The D.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on May 3 dismissed two separate protests against a proposed liquor license for Be Bar, a gay-owned tavern seeking to open in the District’s Shaw neighborhood.

The board’s action clears the way for Be Bar to obtain its license and open within the next three weeks, according to Andrew Kline, the bar’s lawyer. The board ruled that Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2C, one of the two groups opposing the license, failed to adequately notify the community about a meeting at which it discussed and voted to oppose the Be Bar license.

Be Bar co-owner Michael Watson has said the ANC’s failure to inform him of the meeting prevented him or his lawyer from presenting a case in favor of the license before the ANC members who voted on the issue. The board ruled that a group of eight members of scripture Cathedral, which is located across the street from Be Bar, did not have legal standing to protest the license because most did not live in the neighborhood where the bar is located.

In announcing the board’s decision, board chair Charles Burger said the law requires that protestants have a "common ground" with ties to the neighborhood, and that belonging to the same church was not sufficient to meet that standard.

Devarieste Curry, a lawyer for the church members, said the group would appeal the decision by asking the board to reconsider its action. She did not say whether the church members would exercise their right to appeal the case before the D.C. Court of Appeals. Kline said the appeals court almost always upholds decisions by the ABC Board.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.