peng said he received two additional electroshock treatments before he left the clinic. Peng kept his re ceipt and included it in a complaint against the ther

Peng said he didn’t talk about his homosexuality with his family, in part, because his classmates bullied him because he was “kind of feminine.” Peng told the Blade that he was afraid to use the bathroom in school because he “was afraid that when I would go to the toilet people would laugh at me.”

Peng said he “persuaded myself to fall in love with other girls” when he was a univer sity student.

and “started to realize there were LGBT groups in Guangzhou.” a volunteer and persuade myself that I’m not gay.”

on whom he had a crush while they were participating in a two-day hiking event. The man was straight, but Peng told the Blade that his reaction to his homosexuality was “so positive.”

“He encouraged me a lot,” said Peng. “I forgot to tell him that I love him.”

“After that I started to come out to everybody,” he added. against the Chongqing conversion therapy clinic the following year.

Peng’s parents still did not know about his homosexuality, but they did watch him on

“The national media talked about our case,” he said. “All my relatives called them and asked what happened, what happened to your son. I think they got a lot of pressure. think they don’t accept it. They can’t control me because I live so far away.”

Peng over the summer married his husband in Utah.

vor, noting homosexuality is not a disease and “gay cure advertisement is illegal.”

vor of LGBTQ and intersex rights.

“Luckily we won the case,” Peng told the Blade. “It was a surprise.”

Peng said the ruling in

tal hospital for 19 days because he is gay. Peng told the Blade that personnel forced the man to take medication and punished him if he refused. tivism.”

Peng, who currently studies at Yale University, continues to champion LGBTQ and in tersex rights in China. Peng, among other things, speaks with IBM and other companies

“In China, they focus on economic development and there are so many international companies,” he said. “More and more companies realize there is a pink dollar.”

southern China that is close to Hong Kong. Peng was still in the closet when he enrolled in a Guangzhou university in 2002.

it all appeared abnormal, [gay people] have sex with everybody and get diseases like HIV. I was scared. I thought it wasn’t ok.”

Peng said he went to his university’s library to research homosexuality. He told the Blade that most of the books he read “didn’t mention homosexuality” and the few that did “said homosexuality is a disease.”

Censorship, COVID among challenges

pictions of same-sex relationships and “sissy men” in the media. Transgender people surgery.

The State Department’s 2021 human rights report cites reports of discrimination and harassment based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The report also notes LGBT Rights Advocacy China’s decision to shut down.

Peng told the Blade that the Chinese government’s sweeping lockdowns to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have had a serious impact on LGBTQ and intersex people.

2020. Peng said they also sought to hold virtual meetings in which LGBTQ and intersex people could participate from their homes.

Pride Month events took place in Shanghai in June 2020, but the city was under a strict COVID-19 lockdown when Peng spoke with the Blade.

which organizes the quadrennial event, earlier this year announced Hong Kong will co-

Peng said he and other activists in China “were so happy that Hong Kong was going to Peng nevertheless said he continues to support the event’s organizers in Hong Kong.

“I hope they won’t give up,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for more businesses because there are a lot of international businesses in Hong Kong to show support. I think they should speak out to support them.”

Kong, which was a British colony at the time.

‘I persuaded myself that I’m not gay’

YANHUI PENG (Blade photo by Michael Key)

KATHI WOLFE

a writer and a poet, is a regular contributor to the Blade.

Few things are more upsetting than the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling.

The court, nearly 50 years after it was granted, took away the right for reproductive freedom for pregnant people. What’s even more offensive is that making abortion illegal is frequently done in God’s name. Those opposed to abortion often say that they’re “praying for life.”

I don’t mean to disparage anyone’s faith. I have friends and family members who believe abortion is morally wrong. They feel that ending a pregnancy (except for race exceptions such as rape, incest, or the mother’s health) devalues human life. Or even that abortion is murder.

I don’t agree with those beliefs, and I want, with every bone in my body, for abortion to be safe and legal. But I respect people who, based on their faith, oppose abortion.

But much of the anti-abortion rights movement is fueled not by sincere arguments based on faith, but by right-wing politicians and groups from Donald Trump to Supreme Court Jus tice Samuel Alito to the Republican Party who want political power. They would like to turn our country into a theocracy.

They’re not only working to abolish the right to reproductive freedom nationwide, they’re tagging abortion rights proponents as faithless unbelievers.

This comes through sometimes in colorful language. “Satan wants to kill innocent babies, demean marriage and distort the image of God,” a leader of Operation Save America, an anti-abortion group, claimed, reported “The Conversation.”

If I were God, I’d be worried about my brand.

The religious right takes up so much oxygen in the culture, that you might well believe all religious people and faith groups oppose abortion. But you would be wrong.

I’ve been thinking about this since the court overturned Roe v. Wade.

In the early 1980s, a friend who was a Protestant minister, talked with me about what life was life before Roe v. Wade. Memories of that time – when abortion wasn’t legal nationally were on her mind.

The pastor, now deceased, who spoke with me decades ago asked me to keep our conver

In the pre-Roe era, my friend and other clergy as well as members of religious orders (min isters, rabbis, nuns, etc.) helped women to get abortions when the procedure was illegal in many states. “I remember praying so hard,” she recalled, “for the safety of the women. For the doctors. That the doctors or we wouldn’t be prosecuted.”

My friend wasn’t alone back then. In 1967, in New York City, the Clergy Consultation Ser vice, an interfaith group of clergy, was formed to help women access abortions. At its start, 21 Protestant ministers and rabbis belonged to the organization. Soon, about 3,000 clergy were pregnancies by 1973 (when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion).

Today, nearly a half century after Roe, clergy and some faith groups are speaking out against Dobbs and for abortion rights as well as helping pregnant people to obtain abortions.

As was the case before Roe, ministers, rabbis, and other clergy who help anyone end a pregnancy could risk being prosecuted in some states.

“The unconscionable Supreme Court decision to end the constitutional right to abortion,” Catholics for Choice President Jamie L. Mansom said of Dobbs in a statement, “is the culmi nation of a decades-long religious crusade – spearheaded by the U.S. Catholic Bishops – to take away a woman’s most fundamental freedom.”

“We will stand with you in protest,” national leaders of the United Church of Christ, a main line Protestant denomination, said after Dobbs came down.

“Today is a day of heartbreak, outrage and injustice,” Jeanne Lewis, CEO of Faith in Public Life, said in a statement, after Roe was overturned.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs deplored the Dobbs decision. “While we treat a fetus JCPA said in a statement, “and then it has equal status with the person giving birth.”

“More than half of American Muslims support safe access to abortion,” said Nadiah Moha jir, co-founder of Heart Women and Girls, a Chicago group that works with Muslim commu nities. “What we’re seeing here is a minority of privileged people who are trying to impose a narrow Christian understanding of when life begins,” PBS reported.

Fighting to restore the right of reproductive freedom will be a long, uphill battle. But wheth er we’re religious, spiritual, agnostic, or atheist, we can take heart. People of faith are working with us for justice.

Many people of faith support abortion rights

The far right doesn’t have monopoly on religion

PETER ROSENSTEIN

is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

Democrats must reject socialism Such positions will cost the party votes in November

The general electorate leans moderate to moderate-right. Polling shows “When it comes to polarization, most people in American politics blame the voters. But much of the political science data suggests most voters are actually moderates.” It is the politicians who try to polarize them. Voters tend to not want radical change. Democrats do better when they understand that. It is a major reason Joe Biden won the presidency.

A Democratic Socialist who won her New York State Senate primary race, Kirsten

to represent a district covering parts of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.” Yes, some candidates for the New York State Senate endorsed by the Democratic Socialists and AOC won. Thankfully where it really mattered for Democrats nationally, in congressional primaries, they are losing. Interestingly, even in New York, this contrasted with

Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party lost to establishment

more left-wing New York voters than the June primary. I hope candidates like Gonzalez understand their wins — and her comments — don’t translate to a winning slogan for Democrats nationally in the mid-term elections.

It was great to see the results in the New York Democratic Congressional primaries. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), an out gay congressman, easily defeated the AOC-endorsed candidate, State Senator Alessandra Biaggi, in the new 17th. Dan Goldman, a

the new 10th. Then there were two incumbents pitted against each other in the 12th and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) handily defeated Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.). Sad to see Maloney out, but one had to lose.

In the special election in the old 19th, moderate Democrat Pat Ryan defeated a Republican in what was considered a swing district leaning Republican until the Supreme Court announced its abortion decision. This result, added to those like the big win for the pro-choice position in Kansas, portends well for Democrats. Ryan also won his Democratic primary in the new 18th with more than 84 percent of the vote against a candidate who really had no apparent reason to run and never had any chance of winning.

In Florida, Charlie Christ (D) won the primary to run against Ron DeSantis for governor and Val Demings (D) won her primary to run against Sen. Marco Rubio (R). While both Republicans are favored, these two Democrats can turn these into competitive races. Both will be well funded but their money pales in comparison to the $172 million DeSantis has raised. In recent years Florida has not been very kind to Democrats. It will be interesting to see what Trump does with DeSantis.

The mid-term forecasts have changed from overwhelmingly Republican to Democrats having a chance. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently said, “Republicans had a better chance of taking back the House than the Senate. Candidate quality has a lot to do with [it].” The same column noted, “Today, an average of different foreto Congress’ upper chamber. The change in Senate fortune comes as the party continues to poll far better than expected in a number of states while several Republican candidates struggle to connect with the voters.”

It is actually fun to watch so many Republican candidates stumble. In Pennsylvania, Dr. Oz didn’t remember how many houses he owns. He said two when it is actually eight or maybe 10. That once happened to John McCain in his presidential run. Hershel Walker in Georgia can’t seem to remember how many kids he has. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) is down between four to seven points in some recent polls. A Johnson loss to Democratic candidate Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes would be particularly satisfying as he is a totally despicable, non-repentant, Trumper. His defeat by Wisconsinites would make great sense considering they reelected their other senator, lesbian, progressive Tammy Baldwin (D), by a 10 percent margin.

Along with support for Roe v. Wade, Democrats have a great record to run on — ev-

forgiveness plan, and the massive pandemic relief people got. If voters are reminded of all this, Democrats really can WIN!

Rehoboth’s SunFestival returns

Comedian Judy Gold to headline; dance party slated for Sunday

By JACK WALKER

Comedian Judy Gold is slated to headline CAMP Rehoboth’s annual Labor Day celebration, SunFestival, on Sept. 3, kicking off a weekend of festivities and fun. Gold’s comedy portfolio boasts two Emmy awards and several stand-up specials on platforms including HBO and Comedy Central.

Each year, proceeds from SunFestival — CAMP Rehoboth’s largest annual fundraiser — help support the organization’s programming and advocacy for the local LGBTQ community. And, this year, CAMP Rehoboth has announced the long-awaited return of SUNDANCE, a Sunday night party that has brought the weekend to a close since 1988.

Here are all the festivities you can expect during the long weekend.

Saturday, Sept. 3

SunFestival starts with a bang, greeting guests with two auctions and a show on Saturday evening in the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center, located at 229 Rehoboth Ave. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., and the festivities formally begin at 7:30 p.m.

Judy Gold will headline the evening with a comedy performance, and attendees are also invited to participate in a two-part auction that will include both silent and live components prior to her performance. Gold, a lesbian, has often discussed topics of gender and sexuality in her work, and made two previous appearances in Rehoboth in 2009 and 2014.

CAMP Rehoboth has unveiled a variety of exciting items up for sale, including an eightnight cruise for two through the Caribbean, two tickets to see Lizzo at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., complete with a paid hotel stay, and two tickets to see the critically acclaimed musical “Funny Girl” on Broadway.

The silent auction, held virtually on the SunFestival website, opened on Aug. 27 and will close for bidding on Sept. 3. Bids can be placed online at https://SunFestival2022. ggo.bid.

The live auction will begin on Saturday evening, spearheaded by renowned auctioneer Lorne Crawford. Those interested in donating items for the auction can reach out to auction@camprehoboth.com for more information.

Sunday, Sept. 4

SUNDANCE might have been put on pause for two years, but this staple of the summer is making its return to Rehoboth Beach this year, and attendees can expect an endless night of dancing and fun at the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. Doors open for the event at 7 p.m.

From 7 p.m. to 10 p.m., DJ Robbie Leslie — and his musical projects Studio 54 and Palladium — will provide a musical experience called “Sundance Disco Twilight Tea,” and patrons can enjoy the songs of the weekend beneath the light of a disco ball.

Then, from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., DJ James Anthony, a renowned remixer and producer, comes straight from New York to close off the evening and Labor Day weekend with his token “big room” sound, according to an event description posted to the CAMP Rehoboth website.

Leslie said in a July 29 CAMP Rehoboth news release that the convention center is the perfect venue for this year’s celebration. “It’s big enough to have a shared energy and at the same time it’s very focused, (but) it’s not so big that it gets fragmented,” he said. “So that to me is the ideal venue.”

In the same news release, Anthony explained that his preparation for the evening’s musummer season in Rehoboth Beach.

“People know that it’s the end of summer and, for many people, this may be their last time in Rehoboth until next summer,” he said. “You want to send them off on a good note and make that one last summer of ‘22 memory.”

“After COVID, I’m just thrilled to death to be coming back,” Robbie added in the news … [so I am] really excited about coming back.”

This year, CAMP Rehoboth’s action-packed celebration comes with one more development that sets it apart from years past: the adoption of a new mascot, Sunny the Mannequin, for SunFestival 2022.

Sunny made his formal debut on July 29 in an announcement included in the organization’s newsletter — Letters from CAMP Rehoboth — but was also seen around town throughout the Fourth of July weekend at “Poodle Beach, pool parties, and standing tall inside a Jeep on Route 1.”

event to take their picture with Rehoboth’s latest star, and can share their photos on social media using the hashtag “#SunFestivalRB.” Those interested can also scan the QR code located on Sunny’s shoulders to purchase a ticket to the event.

For those who prefer the traditional route, tickets for the weekend’s events can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/SunFestival-2022-tickets-349077930487, and additional information can be found at https://www.camprehoboth.com/SunFestival2022.

Those who plan on attending the weekend’s festivities and have accessibility needs can contact hope@camprehoboth.com for more information.

Labor Day in D.C.

Staying in D.C. for the long weekend? No worries as there are plenty of events happening closer to home.

• Safe Space: A Queer Dance Party at JR.’s. Saturday, Sept. 3 at 10 p.m.

• Flashy Labor Day Weekend at Flash. Sunday, Sept. 4 at 10 p.m.

• Four different “Hard Labor” events hosted by Xavier Entertainment starting Friday and running through Monday at these venues: Club Elevate, AQUA, Nellie’s, and vy City Smo ehouse etails at avier’s aceboo page

• Labor Gay: The Annual Day Party for Working Gurls at Trade. Monday, Sept. 5, 2-6 p.m.

SunDance is back after COVID-related cancellations. (Washington Blade photo by Daniel Truitt)

CALENDAR

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Friday, September 02

Friday Tea Time will be at 2 p.m. in the DC Center in the atrium of the Reeves Center. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. For more

Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Social” at 7 p.m at The Commentary. This event is ideal for making new friends, professional networking, idea-sharing, and community building. For more information, visit

Saturday, September 03

Virtual Yoga Class with Charles M. will be at 12 p.m. online. This is a free weekly class focusing on yoga, breath work, and meditation. You can RSVP for this event on the DC Center’s website.

DITD Day Party will be at 5 p.m. at Sax Theater & Lounge. This Labor Day party will feature performances from two DJs. There will also be bottle service, hookah and drink specials. Tickets cost $35 and can be

Sunday, September 04

Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Coffee & Conversation” at 12 p.m. at As You Are. This event is for those looking to make more friends in the LGBTQ+ community and some new faces after two years of the pandemic. This event is free

Hard Labor Cookout Party will be at 11:30 p.m. at Aqua. DJ Zyon will be performing, and there will be free food,

Monday, September 05

Center Aging Coffee Drop-In will be at 10 a.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community and online on Zoom. LGBT Older Adults — and friends — are invited to enjoy friendly conversations and to discuss any issues you might be dealing

Not Another Drag Show will be at 8 p.m. at Dupont Italian Kitchen. Logan Stone will host the event along with a

Tuesday, September 06

Center Aging Women’s Social & Discussion Group will be at 6:00p.m. on Zoom. This group is a place where older

First Tuesday LGBTQ+ Social will be at 7:00p.m. at Hi-Tide Lounge. This is an event to meet new people in the

Wednesday, September 07

BookMen DC will be at 7:30 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This is an informal group of men interJob Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For

Thursday, September 08

The DC Center’s Food Pantry Program will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. To be fair with who is receiving boxes, the program is moving to a lottery system. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5 p.m. if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email

“Wasted & Gay Thursdays” will be at 9 p.m. at Wasted Lounge. There will be music, food, drinks, and good vibes. The event will be hosted by Nelly Nellz and there will be music by DJ Ro. Tickets are $5 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

OUT & ABOUT

Pride Night Out planned for Spirit, Commanders

Pride Night OUT at the Washington Spirit will be on Saturday, Sept. 10 at 1 p.m. at Audi Field. This afternoon of women’s soccer will also have a private pre-party at the Heineken Rooftop Bar. Tickets are $30 and each ticket comes with a special collectible Spirit Pride bottle opener. For more details, visit Eventbrite.

Pride Night OUT at the Washington Commanders will be on Sunday, Sept. 25 at 1 p.m. at FedEx Field. The Commanders will be playing the Philadelphia Eagles.

There will be a private pre-game party for just $35 per person that includes a lunch buffet, beer, wine

Tickets start at $49 and can be purchased via the

Pride Night OUT at Cirque du Soleil will be on Thursday, Sept. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at Tysons II. The featured show will be “Kurios: Cabinet of Curiosities.”

Tickets start at $39 and can be purchased on Ticketmaster’s website. Discounted tickets can be accessed for 20% off using the promotional code “TEAMDC”.

he ay en’s Chorus of ashington sings at ed x feld before the game in ( lade photo by ichael ey)

Cleaner air, mow

By Paco Gámez

Based on text by J. López

by José Luis

and

by

Direction by David Peralto

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Throughout the pandemic, understudies have emerged as heroes of the stage. Always there, always ready at a moment’s notice, they cover roles when principal actors are sent home with a positive COVID test. Without them, the show doesn’t go on.

Nineteen-year-old out actor Pierce Wheeler is one such hero. Since joining the national tour of “Dear Evan Hansen” two months ago, he’s been called on to understudy four times for Evan and twice for supporting character Jared Kleinman.

“I played Evan my debut week in Boise, Idaho. The rehearsal process was quick. It happened and I was proud of it,” he says.

And now through Sept. 25, Wheeler will be waiting in the wings of the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater in case he’s needed again.

Long before landing his current gig, Wheeler had itemized theatrical goals on his phone’s notes app. Topping the list was playing Evan in “Dear Evan Hansen.” The winner of six Tony Awards including Best Musical, it’s the story of a shy, sensitive high schooler whose life dramatically changes when a fellow student dies by suicide.

The show marks Wheeler’s professional debut. After graduating from high school in the spring of 2021, he started at New York University’s Musical Theatre program. When not in class, he was audition-

received an email announcing he’d been hired for “Dear Evan Hansen,” and is currently on a gap year from NYU.

“Teachers and peers say if you’re doing the thing you went to college for why go back? I’m very big on education and have lots to learn. Whether I continue working or one day go back to school is up in the air. I’d be happy with either outcome.”

Broadway lore is chock full of understudy stories. Perhaps the most legendary being Shirley MacLaine’s leap form the chorus to cover for an injured producer Hal Wallis, who happened to be in the audience that night, noticed MacLaine’s sparkle and opened the doors to movie stardom.

While Wheeler isn’t counting on a movie deal yet,

he’s loving the understudy experience. “When you’re called to go on it’s a real adrenaline rush,” he says. “Learning more than one role isn’t always easy. But I’m glad it’s been a challenge. This sets me up to take on harder things in the future.

Whether or not he’s slated to perform, he warms up before every showtime. Sometimes during intermission, understudies are tapped to cover the second act. They never know. But inevitably most nights and matinees, he passes the time backstage with other understudies playing board games (Catan is a new obsession), talking, watching movies, or napping.

A self-described community theater kid, Wheeler grew up in Amityville (village on New York’s Long Island, a place best known as the setting of the book “The Amityville Horror”) as the youngest of four children – all queer. “We were a little community who enjoyed a silent acceptance of breaking hetero normative standards,” he says. “I’m so thankful to have them in my life. They shaped me.”

ond Stage with his siblings on Easter Sunday in 2015: “I was really young but I remember sitting and thinking and I’d like to do that.”

Wheeler is a high tenor. He’s described as having a quick vibrato, and a youthful spirit and vocal energy. At 19, he’s closer in age to Evan than most actors who’ve played the part: “Evan is pretty much an anxious high schooler who makes mistakes. Because I stepped out of high school less than two years ago, I totally get the social hierarchy and worries that come with that and the show’s underlying theme of connecting via social media resonates.”

“Having grown up gay helps me to play an emotionally charged teenager like Evan who is straight by the way,” he adds. “I think it allows me to better tap into where lie the dark and happy emotions. Being in touch with love, depression, and anxiety all at the same time.”

dence tempered by the humility of an older soul. Too busy for a relationship at the moment, he says, “Touring has me focusing on myself and I think I’m in love with that.”

Out teen relishes understudy role in ‘Dear Evan Hansen’ Pierce Wheeler has played two roles in national tour of hit show

PIERCE WHEELER stars in ‘Dear Evan Hansen.’ (Photo by Jenny Anderson)

Mi Vida bringing customers together on 14th Street

Striking new location invites group-friendly grazing

By EVAN CAPLAN

The striking new Mi Vida’s location in the heart of 14th Street, N.W., is no coincidence. Opened in early August, it’s an outgrowth of the gay-owned KNEAD Hospitality + Design restaurant group’s wildly popular location on the Wharf.

Mi Vida meets its customers where they are: on a bus tling, pedestrian-friendly corridor where the soaring, three-story interior welcomes group-friendly “grazing”

the Oaxacan culinary culture that it draws from.

KNEAD founders and husbands, Jason Berry and Mi chael Reginbogin, explain that they feel fortunate to meld their brand into a vibrant neighborhood that is a melt ing pot of nightlife and residential communities. “We are bringing Mi Vida to the people,” says Berry.

As with the Wharf Mi Vida, the duo brought on Chef Roberto Santibañez, who is also gay. Here, he extends to the lively neighborhood crowd with no-fork-needed skewers of agave-marinated chicken and sea bass enliv ened by earth pumpkin seed salsa macha.

While the core menu is similar, Santibañez puts the fes communal” option, he says, for sharing, tasting, and inti mately connecting with the food. Each platter comes with a bounty of the resto’s most popular apps and snacks, from crab empanadas to skirt steak skewers, accompa nied by piquant habanero and creamy avocado salsas. Berry notes that they “spared no expense” reimagining the hundred-year-old building that once played host to billiards, bowling, live jazz, and most recently, a Match box pizza. An “old building with a new core,” he says, the historic façade got a glow-up too: splashed atop a pink background is a vibrant mural of riotous shapes and pat terns, a nod to what a diner might expect inside. Soaring the 10,000-square-foot space. A patio on T Street promis es heat lamps for cooler months.

From the top of the menu to the bottom, Mi Vida offers a “dulce suenos” shareable dessert platter that includes

Beverage director Darlin Kulla took the group assign ment to heart. “We are launching our Vuelo a Mexico, a Included sips are drinks like El Suave, a take on a margar ita shot through with ginger, and the Ponche de Lola, a drink with the same mango vodka base that Reginbogin gin (The Grill), bourbon (Succotash), or tequila (Mi Vida). New to this location is a trio of increasingly specialized than 100 agave-based spirits (tequila and mezcal) round out the extensive spirits menu.

Breaking into the birria trend, Berry ensured that this popular dish appears across the menu. It’s available as a short rib entrée, or the spiced stewed meat can be tucked into a quesabirria (“my weakness,” says Berry) – a tortilla that’s stained ocher by being tossed in a spicy broth be fore being slapped on the griddle. Santibañez also draws from his Oaxacan roots for his mole negro that masterful

ly combines the seeds of several chilies toasted in a comal and ground into powder.

The KNEAD and San tibañez collab was a logical one: Berry and working at Rosa Mexica no almost a decade ago, and stayed in touch since. Santibañez came on to the KNEAD team to act as culinary director for the Wharf Mi Vida opening.

As an institution, KNEAD supports a host of LGBTQ causes, including sponsoring the Pride run this year and fundraising for the Trevor Project. “We do what makes sense to be part of the fabric of this community,” added that when bringing on staff, the team is highly in tentional. “Our staff is diverse and inclusive,” he says.

In Mexico, the phrase “mi vida” is also used as a term

of endearment for close family and friends to signify love and care, which is how the owners and chef see each oth er, the neighborhood, and even the cuisine through San tibañez’s expression from his upbringing in Mexico City.

“14th Street is a special place. It’s the heart of the city, a gay-friendly neighborhood. We’ve always had our eye on this location. It was the right next step for our team,” says Berry.

Mi Vida took over the massive former Matchbox pizza location on 14th Street. (Photo by Rey Lopez)

By JOHN PAUL KING

GIANCARLO ESPOSITO as Gus Fring in ‘Better Call Saul.’

Beaches and peaches Fall fun in Saugatuck-Douglas, the art coast of Michigan

By BILL MALCOLM

The last time we wrote about Saugatuck-Douglas was in 2020 amid all the COVID closures and restrictions. If you opted not to travel then, you should plan a visit now. You cannot beat a weekend in Saugatuck-Douglas, Mich., the Midwest’s only gay resort area. The art coast of Michigan is full of fun things to do in an area of rolling sand dunes and fruit farms along Lake Michigan.

The local peaches and apples are ripe (and a few blue berries may be found) and the weather is still good (and Lake Michigan is still warm). The beaches of the area can not be beat. My favorite is the Wau-Ke-Na Preserve near Fennville where you hike through a forest to the beach. The Glenn Beach and Pier Cove as well as County Park are excellent as is the world famous Oval Beach. Look for the gang at the north end. Or just hang out at the pool at the Dunes Resort in Douglas and enjoy a cocktail from the bar. The people watching is nice and they have cabanas to rent for shade lovers.

Saugatuck-Douglas has been a LGBTQ-friendly desti nation since the late 1800s. It transformed from a lumber and fruit shipping port into an arts colony and tourist destination after that where steam ships delivered tour ists from Chicago. The Ox-Bow School of Art is still in ex istence today.

Unlike the cookie cutter, often bland lookalike Mid

in the charming unique area. Both Saugatuck and Doug las are very walkable.

What to Do

Rent a bike at In The Elements Rentals and enjoy the lakeshore on the new Beach to Bayou Trail. Across from

beach gear, kayaks, and paddleboards.

Bring your swimsuit for a hike and swim at Saugatuck Dunes State Park. A half-mile hike through old growth maple and hemlock forests takes you to a beautiful beach area, which is great for swimming.

Enjoy the 100 years of LGBTQ history exhibit (“A Cen tury of Progress: 100 Years of LGBTQ History”) at the Saugatuck-Douglas History Center in Douglas across the street from the Pride Celebration Garden, honoring Larry Gammons and Carl Jennings, the founders of the Dunes Resort. The Center also features another great exhibit,

gardens behind the Center as well.

Rent a kayak at Third Coast Paddling in Douglas and enjoy the Kalamazoo River and Wade’s Bayou. Take a walk or go for lunch in walkable downtown Douglas. Hike to the top of Mt. Baldy Watch the sunset at Oval Beach. Hike the trails of the nearby Saugatuck Harbor Natural Area after that.

Work out at the Community Gym. Arrive by 12 p.m. to get in although they are open 24/7.

Go wine tasting at Fenn Valley Vineyards or the Modales Wines, which is also close to a new cider distill

The Saugatuck Center for the Arts has plays as well as beautiful gardens and a farmers’ market.

Where to Stay

The Dunes Resort in Douglas is my favorite. It has great midweek specials, regular rooms, and cabins. You can enjoy the indoor and outdoor bars, dance the night

away, or stop by for karaoke. Don’t miss the Sunday T Dances and barbeques. If you happen to already be in the area, there are events planned for Labor Day Week end, including: Sept. 1, Karaoke; Sept. 2, DJ Keller, Per

DJ Alaine Jackinsky, Cabaret Sutton Lee Seymour; Sept. 4, pool DJ, Early Tea DJ Keller Shaw, Main Tea DJ Ralphi

DJ Keller Shaw.

• Lambda Car Club ee end, Sept

• r ichigan Leather ee end Sept

• Hoedown at the unes Sept ct

them at 333 Blue Star Highway in Douglas.

The Campit Outdoor Resort south of Fennville at travelers. Tent sites from just $10 as well as a bunkhouse and cabins are among the options. A nice pool and food

every weekend include:

• Sept. 15-18 is the Fire and Arts Weekend

• Sept. 30-Oct. 2 is the LeatherBear weekend. More event information at www campitresort com

The AmericInn by Wyndham just down the road from

Where to Eat

The perch basket is also very good. Lots of family there.

The Pennyroyal Café and Provisions is the hottest new restaurant in the area. Food is prepared the old fash ioned way with local ingredients that highlight the boun ty of West Michigan farms and they take reservations.

The Farmhouse Deli has great salmon, sandwiches, and fresh juices. Try the Zinger with fresh carrot. Isabel’s Market and Eatery across from the Dunes has great cof fee and Italian treats. Grab a slice of tasty homemade piz za or a sandwich at the Lakeshore Party Store just north of the Dunes.

The Guardian Brewing Company has 22 beer taps and

14 wine taps at the Old Red Barn. Very LBGTQ friendly. Have coffee at Uncommon Coffee Roasters Grounds in downtown Saugatuck. The LGBTQ friendly spot roasts its own coffee and also has pressed juices. For desert

Cookies on Call inside the Butler Pantry in Saugatuck.

Getting There/Getting Around

Amtrak serves nearby Holland as well as Kalamazoo. The Gerald Ford Grand Rapids Airport is 50 miles north while Chicago is just 140 miles away. Most folks drive to Saugatuck. It’s an easy drive from Chicago, Detroit, and Indianapolis.

While in the area, take the Inter Urban Transit Authority for just a $1.

Other helpful information

The LakeVista Supervalu has everything you need. You

Saugatuck.com has all the information you need to plan your trip as well as a listing or each week’s happen ings. Stop by the Saugatuck Douglas Welcome Center in Douglas can help you plan your day.

Michiganders have a distinct nasal twang. They also speak their own slang. A convenience store in Michigan is a “party store.” Cans are worth 10 cents deposit. Lots of local microbrews, wines, and cider to enjoy in the area. Enjoy a Vernors, a ginger-ale type of beverage popular with Michiganders. And ask someone where they live in Michigan and they will point to it on their hand (aka the

western state that is fun to visit.

The Commercial Record is the weekly Saugatuck area paper. Between the Lines, OutPost, and Metra Magazine are the three LBTQ publications.

You won’t run out of things to do in the art coast of Michigan. Plan a trip today.

(Bill Malcolm is North America’s only syndicated LGBTQ+ value travel columnist. He is a former resi dent of Royal Oak, Mich., and has been coming to Sau gatuck-Douglas-Fennville for 20 years.)

A scene from Laketown Beach near Saugatuck, Mich. (Photo courtesy Bill Malcolm)

The Bachelor’s Mill Reunion

Tina Tuna Adams, Daryl Wilson honored

Ebony Pyramid Entertainment presented The Bachelors Mill Reunion 2022 with special guest performer Saturday, August 27 at KARMA DC. The Bachelors Mill, a venue popular with the Black LGBTQ community, closed over three years ago. Tina Tuna Adams and Daryl Wilson were honored with awards.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

By JEFF HAMMERBERG

On this Labor Day weekend, we celebrate the rich history and accomplishments of workers across America, and we honor the effort and dedication of working Americans past, present, and future. And ment is a chapter many look ahead to with excitement and anticipation about what the future holds and with good reason. It’s a time to relax, indulge in hobbies and discover new interests, and spend time making memories with those you love.

sion. Fortunately, real estate is a great way to invest for retirement ahead of time, and there are several options to consider, including:

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS (REITS):

must be paid out as dividends. For investors looking to invest in multiple properties at the same time without being tied to ownership of a particular one, this may be a good option.

FIND, FIX, AND FLIP: INVESTINA LONG-TERM RENTAL:

egy. Certainly, it requires having the necessary capital to purchase the property and being willing to deal with the issues that come with having tenants and maintaining a property that you don’t live in. However, estate investment strategy as you recoup your initial investment and build equity over time.

PURCHASEA VACATION HOMEAND RENT PART-TIME:

ularly popular option. Owning a vacation property as an investment means that you can rent it out to tenants for shorter periods, while also enjoying some vacation time for yourself, and building up equity as you go.

retirement they’ve always envisioned.

Having done so, and upon reaching retirement age, you’ll likely be looking to make a real estate change yourself. For many individuals, it’s time to make a move – whether that means downsizing and

ATWWW.GAYREALESTATE.COM – WE’RE HEREFOR YOU

having the right agent can make all the difference during a real estate experience, and we believe you get connected and get started.

JEFF HAMMERBERG

is founding CEO of Hammerberg & Associates, Inc. Reach him at 303-378-5526 or jeffhammerberg@gmail.com.

One retirement investment strategy is to buy and rent out properties either long-term or short-term.

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION

2022 FEP 000095

Date of Death: June 28, 2012

Name of Decedent: Dorothy Chriscoe Ewbank

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT OF FOREIGN PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE AND NOTICE TO CREDITORS

Julie Chrisco whose address is 4401 Tournay Road, Bethesda, MD 20816 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Dorothy Chriscoe Ewbank, deceased, by the Register of Wills Court for Montgomery County, State of Maryland, on July 30, 2012. Service of process may be made upon Michael Andrews - 1829 California Street, NW, #101, Washington, DC 20008 whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been fled with the egister of Wills, D.C. The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real property: 500 N Street SW #N206, Washington, DC 20024. The decedent owned District of Columbia personal property. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and fled with the egister of Wills for the District of Columbia, th Street, NW, #3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001 within 6 months from the date of frst publication of this notice.

Date of frst Publication ulie Chrisco, Personal epresentative A True Test Copy Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

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LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION

2022 ADM 000909

Name of Decedent: DENNIS L. BEAUFORT

Name Address of Attorney rica . loger, I IN, U P WI INS, LLP, Sunderland Place, NW, Washington, DC

NOTICE OF APPOINTMENT, NOTICE TO CREDITORS AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS

AT N C. A , whose address is Windom Place NW, Washing ton, DC was appointed Personal epresentative of the estate of DENNIS L. BEAUFORT who died on June 29, 2022 with a Will and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will shall be fled with the egister of Wills, DC, uilding A, th Street NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001, on or before March 2, 2023. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the egister of Wills or fled with the egister of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before March 2, 2023, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within days of its frst publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of frst Publication athryn C. ay, Personal epresentative A True Test Copy Nicole Stevens Register of Wills

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