Comments on: Chill Out, Rick!

By: Rick Rosendall

Rick Rosendall — Sat, 17 May 2008 01:29:01 +0000

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.

By: Bill Grant

Bill Grant — Fri, 16 May 2008 21:56:23 +0000

Rick Rosendall is a tough cookie and someone you do not want on your bad side.

By: chris

chris — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:23:30 +0000

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.

By: John

John — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:42:08 +0000

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.