D.C. activist Frank Kameny, one of the pioneers of the gay rights
movement, is calling on District officials to address where gay nightclubs that
will be shut down to make way for a new baseball stadium will be relocated. (File
photo)
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JOE CREA
Friday, December 31, 2004
In response to the slated displacement of six gay clubs in southeast Washington,
local gay activist Frank Kameny plans to write a letter to the D.C. Council telling
them they have a “moral obligation” to relocate the gay establishments
that are scheduled to be put out of business to make room for the city’s
new baseball stadium.
Kameny argues that the D.C. Council “exiled” gay clubs to the O
Street SE area of Washington during the 1970s and are now obliged to relocate
the businesses, possibly at the site of the recently demolished Washington Convention
Center, 900 Ninth St. NW.
“They exiled us there [O Street] in an out of sight, out of mind philosophy
and they have a moral obligation, regardless of whatever zoning officials say,
to relocate the businesses,” said the longtime gay-rights activist who
said he will send his letter to the Council next week.
The likely displacement of the O Street gay clubs, Ziegfeld’s and Secrets,
the Follies Theater, the Glorious Health & Amusements, Club Bath and Heat,
which opened this week and was previously named La Cage Aux Follies Bar &
Nightclub, represents an extreme example of what some say is a crackdown by
the District Council and others on D.C. nightlife.
Earlier this month, the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted
to oppose a request from the gay club Cobalt to change its license from a restaurant
to a tavern.
However the ANC chair, Darren Bowie, who is gay, claimed the commission is
likely to approve the license change as long as the bar agrees not to convert
their restaurant into an outdoor saloon. Under Cobalt’s present license,
they are required to obtain 45 percent of their income from the sale of food.
And the prospects for a new gay bar, Fab Lounge — located just three
blocks north of Dupont Circle — remains in limbo. The chief of staff for
gay D.C. Councilmember David Catania [I-At-Large] for months was a primary opponent
of the new bar.
However, Linda Bumbalo, who has worked for Catania since he won election to
the Council in 1997, sent a two-sentence letter to the head of the D.C. Alcoholic
Beverage Control Board, Charles Burger, noting that she was dropping her protest
against the Fab Lounge’s liquor license application. In news reports,
Bumbalo maintained that she was not opposed to Fab Lounge because it was a gay
establishment but was concerned that too many bars and restaurants were opening
in the vicinity of Connecticut and Florida Avenues, NW.
She had also expressed concern that a small school for youths with learning
disabilities was operating within 400 feet of the proposed lounge. The Fab Lounge,
spearheaded by D.C. businessman Frez Teame, is to be housed in the second floor
at 1805 Connecticut Ave., NW, directly above the Royal Palace nightclub, which
features nude female dancers.
Kameny and others say there is a trend amongst the Council via elaborate ABC
regulations and zoning rules in limiting D.C. nightlife for both gay and straight
clientele.
While it appears that gay clubs are being hit much harder, leaders say whatever
crackdown is underway is not specifically due to animus toward gay citizens
or businesses.
“I don’t see it is a gay-directed trend … you will find NIMBY-ism
all over the city,” Kameny said, referring to an attitude of residents
who support controversial venues, but “Not In My Back Yard.”
The Council’s two openly gay members, David Catania (I-At-Large) and
Jim Graham (D-Ward 4), did not return Blade inquiries.
Rick Rosendall, vice president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance,
said those moving to the heart of D.C. from suburbs expect the tranquil life
to follow them.
“You have people moving to the center city and what they really want
is to live in a quiet suburb but somehow they expect the suburb to move where
they are,” Rosendall said. “Having a vibrant nightlife should be
expected to go along with city living. It is certainly a reasonable thing for
people to expect that there will be a nightlife.”
Speaking on behalf of the Dupont Circle neighborhood, Bowie said that nightlife
has and continues to thrive in Dupont adding he does not see any shift in perception
about nightlife being curtailed in the city.
“In urban neighborhoods like Dupont Circle, you have residents and businesses
living in close proximity to one another and there will obviously be disagreements
and contentions,” Bowie said.
Bowie added that complaints about nightlife establishments come from all types
of residents; gay and straight and those who have lived in the neighborhood
for twenty years or less.
Local leaders insist that the Council and neighborhood associations have encumbered
local businesses with unnecessary regulations and zoning laws.
“The Council is making it more difficult for nightlife,” Kameny
said. “They have placed a moratorium on nude bars, they have elaborate
ABC regulations, neighborhood associations can impose all sorts of restrictions
on these establishments … These neighborhood associations have a lot of
power and authority and they put in place very surreal limitations on what establishments
can do.”
Joe Crea can be reached at jcrea@washblade.com.
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