Gay D.C. Councilmember David Catania says opposition to a liquor license application by owners of the Be Bar in the Shaw neighborhood is ‘offensive.’
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LOU CHIBBARO JR
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Gay D.C. Councilmembers David Catania and Jim Graham say they are troubled over opposition by two anti-gay ministers to a liquor license for a proposed gay-owned bar in the city’s Shaw neighborhood.
But the two councilmembers have differing views on whether a change in the city’s liquor law is needed to prevent small groups of residents from delaying or blocking a liquor license based on prejudice or frivolous grounds.
"It’s absurd," Catania said, commenting on the claim by the Rev. Anthony Evans, president of the D.C. Black Church Initiative, that a gay bar should not be allowed to open in Shaw because it would "undermine the moral character" of the community.
"This is about one part of the community telling another part of the community that they don’t belong," said Catania, an independent with an at-large seat on the council. "I think that is offensive."
Graham, a Democrat who represents Ward 2, said he is hopeful the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board will base its decision to grant a liquor license for Be Bar, at 1312 Ninth St., NW, on whether it complies with city laws.
"There is no room in the ABC law for countenancing homophobia," Graham said.
No tolerance for bigotry
Vince Morris, a spokesperson for D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, said the mayor "would not tolerate" the use of prejudice or bigotry as a means of preventing gays or any other minority from opening a business or moving into a city neighborhood.
ABC Board spokesperson Jeff Coudriet said the board last week dismissed what it considered a letter of protest against Be Bar by Rev. Evans’ group.
The letter, signed by Evans, stated, among other things, that the bar would "promote an alternative lifestyle that runs counter to the values of the Shaw community."
Coudriet said the board is deliberating whether to allow separate protests against the Be Bar license by eight members of scripture Cathedral, a Pentecostal church located across the street from the bar, and from Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C, which includes part of the Shaw neighborhood.
Church members and the ANC cited "peace, order and quiet," a vaguely worded section of the liquor law commonly used to protest licenses, as grounds for their protest. Church members also said they were concerned that Be Bar would be too close to a church-run daycare center..
The board is scheduled to issue a ruling at a hearing on May 3 on whether the protests by the church members and ANC 2C can go forward in a process that could take up to 16 months for a final decision on the Be Bar license.
A question of prejudice
The opposition to the bar’s license has attracted extensive media attention to issues ranging from anti-gay prejudice and gentrification to racial divisions and economic development.
Bishop C.L. Long, founding pastor of scripture Cathedral, has said his opposition to the bar was based mainly on a concern that an establishment serving alcohol would be located across the street from his church.
He said he did not know the bar would have a gay clientele when he first learned it was applying for a license.
ABC Board records show that neither Long nor members of his church filed protests last year against the liquor license application for Old Dominion Brewery and the Mongolian Grill & Tokyo Sushi Bar, both located less than a block south of the church. Records show the church also did not oppose the license renewal application for the S&W Liquor Store, located one block north of the church.
Calls for change
Supporters of Be Bar and co-owner Michael Watson have called on the D.C. Council to change the city’s liquor law so that small groups of residents can’t cause long delays in liquor license approval. Watson and members of nearby ANC 2F, which also represents the Shaw neighborhood, have said a majority of nearby residents support Be Bar’s license application.
ANC 2C member Alexander Padro, who is gay and supports the Be Bar license, said most residents favor the opening of new businesses in an area that has been marked by vacant storefronts and abandoned buildings along the Ninth Street commercial strip.
Graham said he was skeptical about the need to change the liquor law, saying the existing law gives the ABC Board the discretion it needs to determine whether a protest is valid or frivolous.
"I would have to carefully review this before considering any changes," said Graham, who, as chair of the Council’s Committee on Consumer & Regulatory Affairs, has authority to block or initiative legislation pertaining to liquor licenses.
Catania, who is a member of the same committee, said he would consider pushing for a liquor law change if Be Bar and other applicants face lengthy delays in the license approval process over protests that are based on grounds other than those intended in the law.
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