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Three straight clubs displaced by the new stadium have applied for license transfers under legislation introduced earlier this year by gay Councilmember Jim Graham, meaning gay clubs will lose out on moving to the much sought-after warehouse district. (Blade file photo by Joey DiGuglielmo)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
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they believe are suitable locations shows that the law leaves some places for the clubs to relocate.
But Moosally and other city officials acknowledge that the Graham law doesn’t change existing zoning laws and regulations and that all adult clubs serving alcohol must conform to zoning requirements before being allowed to open for business.
Graham said he agreed to the various restrictions in his bill, including the two clubs per ward provision, after his Council colleagues told him they would not vote for the bill without the restrictions. He said he did not believe the bill would pass without the restrictions.
Gay activists, led by veteran activist Frank Kameny, urged Graham and the City Council to make a one-time change in the zoning laws as well as the liquor law to allow the displaced clubs to move, saying the city forced the clubs out of business and had an obligation to allow them to reopen.
“We never asked the city to let them open anyplace,” said Rick Rosendall of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance. “We have always said the city has a moral obligation to allow them to reopen someplace.”
Graham declined to include zoning changes in his bill, saying the Council did not have authority to change zoning laws. He noted that a quasi federal-local zoning commission must make those changes under the city home rule charter. Neither the Council nor former Mayor Anthony Williams or Mayor Adrian Fenty has asked the zoning commission to consider changes that would allow the clubs to reopen.
In April 2006, the five adult gay entertainment businesses that had been operating for more than 30 years on O Street, S.E., between Half Street and South Capitol Street, closed under an eminent domain order from the city, which was invoked to make way for the new stadium. Two of the clubs, Ziegfeld’s-Secrets and Heat, are eligible for relocation assistance and certain liquor law exemptions under the Graham bill.
The other three — the Follies Theater, which featured adult gay films and burlesque shows; Glorious Health and Amusements, an adult video arcade and bookstore; and Club Washington bathhouse — did not sell alcohol and were not included under the provisions of the Graham bill. Owners of the Follies and Club Washington announced they did not plan to reopen because they did not believe they could find a new location under the city’s zoning laws.
Gay businessman Robert Siegel, owner of Glorious Health and Amusements and owner of the buildings where most of the other O Street clubs operated, reopened his arcade business under the name Club 2120 in a warehouse in Northeast D.C. near where Edge-Wet plans to reopen. But the city revoked Siegel’s occupancy permit for Club 2120 and forced him to shut down a short time after it opened on grounds that it was operating as a “sexually oriented” business in a location where the zoning law prohibits such businesses.
Siegel has said he plans to reopen the club after making changes so that it would<
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