Beers for queers: Not just in gay bars anymore

This week, Metro Weekly reported on three local gay social activists who have been organizing a monthly “Guerilla Queer Bar” in D.C. for the past five years. The concept is simple: Get a bunch of gay people together, descend upon a traditionally straight bar, and declare “We’re here, we’re queer, we want a beer.” Then, like, drink the beer.

Read More “Gay Guerillas Descend on Straight Bar, Possibly for Last Time” »

The Washington City Paper’s second Best Of D.C. issue since 1987 hits newsstands today. Since this is our staff’s second Best Of, we’re honoring the District’s second-bests in 2009. My picks—including “Second-Best Strip Club Excuse,” “Second-Best Item of Clothing to Remove at a Gay Bar,” and “Second-Best George Mason Personality” (pictured)—are after the jump.

Read More “City Paper’s Best Of D.C. Issue Out Today” »

Bitch and Hormone: Gender identity gets worked over in bar fight.

When Mitch Graffeo entered Dupont’s Fab Lounge shortly before closing on Feb. 28, he hadn’t been to a lesbian club in more than a decade. Graffeo, 40, was only stopping in to pick up a friend, 29-year-old Jamie, at the conclusion of the gay bar’s weekly lesbian night. Graffeo and Jamie, both transgender men, were two of only a handful of men in a club full of women. As the lights went up, a group of women took a sudden interest in Jamie. Slim and boyish, Jamie had only recently begun to transition from female to male, and they wanted to know what he was.

Read More “GLB Against T: Who’s Man Enough to Escape a Beating?” »

Point taken: Cobalt spikes its high-heel ban.

On a cold February night last year, Sara, a 24-year-old straight woman, slipped on the perfect shoes for winter bar-hopping: suede boots with a chunky 2-inch heel. She and her friends—another straight woman and a few gay men—were heading out for a night of dancing at Cobalt, a gay club on the 17th Street strip. When they reached the door, a bouncer stopped Sara and refused to let her in, citing the bar’s longstanding no-high-heel policy. “There could be men at the club wearing flip-flops,” the bouncer told Sara—and her big, bad boots could endanger an exposed little piggy.
Read More “Cobalt Retires Its Shoe Fetish” »

Lou Chibbaro Jr. reports for The Blade on D.C.’s most recent hate crime. Two customers leaving the D.C. Eagle, a New York Ave. gay bar, were assaulted last Friday “by a group of men shouting anti-gay names,” Chibbaro writes.

“The victims, who state they were walking through a group of 6 black males, were punched and called homophobic names,” [Special Liason Unit Commander Brett] Parson said in an e-mail alert.

“No robbery was announced and there was no altercation prior to the attack. Neither victim suffered visible injuries,” he said.

He said the attackers fled north on 7th Street. No arrests have been made in the incident and police have no suspects, Parson said.

Unlike the Tony Hunter case, which also concerned an assault near a D.C. gay bar, this incident is being classified by MPD as a hate crime.