May 04, 2007  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance.

“Do you support the relocation of the many gay bars and businesses that were displaced by the new ballpark, even if local NIMBYs [‘Not In My Back Yard’ advocates] and homophobes oppose them?” GLAA asked on the questionnaire.

“Yes,” Thomas replied. “I support the relocation of these establishments in areas zoned appropriately. They should not be relocated in neighborhoods but in the downtown business district or other types of commercially zoned districts,” he said.

The Ward 5 warehouse district where Edge-Wet and some of the other gay clubs displaced by the stadium hope to relocate is zoned for commercial use.

Thomas could not be reached for comment for this story by press time. City Hall observers say his vote on the Graham bill could be pivotal because other Councilmembers could defer to his position on legislation that affects his ward.

The four other Councilmembers that won election or re-election last year gave similar answers on the GLAA questionnaire, saying they favored giving the displaced gay businesses a chance to relocate. The four include Council Chair Vincent Gray (D-At-Large) and Councilmembers Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6).

Cheh and Councilmember Kwame Brown (D-At-Large) are the only other members of Graham’s committee. The committee has two vacant seats that are to be filled by the winners of this week’s special election for the Council’s Ward 4 and Ward 7 seats. The seats became vacant when then Councilmembers Adrian Fenty and Gray won election last November as mayor and Council chair respectively.

The winners — Muriel Bowser in Ward 4 and Yvette Alexander in Ward 7 — are not expected to be certified by the Board of Elections & Ethics as Councilmembers for at least 10 days, preventing them from taking office in time to vote on Graham’s bill in his committee markup session on May 8. They will be eligible to vote on the bill should it come before the full Council later this month.

In response to the GLAA questionnaire, the two expressed general support for the relocation of the gay clubs but made no commitment to legislation like Graham’s bill.

“The displacement of businesses by the new ballpark should be remedied by relocation assistance from the District,” Bowser stated in her response. Alexander stated on the questionnaire that she would “work with those businesses and community leaders to identify new locations for those businesses.”