Chill Out, Rick!
This week’s Loose Lips column features a fascinating look at contemporary gay and lesbian politics in the District. The dropback for the piece was this week’s endorsement forum of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the “voice of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered citizens in the Democratic Party in Washington, DC.”
The forum is a great opportunity for activists to grill candidates on the wide range of extremely worthy issues on the Stein agenda, such as gay marriage. On that front, as WCPer Mike DeBonis reported, Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander took quite a beating, showing an ambivalence on the topic that the activists pounced upon. In the end, Alexander relented, saying, “I guess I’m in support of it; I’m in support of equal rights.”
Gay marriage, meet male strip clubs.
Longtime city gay activist Rick Rosendall proceeded to hammer Alexander on the lamest of all possible issues–Alexander’s support for stopping the relocation of male strip joints from the baseball district to Ward 5. As DeBonis explained, Alexander’s position on the matter is one of deference to the Ward 5 councilmember, Harry Thomas Jr. But Rosendall couldn’t possibly stomach a councilmember not getting behind the facilitation of strip-club mobility, screaming that Alexander had “betrayed us” on the relo thing.
Why? Because strip clubs suck. They’re ugly, they’re boring, their customers are boring and lugheaded. The places are blights on the urban landscape, in part because they have no windows or if they do have windows, they’re all covered up, and the people in front of those windows are generally stiffs–big self-important bouncers. The shit that goes down in the strip clubs is lame and not worth fighting for and certainly not something that should affect the assessment of a councilmember.
And it’s great to see that the Stein Club apparently feels this way: They voted 36-3 in favor of Alexander.
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1:42 pm
I don’t think this writer has ever been to the male strip clubs in SouthEast before they closed due to the baseball stadium. On the weekends, those places were hugely popular with a diverse cross-section of the gay community and their friends attending. The buildings themselves may not have been the most beautiful to look at, but most of these establishments are housed in former warehouses and the owners did the best they could to spruce them up. There were no “hulking bouncers” at the door because they don’t need them, these places didn’t cause any trouble and actually brought people from all over the metro area to a part of the city that most never would have gone to otherwise. Please don’t take the look and feel of the “straight” strip clubs on M Street, NW and other places in the city and automatically assume that the gay ones are going to look the same. They didn’t before they closed (through no fault of their own) and they won’t when they reopen. Gays are a picky bunch, give us some credit.
2:23 pm
I’d have to agree with the first commenter. The description in the article doesn’t sound like any of the strip clubs that are now center field. They were fun, catered to diverse crowds, and should have the opportunity to relocate.
5:56 pm
Rick Rosendall is a tough cookie and someone you do not want on your bad side.
9:29 pm
Thank you, Bill. Eric Wemple’s grasp of his subject is about as strong as it was several years ago when he identified Peggy Cooper Cafritz as a white woman. The gay clubs and the straight clubs are two entirely different phenomena. His assumption that the endorsement of Yvette Alexander was a rejection of concerns about the city’s destruction of the gay club zone shows his ignorance of the Stein Club’s policy advocacy. That vote had more to do with the fact that it was done by a show of hands rather than by secret ballot. Several people have since told me that they agreed with my statements. In any case, it is nice to see Eric’s support for other people’s right to choose their own entertainment as long as it doesn’t make his nose wrinkle. Pardon me, but Washington is an international city and as such ought to be cosmopolitan enough to make room for a few fleshpots. The gay clubs were flourishing off South Capitol Street for three decades until the city pushed them out. I am glad to see that GLAA’s lobbying for the Graham bill last year have not been entirely in vain, since Ziegfield’s/Secrets will soon reopen on Half Street SW near Buzzard Point. Unlike Eric, I defend the right of adults to make their own choices, regardless of whether they resemble the choices I make.