the lgbtq community’s news source

Mother’s Day local social

memories news
Susan Silber and her
adult children on
growing up in a
uniquely diverse family.
PAGE 23
agenda
After long wait, 3 gay men Six men explore
face trial next week in concepts of nakedness
connection with unsolved in 'Naked Boys
murder of Robert Wone. Singing!' at Playbill.
PAGE 4 PAGE 16

washingtonblade.com • vol. 41, issue 19 • may 7, 2010 • Still sharp after 40 years

‘Don’t Ask’ repeal faces delay, uncertainty

Gates warns Congress
not to act; protesters
arrested for third time
outside White House
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com
In the wake of Defense
Secretary Robert Gates advising
Congress to delay taking action to
overturn “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,”
LGBT advocates remain commit-
ted to pushing for repeal this year,
but have expressed differing opin-
ions on the best way forward.
In an April 30 letter to House
Armed Services Committee
Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.),
Gates says “in the strongest pos-
sible terms” that the Department
of Defense must be allowed to
conduct its review of lifting the
ban on open service before
Congress takes “any legislative
action.” The report is due to be
completed Dec. 1.
Gates says “a critical element” of
the review is engaging the armed
forces and military families and
noted that those in service “must be
afforded” the opportunity to share
“concerns, insights and sugges-
tions” about the proposed change.
“Therefore, I strongly oppose
any legislation that seeks to
change this policy prior to the
completion of this vital engage-
ment process,” Gates says.
“Further, I hope Congress will
not do so, as it would send a very
damaging message to our men
and women in uniform that in
essence their views, concerns,
and perspectives do not matter
Washington Blade photo by Michael Key
on an issue with such a direct
impact and consequence for Lt. Dan Choi and other supporters of repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ have turned up the heat on President
them and their families.” Obama in recent weeks. Sunday’s White House protest marked the third time in two months that activists were
arrested while demanding action on repeal.
Continues on page 14

Teens charged in
gay principal’s murder
Police say victim
socialagenda met suspects
Last weekend's Youth Pride Day was a hit, through chat line
after being rescheduled for rain. Page 29.
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
Three 18-year-old men who
allegedly met gay D.C. middle
school principal Brian Betts
through a telephone sex chat
line were arrested Monday in
connection with his shooting
death, police said.
Alante Saunders, whom
socialagenda Montgomery County Police said
Allen Ginsberg, a visionary writer, was also a photographer. had no fixed address, and Sharif
His work is on display at the Nat'l Gallery of Art. Page 28. Tau Lancaster, who lives along
the 5300 block of Fifth Street,
N.W., in D.C., have been charged
with first-degree murder, armed
robbery and the use of a handgun
in a felony crime of violence.
Deonatra Q. Gray, who lives
along the 1300 block of
Southview Drive in Oxon Hill,
Md., was charged Tuesday with
first-degree murder, one count
of armed robbery, and one
count of conspiracy to commit
armed robbery.
“While the motive of the crime
is still being investigated, we
believe that it is most likely going Photo by Bel Perez Gabilondo;
courtesy of D.C. Public Schools
to be robbery,” said Montgomery
County Police Chief J. Thomas Four people were arrested this
Manger during a news confer- week in connection with the mur-
ence Monday. der of Brian Betts, the gay princi-
pal of Shaw Middle School in D.C.
Continues on page 18
2 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 3

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4 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
LOCALNEWS
Former activists on trial in Wone case
Unsolved murder
has elements of gay
mystery novel
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
Three once politically active
gay men whose polygamist rela-
tionship and proclivity for S&M
sex has been exposed by prose-
cutors following a D.C. murder
investigation are scheduled to go
on trial May 10 in a case that
mimics a mystery novel.
Gay rights attorney Joseph
Price, dairy industry official Victor
Zaborsky and former Virginia gay
rights group staffer turned mas-
sage therapist Dylan Ward have
been charged with evidence tam-
pering, obstruction of justice and
conspiracy in connection with the
August 2006 murder of Asian
American attorney Robert Wone.
Wone, 32, was found stabbed
to death in a second floor guest
room in the Dupont Circle area
townhouse where the three gay
men lived at the time. Authorities
have yet to charge anyone with the
murder itself, but police and prose-
cutors have said they believe
Price, Zaborsky and Ward most
Police: Murder suspect lured victim by posing as gay
Grand jury could deem
attack a hate crime
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
A gay D.C. resident was shot to
death in his car by a 20-year-old
District man he met on a telephone
chat line and who posed as gay for
the purpose of luring him to a loca-
tion where he could rob him,
according to a police affidavit.
The affidavit, which was dis-
cussed during a D.C. Superior
Court hearing April 21, says
Antwan Holcomb allegedly entered
Anthony Perkins’ Lincoln Town Car
after Perkins, 29, drove to a location
the two arranged to meet through a
conversation on the chat line.
Holcomb allegedly shot Perkins
in the head Dec. 27 after he resis-
ted Holcomb’s robbery attempt,
says the affidavit.
Holcomb was overheard say-
ing he “shot the ‘faggy’ in the head
and robbed him of a pack of
Newport cigarettes” before leav-
ing the car and fleeing the scene
on foot, the affidavit says. It says
the pack of cigarettes appears to
be the only item taken.
Photo courtesy of Radio Free Asia
Robert Wone was stabbed to
death in August 2006.
likely know the identity of the killer.
The men have pleaded not
guilty, saying an unidentified
intruder who entered their house
through a rear door killed Wone
while the three slept.
Wone was a longtime friend of
Price since the two were students
at the College of William & Mary in
Virginia. He was spending the night
at the gay men’s house on Swann
Street, N.W. after working late at his
nearby office, according to his wife,
Kathy Wone, and other family
members who say he was straight.
The trial is set to begin after
more than a year of haggling
between defense and govern-
ment attorneys over the admissi-
D.C. police charged Holcomb on
March 12 with first-degree murder
while armed in connection with
Perkins’ death while he was being
held at the D.C. jail on an unrelated
charge of assault with intent to kill.
Court records show that the
separate assault charge stems
from a Dec. 12 incident in which
Holcomb allegedly shot two peo-
ple outside the Player’s Lounge, a
popular Southeast nightclub and
restaurant on Martin Luther King
Jr. Avenue, S.E., that has hosted
events organized by gay activists.
At the April 21 hearing, Judge
Lee Satterfield found probable
cause that Holcomb murdered
Perkins and approved a motion
by prosecutors that he be held
without bond while awaiting trial.
Holcomb has pleaded not guilty
to the murder charge.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael
Liebman, the lead prosecutor in the
case, told the Blade after the hear-
ing that the case would soon go
before a grand jury. He said addi-
tional charges, including the possi-
ble classification of the murder as
an anti-gay hate crime, could
emerge in a grand jury indictment.
Gay activists and groups that
monitor anti-gay violence often
bility of a mountain of evidence
gathered by D.C. police and
prosecutors. A team of nearly
one dozen defense lawyers is
set to face off against a smaller
team of prosecutors headed by
Assistant U.S. Attorney Glenn
Kirschner, who is considered
one of the city’s most effective
prosecutors.
“Given the sophistication of the
defendants’ cover-up of the mur-
der of Robert Wone, the evidence
obtained to date does not yet
establish beyond a reasonable
doubt who actually killed Robert
Wone,” Kirschner wrote in a gov-
ernment motion filed in February.
“Although the government inves-
tigation into the murder contin-
ues,” he wrote, “there is ample evi-
dence demonstrating the killer is
someone known to the defen-
dants, and not, as the defendants
told the police, an unknown,
unseen phantom intruder.”
Much of the government’s evi-
dence against the three defen-
dants surfaced in October 2008,
when prosecutors released a 13-
page affidavit in support of an
arrest warrant for Ward, who was
the first of the three men to be
charged in the case.
The affidavit describes in detail
some of the findings of crime
have referred to cases like the
Perkins killing as gay pickup mur-
ders, noting that they usually
stem from a gay man meeting
someone at a gay bar or cruising
spot who seeks to entice the gay
man into inviting him to his home,
where the perpetrator intends to
rob or harm him. In recent years,
police and activists have said gay
male victims have frequently met
their attackers online.
D.C. police homicide detective
Ray Shields testified at the hearing
that investigators linked Holcomb
to the Perkins murder after identify-
ing several witnesses, including
two who were at or near the scene
at the time of the murder. He said
the two witnesses near the scene,
whom prosecutors have identified
only was W-1 and W-2, knew
Holcomb before the murder.
He said W-1 reported hearing a
loud bang that sounded like a
gunshot on the 2900 block of
Fourth Street, S.E., and moments
later observed a man he knew as
Antwan walking quickly away from
the area. Shields said the witness
later identified the person he saw
as Antwan Holcomb from a nine-
picture police photo array.
The detective pointed to the affi-
scene investigators and an autop-
sy conducted on Wone. It says
that someone in the house
cleaned the crime scene by wip-
ing away spattered blood. The affi-
davit also says chemical and fiber
tests showed someone used a
towel to wipe some of Wone’s
blood onto a knife taken from the
defendants’ kitchen. The men told
police they found the bloody knife
on a nightstand in the room where
Wone was sleeping, saying it was
the weapon an intruder used to
stab Wone three times in the
chest and abdomen.
Prosecutors, however, said
later that a knife missing from a
cutlery set found in Ward’s bed-
room appeared to be the actual
murder weapon based on the
shape and depth of the stab
wounds. Prosecutors obtained a
duplicate of the missing knife from
the manufacturer for the purpose
of comparing it to the wounds on
Wone’s body, court papers show.
Prosecutors initially said they
would argue at trial that Wone had
been immobilized by a paralytic
drug, sexually assaulted and possi-
bly tortured with needle punctures
found in various places on his body
before being stabbed. They pointed
to autopsy findings showing surgi-
cal-like stab wounds on the body,
davit’s account of the second wit-
ness, W-2, who told police he saw a
man he knew as “Twon” leave a res-
idence at 500 Lebaum St., S.E., and
enter a gold-colored Lincoln Town
Car in the early morning hours of
Dec. 27. According to the affidavit,
W-2 said that later in the morning he
saw the man run back into the resi-
dence at 500 Lebaum St., S.E.
“Once he was inside, W-2
heard Twon describing a murder
Twon had just committed,” says
the affidavit. “W-2 advised that
Twon stated that he got into a car
and drove around with the ‘faggy’
and that Twon stated that, at some
point later, he pulled out his gun at
which time Twon and the ‘faggy’
got into a brief struggle.
“Twon then stated that he shot
the ‘faggy’ in the head and robbed
him of a pack of Newport cigarettes.”
Shields testified at the hearing
that W-2 also was shown a nine-
picture police photo array and
“positively” identified Antwan
Holcomb as Twon.
According to the affidavit,
Holcomb admitted to homicide
detectives that he met Perkins
on a phone chat line and admit-
ted to inviting the person to meet
him outside of 500 Lebaum St.,
with no signs that Wone moved or
flinched when he was attacked.
The lack of any signs of defensive
wounds or slightly jagged stab
wounds — which are found in vir-
tually all stabbings — indicated
the victim was immobilized,
Kirchner has argued.
Kirschner has since said the
government has been unable to
definitively show through chemi-
cal tests that Wone was immobi-
lized with a drug, but he indicated
he might introduce evidence
found in Ward’s bedroom of a
large collection of S&M sex
devices, including body restraints,
face masks, and an object used
to administer an electric shock to
different parts of the body.
Defense attorneys, led by sea-
soned trial lawyers Bernard Grimm,
Thomas Connolly and Robert
Spagnoletti, the gay former D.C.
attorney general and a former U.S.
prosecutor, have waged a fierce
pre-trial fight to disqualify key
pieces of government evidence.
Superior Court Judge Lynn
Leibovitz was expected to rule on
evidence related matters as a final
pre-trial hearing set for Wednesday,
after Blade deadline.
Story continues at
washingtonblade.com.
S.E. But he denied getting into
that person’s car when the per-
son arrived at the scene and
denied shooting and robbing the
person, says the affidavit.
“Mr. Holcomb stated that some-
time between the late evening
hours of [Dec. 26] and the early
morning hours of [Dec. 27] he
called a ‘chat line,’” says the affi-
davit. “He stated that he posed as a
homosexual in an attempt to lure a
victim to his location for the purpose
of robbing him. He stated that he
spoke to someone on the chat line
and after several conversations
convinced the subject to meet him
in the area of 500 Lebaum St., S.E.”
The affidavit says police ballis-
tic tests showed that the bullet
recovered from Perkins’ head and
a bullet recovered from one of the
victims Holcomb allegedly shot
outside the Player’s Lounge had
been fired from the same gun.
A separate affidavit for the
Player’s Lounge case says one of
the people allegedly shot by
Holcomb is paralyzed from the waist
down and confined to a wheelchair
as a result of the gunshot wound.
Holcomb’s defense attorney in
the Perkins case, Ronald Horton,
declined to comment.
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 5

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6 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
LOCALNEWS
D.C. Appeals Court hears gay marriage case
Opponents want ballot
initiative on new city law
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
In what legal observers called
an unusual development, the full
nine-judge D.C. Court of Appeals
heard oral arguments Monday for
a lawsuit seeking to force the city
to put its same-sex marriage law
before voters in a ballot initiative.
At issue is whether a 1970s
amendment to the D.C. City
Charter that allows voters to pass
or repeal laws through an initiative
or referendum can legally include
a provision banning such ballot
measures if they would take away
rights from minorities.
The City Council added the
provision to the charter amend-
ment at the request of gay
activists. The effort by same-sex
marriage opponents to challenge
the provision represents the first
time it has been seriously ques-
tioned in more than 30 years.
All but two of the judges asked
Fenty apologizes for honoring anti-gay group
Staff error blamed
for ‘certificate of
appreciation’ to
PFOX leader
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
A spokesperson for D.C. Mayor
Adrian Fenty has apologized for a
mayoral Certificate of Appreciation
awarded to the leader of the anti-
gay group Parents & Friends of Ex-
Gays & Gays known as PFOX.
PFOX characterizes homosexu-
ality in its literature as a psychological
disorder and says gays can change
their sexual orientation to become
heterosexual through “reparative
therapy.” LGBT organizations have
pointed to scientific literature refuting
such claims and have denounced
reparative therapy, saying it’s harmful
and based on “junk science.”
“A staff level error was made
when the request for the certifi-
cate in question was fulfilled,”
Mafara Hobson, Fenty’s commu-
nications director, told the Gay &
Lesbian Activists Alliance last
week in an e-mail.
“The mayor is proud of his ardent
support of the LGBT community as
illustrated in his championing of the
Marriage Equality legislation he
signed into law on December 18,
2009,” Hobson wrote in her e-mail.
Same-sex marriage opponents Rev. Anthony Evans, left, and Bishop
Harry Jackson talk Tuesday outside the D.C. Court of Appeals. A case
before the court could force the city to put its same-sex marriage law
before voters in a ballot initiative.
pointed questions that appeared
to challenge the legal arguments
presented by the lawyers on both
sides of the case, taking on the
role of devil’s advocate.
“The court asked a variety of
probing questions, as they should
have,” said Thomas Williamson, an
attorney with Covington & Burling,
Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key
Local gay activists took D.C.
Mayor Adrian Fenty to task after
his office mistakenly granted an
award to an anti-gay group.
Hobson’s apology on behalf of
the mayor came after GLAA and
other LGBT groups learned of the
November certificate from a PFOX
press release. PFOX issued the
press release April 28 — some six
months after the mayor’s office
issued the certificate.
The certificate says, “Govern-
ment of the District of Columbia —
Certificate of Appreciation is here-
by awarded to Regina Griggs —
In recognition of your dedication,
commitment and outstanding con-
tributions as Executive Director of
Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays
and Gays.” The document bears
Washington Blade photo by Michael Key
which filed a friend of the court
brief on the side of the D.C. gov-
ernment in defense of the law
restricting ballot measures.
“But it seemed that a consistent
theme in their questions was a
sensitivity to the importance of
protecting civil rights of a vulnera-
ble minority, which is really what
Fenty’s signature.
Hobson told the Washington
Blade on April 29 that similar to the
hundreds of honorary certificates
and proclamations that the mayor’s
office issues each year, the
mayor’s signature was affixed to
the PFOX award by an “auto pen.”
She said Fenty neither saw nor
knew anything about the matter
until activists brought it to the atten-
tion of the mayor’s office April 28.
GLAA Vice President Rick
Rosendall noted that in 2007, the
mayor’s office issued a ceremonial
proclamation to an organization
calling for abstinence until marriage
as a policy for curtailing AIDS in the
city. In response to complaints by
LGBT and AIDS activists, the
mayor’s office acknowledged the
award application was not properly
vetted and noted the office process-
ing such awards would tighten its
vetting process.
One District government
source familiar with the newest
misstep, who spoke on condition
of anonymity, said a staff person
within the Mayor’s Office of the
Secretary, which processes cer-
emonial certificates and procla-
mations, failed to follow the stan-
dard vetting procedures required
for such documents.
The source said the staffer
apparently treated the PFOX appli-
cation for the award for Griggs as a
request to honor a private citizen
this case is about here — the right
of same-sex couples to enjoy mar-
riage and have the same status for
their marriage as all other citizens
of the District,” Williamson said.
Five of the nine judges, including
Chief Judge Eric Washington, were
appointed by President George W.
Bush. President Bill Clinton
appointed the remaining four.
Williamson and local gay
rights attorney Mark Levine said
it’s unusual for the Court of
Appeals to hear a case for the
first time en banc, or with all of its
judges, instead of its usual prac-
tice of assigning a three-judge
panel to hear a case.
One significant outcome of an
en banc case is that the full court
has the authority to overturn pre-
vious decisions it handed down
either en banc or through a
three-judge panel if the previous
rulings would interfere with its
intentions in a current case.
Williamson said one possible rul-
ing the court might overturn in
the current case over the D.C.
same-sex marriage law is the
1990s case known as Dean v.
for an occasion such as a 90th
birthday or graduation, which calls
for a less rigorous vetting.
According to the source, proce-
dures established in the Office of
the Secretary call for including the
Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs in the
vetting of all LGBT-related applica-
tions for certificates and proclama-
tions. Christopher Dyer, the head of
the GLBT Affairs Office, was never
contacted about the matter, which
amounted to a breach of the proce-
dures, said the source.
On its web site, GLAA noted
that Fenty pledged during his 2006
mayoral campaign not to issue
awards or ceremonial tributes to
individuals and groups that advo-
cate discrimination against minori-
ties, including LGBT people.
Gay activist Bob Summersgill
posted a message on the GLAA
web site forum saying the mayor’s
office did not go far enough in its
apology. He noted that Hobson’s
public statement did not answer
GLAA’s specific questions of who
in the mayor’s office approved and
processed the certificate and what
actions have been taken to pre-
vent a similar development from
happening again.
GLAA members also called on
Fenty to issue a statement
denouncing the so-called “ex-gay”
movement that Griggs represents.
A separate District government
source who spoke on condition of
the District of Columbia.
In that case, the appeals court
rejected a claim by a gay male
couple that the city’s existing mar-
riage law allowed for the issuance
of marriage licenses to same-sex
couples because of the Human
Rights Act’s ban on discrimination
based on gender and sexual ori-
entation. At that time, the court
ruled that the marriage law
restricting marriages to opposite-
sex couples took precedence over
the Human Rights Law.
In recent years, gay rights attor-
neys and D.C. government officials
have argued that the Dean decision
was no longer relevant because the
City Council had since made sweep-
ing changes to the marriage law,
providing extensive rights, including
marriage, for same-sex couples.
Austin Nimocks, legal counsel
for the Alliance Defense Fund, a
Christian litigation group, argued
the case Tuesday for Bishop
Harry Jackson and other local
opponents of same-sex marriage
who filed the lawsuit seeking a
Continues on page 10
anonymity because the person
was not authorized to speak to the
media said the mayor’s office has
issued numerous ceremonial trib-
utes to LGBT organizations and
events, including the Mid-Atlantic
Leather Weekend events.
“Our record is clear on where
we stand on the LGBT communi-
ty,” said that source.
But mayoral candidate and
D.C. Council Chairman Vincent
Gray called the decision by
Fenty’s office to issue an award
to the leader of an anti-gay group
an “embarrassment” to the city.
“For the mayor to issue a cer-
tificate of appreciation honoring
an organization that has done so
much to alienate so many is not
only an insult to the LGBT com-
munity, it is yet another example
of the insensitivity of his adminis-
tration,” Gray said in a statement.
“It is an embarrassment to our
city that he would make such an
offensive mistake,” he said. “It
was the mayor’s signature on the
certificate, not a staff-member’s,
and I hope the mayor will per-
sonally take responsibility.”
Griggs did not return calls from
the Blade seeking comment, but she
told the Washington Post, “I obvious-
ly didn’t nominate myself. This was
brought to the mayor by a D.C. resi-
dent, and I was given an award.”
She told the Post that “ex-gays”
“have a right to self-determination.”
may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 7
8 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
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Photo courtesy of Casey’s office
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (right) is planning to introduce the Safe Schools Improvement Act. A
companion bill is pending in the House.
Casey to introduce
LGBT anti-bullying bill
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) has announced plans to introduce
federal anti-bullying legislation “in the next couple of days” that would be inclusive of
protecting LGBT students throughout the country.
During a May 1 speech at the annual Equality Forum, Casey said the bill, which will be
known as the Safe Schools Improvement Act, is necessary because data shows that bullying
happens “most frequently to children who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender.”
“We must enact legislation to do a better job of protecting children, especially those
children who are being bullied every day because they’re gay or lesbian,” he said.
Casey said the bill would call on schools to develop policies to prohibit bullying and
harassment and create a system to obtain and report data on the issue. Companion
legislation to what Casey’s proposing exists in the House. The sponsor of the House
version, which has 108 co-sponsors, is Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.).
After the speech, Casey told the Blade his legislation would be different from the Student
Non-Discrimination Act that Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) is poised to introduce in the Senate.
Casey said it’s important for the federal government to make clear that it’s going to
pay more attention to the issue of bullying.
“As you know, it’s been a significant issue as it relates to gay and lesbian, bisexual
and transgender children for a long time — or children who happen to have parents
who are gay or lesbian,” he said.
Casey said the legislation wouldn’t necessarily have language specifically relating
to sexual orientation or gender identity but would have more of a “broader directive”
toward all students.
Although he said it’s possible for anti-bullying legislation to pass this year, Casey
said he’s “learned to be more realistic about how long bills can take.”
Hawaii passes civil unions bill
HONOLULU — In an unexpected development, Hawaii’s House of Representatives
last week voted 31-20 to pass a civil unions bill providing the same rights and benefits
of marriage to the state’s same-sex couples.
The vote came April 30 during the final hours of the legislative body’s session and
after many political observers expected supporters to postpone a vote because they
lacked sufficient support to override any veto by Republican Gov. Linda Lingle.
Lingle has not said whether she will sign or veto the bill. Opponents, led by the state
Catholic Archdiocese, are demanding that Lingle veto the measure. Supporters need 34
votes to override a veto, three more than the number who voted for the measure on Thursday.
“The legislature’s passage of a civil union bill marks a major step forward in Hawaii’s
journey toward fairness and equality, but falls short of the full security and equality pro-
tection that come only with the freedom to marry,” said Evan Wolfson, executive direc-
tor of the same-sex marriage advocacy group Freedom to Marry.
Hawaii’s state Senate passed the bill earlier this year.
Wolfson played a role in efforts to push for same-sex marriage in Hawaii during the
early 1990s, when same-sex couples filed a lawsuit asserting the state’s Constitution
required recognition of same-sex marriage. In a highly controversial decision, the
Hawaii Supreme Court ruled in favor of the couple’s suit, setting in motion a process
where Hawaii could have become the nation’s first state to legalize gay marriage.
But opponents fought back, pushing through a ballot measure approved by the voters that
amended the state’s Constitution in 1998 to ban gay marriage. The Hawaii Supreme Court
ruling in 1993 has been credited with unleashing a nationwide backlash against same-sex
marriage that led to ballot measures banning gay marriage in states across the country.
Wolfson and other LGBT activists have expressed hope that that backlash is sub-
siding, and that more states will soon approve same-sex marriage laws similar to those
in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C.
may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 9
10 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
NATIONALNEWS
Supreme Court hears anti-gay referendum case
Plaintiffs hope to
keep names of
supporters a secret
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com
U.S. Supreme Court justices
posed tough questions last week
to plaintiffs seeking to keep
secret the names of Washington
state petitioners who put an anti-
gay referendum on the ballot.
In the case of Doe v. Reed, plain-
tiffs contend a state law requiring
public disclosure of petition signa-
tures violates the First Amendment
rights of signers who placed on the
ballot an initiative, known as
Referendum 71, to rescind the
state’s recently expanded domestic
partner registry.
Despite the efforts, Washington
residents last year upheld the
state’s domestic partner registry,
53-47 percent. In the aftermath,
opponents of the registry have
sought to keep secret the names
of people who put the measure on
the ballot. The state contends it
has a legitimate governmental
interest in public disclosure of the
names because it preserves elec-
toral integrity and provides impor-
tant information to voters.
Representing plaintiffs during
oral arguments April 28 was
James Bopp, a conservative attor-
ney who also serves as general
counsel for Focus on the Family.
Appeals Court could take months to decide marriage case
Continued from page 6
ballot measure to overturn the
gay marriage law.
Jackson initially filed his lawsuit
before the D.C. Superior Court last
fall, after the D.C. Board of
Elections & Ethics rejected his
application for a voter initiative
calling for defining marriage in
D.C. as the union between one
man and one woman. The board
ruled that the initiative would vio-
late the provision added to the ref-
erendum and initiative law that
bans such ballot measures if they
would result in discrimination pro-
hibited by the Human Rights Act.
The effect of the initiative, if
approved by voters, would be to
repeal the same-sex marriage law
that the City Council passed and
Mayor Adrian Fenty signed in
December. The law took effect
March 3 after it cleared a required 30
legislative day review by Congress.
Jackson then filed suit seek-
ing to overturn the election
board’s decision. In January,
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia told an attorney seeking to keep
secret the names of Washington state residents who put an anti-gay ref-
erendum on the ballot that ‘the First Amendment doesn’t protect you from
criticism — or even nasty phone calls.’
He argued the public disclosure
would subject people who signed
the petition to possible danger.
“No person should suffer
harassment from participating in
the political system,” Bopp said.
But many justices expressed
skepticism about Bopp’s argument
during his appearance before the
court. Some of the toughest ques-
tions came from justices known for
holding conservative views.
Associate Justice Antonin Scalia
noted openness is a component of
democracy, and said petitioning the
court to strike the Washington law
as unconstitutional was “asking us
to go into a whole new field where
we’ve never gone before.”
“The fact is running a democracy
Superior Court Judge Judith
Macaluso upheld the election
board’s decision, saying the law
cited by the city to ban such bal-
lot measures was valid.
Tuesday’s hearing before the
D.C. Court of Appeals came about
after Jackson and his supporters
appealed Macaluso’s ruling.
Nimocks sidestepped reporters’
questions about the appeals court
judge’s comments, including those
who challenged his arguments. He
said after the hearing that his side is
correct in claiming the 30-year-old
provision in the D.C. Charter barring
certain ballot measures violates the
full District of Columbia Charter.
The city’s charter is considered
to be equivalent to a state consti-
tution, and legal experts say all
laws enacted by the City Council
and signed by the mayor must be
consistent with any restrictions or
limits set by the charter.
Nimocks argued before the
court Tuesday that the charter
amendment that created the city’s
voter initiative and referendum
Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key
takes a certain amount of civic
courage, and the First Amendment
doesn’t protect you from criticism —
or even nasty phone calls,” Scalia.
Also expressing skepticism
about the plaintiffs’ arguments
was Chief Justice John Roberts,
who noted that striking down the
Washington law would also
mean the court would strike
down similar public disclosure
laws throughout the country.
Associate Justice Ruth Bader
Ginsburg questioned whether the
names on the list would remain
confidential without the public dis-
closure law. She noted that
Protect Marriage, the organiza-
tion that launched the initiative,
would still have access to the
system sets just one restriction on
such ballet measures: a ban on
voters directly deciding on matters
related city funding or taxes.
He said the charter amendment,
which the City Council passed and
Congress approved, doesn’t allow
further restrictions that would pre-
vent a ballot measure seeking to
curtail minority rights.
“The people have a right to
vote that’s guaranteed by the
District of Columbia Charter,” he
said. “And the City Council can-
not amend the charter. They can-
not do anything to undermine the
people’s right to vote.”
In his written brief, Nimocks
also argued that the Dean case
was still a factor that the appeals
court should consider.
Todd Kim, the D.C. Solicitor
General who argued on behalf of
the city, told the court the charter
amendment establishing the ini-
tiative and referendum system
gives the City Council authority
to make some changes in the
system to carry out its “purpose.”
names and could use them for
fundraising or sell them to others.
As justices challenged his
assertion that petitioners could
be subject to harassment, Bopp
replied that the campaign man-
ager for Protect Marriage had his
entire family sleep together in
one room of his home because
of threats he received.
Scalia replied that such threats
“should be moved against vigor-
ously,” but said they shouldn’t nec-
essarily stop the political process
as established by Washington law.
Defending the law on behalf of
Washington during oral argu-
ments was Washington Attorney
General Robert McKenna, who
maintained the law as it stood pro-
vided no information about sign-
ers that was unconstitutional.
He noted that Washington has
had other controversial matters
on the ballot, including a ques-
tion regarding assisted suicide,
and said there was no evidence
that petition signers for those ref-
erenda were harassed.
Associate Justice Samuel Alito
directed some of the toughest
questions toward McKenna. The
justice questioned why it’s neces-
sary to disclose signatures to pre-
serve electoral integrity when the
secretary of state could cross-
check the names in a voter regis-
tration database.
Additionally, Alito asked whether
the attorney general would dis-
close the names and addresses of
people working at his office so peo-
Kim noted that the Council
wrote the charter amendment and
that part of the purpose in creating
it was to place certain restrictions
consistent with longstanding city
policy, including policies related to
rights of minorities. The D.C.
Human Rights Act, which was in
place at that time, included a ban
on discrimination based on sexual
orientation, Kim said, indicating
the city’s overall policy and pur-
pose was to protect the rights of
gays and lesbians along with
other minorities.
He also noted that Congress
approved the charter amend-
ment through its normal 30 leg-
islative day review, further solidi-
fying its status as a valid law.
In another development that
pleased gay activists attending
Tuesday’s appeals court hearing,
Judge Phyllis Thompson, a Bush
appointee, pointed out that D.C. vot-
ers approved a statehood constitu-
tion in the early 1980s that included
a provision banning initiatives and
referenda that would take away
ple could come to employees’
homes and have “uncomfortable
conversations” with them.
McKenna replied the office
wouldn’t disclose the names,
noting people with concerns can
come to the attorney general’s
office to have these ”uncomfort-
able conversations.”
Multiple LGBT groups, including
Lambda Legal, Gay & Lesbian
Advocates & Defenders and the
National Center for Lesbian Rights,
filed friend-of-the-court briefs in the
case on behalf of Washington state.
In a statement, Jon Davidson,
Lambda’s legal director, criticized
the notion that potential harassment
against people who signed the peti-
tion compares to discrimination
endured by the LGBT community.
“There’s no comparison between
a few scattered instances of whis-
pers and disapproving glares and
the very real discrimination, harass-
ment and even violence LGBT peo-
ple experience every day all over
the country,” he said. “After all, more
hate crimes are reported against
gay people than any other group
per capita in the United States.”
Shannon Minter, legal director
for the National Center for Lesbian
Rights, called the plaintiffs’ argu-
ments “an outrageous attempt by
anti-gay groups to use false claims
of persecution to undermine laws
that protect the integrity of the
democratic process.”
A decision in the case is expect-
ed before the end of the current
term for the Supreme Court in July.
rights of minorities, including gays.
Thompson appeared to be chal-
lenging Nimocks’ arguments that
voters should have the right to
decide on the gay marriage law by
noting that D.C. voters approved the
ban on ballot measures seeking to
take away rights for gays and others.
Legal experts have said the
statehood constitution passed by
voters had no legal standing
because D.C. statehood —
which many D.C. residents
favored in the 1980s — could not
come about without approval by
Congress. Congress never took
the proposal seriously.
But Levine and Williamson said
Thompson’s decision to raise the
issued shows that she, and possi-
bly a number of her colleagues on
the appeals court, are sympathet-
ic to the city law banning ballot
measure that would take away
rights, including the right of same-
sex couples to marry in D.C.
Story continues at
washingtonblade.com.
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 11

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12 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
Immigration reform could
NATIONALBRIEFS
include UAFA: report
WASHINGTON — A recently published outline of principles

Franken to introduce student Senate Democrats are seeking as part of upcoming comprehen-
sive immigration reform calls for language that would address
inequities faced by same-sex bi-national couples.

non-discrimination bill
WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen.
Al Franken (D-Minn.) is poised to
introduce a bill that would bar
discrimination against LGBT stu-
dents in schools throughout the
country, according to his office.
“We are hopeful that we can
introduce our companion anti-
bullying legislation soon,” Jess
McIntosh, a Franken spokesper-
son, told the Blade last week.
In the House, the legislation is
known as the Student Non-
Discrimination Act. Rep. Jared Polis
(D-Colo.), a gay lawmaker, introduced
the measure in January. Polis said the
legislation would give schools across
the country tools to fight “everything
from exclusion from prom, to banning
clubs, to lack of actions addressing
bullying situations.”
McIntosh said she couldn’t say
when Franken would introduce
the bill; she also couldn’t confirm
whether the language in his bill
would match the House version.
Daryl Presgraves, spokesperson
for the Gay, Lesbian & Straight
Education Network, which has been
advocating for the bill, praised
Franken for furthering the effort.
“Obviously, we’re very grateful
to Sen. Franken for realizing that
the Student Non-Discrimination
Act is an important piece of legis-
lation that will help make schools
The 26-page draft proposal, posted online April 29 by Politico,
devotes one line to expressing a desire for language to allow
LGBT Americans to sponsor their foreign same-sex partners for
residency in the U.S. as part of the final immigration reform bill.
“It will eliminate discrimination in the immigration laws by permitting
permanent partners of United States citizens and lawful permanent
residents to obtain lawful permanent resident status,” says the draft.
The proposed language is similar to standalone legislation
pending in Congress known as the Uniting American Families Act.
The bill would change immigration law to assist an estimated
36,000 same-sex bi-national couples living in the United States.
The draft proposal’s authors are Senate Democrats leading
the effort in the chamber for immigration reform: Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and
Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).
Photo by Joe Tresh Steve Ralls, spokesperson for Immigration Equality, called the
U.S. Sen. Al Franken proposal “a very significant development” toward including UAFA
in comprehensive immigration reform.
safer for all students, regardless of “It is a solid indication that lawmakers — in crafting their priorities
sexual orientation or gender identi- for the bill — saw this as being one of those priorities,” he said.
ty or expression,” Presgraves said.

Baldwin says OPM has pay-for info on domestic partnership bill

WASHINGTON — The only whether the U.S. Office of available to the same-sex part- to offset it so that it will meet pay for the legislation’s cost — an
out lesbian in Congress told Personnel Management had yet ners of federal workers the same statutory pay-go requirements.” estimated $63 million each year —
reporters last week that the provided the data as requested by benefits available to the spouses House and Senate committees within the agency’s existing budget.
administration has sent her infor- lawmakers, Rep. Tammy Baldwin of straight workers, including with jurisdiction over the legislation Baldwin said for strategic rea-
mation on finding funds to pay for (D-Wis.) replied, “To me.” health and pension benefits. reported out the bill late last year. sons, she didn’t want to offer
domestic partner benefits legis- The legislation, known as the “We’ll be able to pay for it,” But supporters have said they would- more information publicly on how
lation for federal workers. Domestic Partnership Benefits & said Baldwin, the bill’s sponsor. n’t move the bill to the floor unless OPM found the needed funds to
Asked by the Blade on April 28 Obligations Act, would make “I’m confident that we will be able OPM provided information on how to pay for the legislation.
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14 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
NATIONALNEWS
Pelosi calls for moratorium on ‘Don’t Ask’ discharges
Continued from page 1
In a statement responding to
the letter, Shin Inouye, a White
House spokesperson, said
President Obama’s commitment to
repealing the ban on service “is
unequivocal,” but noted the White
House is on board with delaying
implementation of repeal.
“That’s why we’ve said that
the implementation of any con-
gressional repeal will be delayed
until the DOD study of how best
to implement that repeal is com-
pleted,” he said.
The White House didn’t respond
to the Blade’s request to clarify
whether this statement rules out an
endorsement from Obama on
including repeal as part of the
upcoming Defense authorization bill
or whether the president supports a
vote in Congress now to repeal the
gay ban, as long as implementation
is delayed until 2011.
The impact of the two statements
on the effort to achieve legislative
repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this
year remains unclear. Some experts
previously said repeal was only one
or two votes short on the Senate
Armed Services Committee, but
that may change following Gates’
request for a delay.
David Smith, vice president of
programs for the Human Rights
Campaign, said repeal remains
possible this year.
“We think it should and can
happen this year, and that is
what we are fighting for,” Smith
said. “We continue to work with
both the House and the Senate.”
Smith said HRC continues to
lobby the White House for sup-
port in the effort to repeal “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell.”
He added the grassroots work
and lobbying that HRC is pursuing in
six states — Florida, Indiana,
Massachusetts, Nebraska, Virginia
and West Virginia — would be an
important part of the path toward win-
ning the votes necessary for repeal.
In anticipation of the defense
authorization bill markup in the
Senate Armed Services Committee
on May 24, the work is intended to
influence key senators on the panel
who are uncommitted on repeal:
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Sen. Evan
Bayh (D-Ind.), Sen. Scott Brown (R-
Mass.), Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.),
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Sen.
Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.).
“The key is the votes and we
think we’re close and we think that,
at the end of the day, we’ll have
those votes, and that’s what we
continue to work for,” Smith said.
Aubrey Sarvis, executive
director of the Servicemembers
Legal Defense Network, said the
best way to make repeal happen
following the publication of the
Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week sent a letter to the House Armed Services Committee chair urging
Congress to delay a vote on repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’
Gates letter is working with
repeal advocates on Capitol Hill.
“We strongly believe repeal can
happen, but this will require the pres-
ident to lead the way at this critical
hour,” Sarvis said. “To put it bluntly,
we need his voice and help now.”
Some Hill supporters of repeal
are staying mum following publica-
tion of the Gates letter and the
White House statement. The office
of Senate Armed Services
Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-
Mich.) declined to comment on the
letter, and the office of Sen. Joseph
Lieberman (I-Conn.) didn’t respond
to the Blade’s request for comment.
Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.),
the sponsor of repeal legislation
in the House, was quoted in an
interview with The Advocate this
week as saying he was “blind-
sided” by the Gates letter, but still
plans to pursue repeal this year.
“That’s my job — to make sure
that we repeal this policy,” he said.
“After my three years in
Washington, I think when folks tell
you to walk away, that’s usually a
sign that you’re getting close.”
In the letter, Gates said he
was responding to an April 28
inquiry from Skelton, who oppos-
es “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal
at this time. Skelton’s inquiry and
Gates’ letter come on the heels
of an announcement from House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
that she plans to hold a vote on
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal this
year in her chamber.
“It is the speaker’s intention that a
vote will be taken this year on [‘Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell’] in the House,” Drew
Hammill, a Pelosi spokesperson,
told the Blade last week.
In response to a subsequent
Blade inquiry about Gates’ letter,
Hammill said April 30 that
Pelosi’s position was unchanged,
although he used slightly differ-
ent language.
“The speaker maintains her
hope to repeal this discriminato-
ry policy this year,” Hammill said.
Separately, Pelosi issued a
statement calling for a moratori-
um on discharges of gay service
members.
“We all look forward to the report
on the review of the ‘Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell’ policy by the Defense
Department,” she said. “In the
meantime, the administration
should immediately place a mora-
torium on dismissals under this pol-
icy until the review has been com-
pleted and Congress has acted.”
Disappointment with
President Obama’s lack of sup-
port for a vote on “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” this year led around
300 protesters to rally at the
White House on Sunday.
Former Democratic National
Committee Chairman Howard
Dean made a surprise appear-
ance at the rally as six protesters
were arrested after they hand-
cuffed themselves to the White
House gates.
The rally, a collaborative effort of
GetEqual and Queer Rising, was
aimed to move President Obama to
call on Congress to include repeal
of the ban on gays serving openly
in the armed forces as part of
upcoming Defense Department
budget legislation.
People at the rally carried
signs reading, “Study: Navy has
some bigots — Duh!” and “Mr.
Obama, What’s the hold up?”
At one point, demonstrators
chanted, “What do we want? Full
equality! When do we want it?
Now!” They also shouted, “Shame
on Obama! Shame on your silence!”
Speaking before attendees,
Dean said an end to “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” is necessary because it
robs the U.S. military of crucial per-
sonnel, such as Arabic translators.
“We can’t afford to lose any tal-
ented people, and to kick talented
people out of the military because
Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key
they happen to be gay or lesbian
makes no sense at all,” he said.
The six protesters who hand-
cuffed themselves to the White
House gates Sunday were Anne
Tischer of Rochester, N.Y.; Mark
Reed of Dallas; and Alan Bounville,
Nora Camp, Iana DiBona and
Natasha Dillon, all of New York City.
As they handcuffed themselves,
protesters chanted, “I am some-
body, and I deserve full equality.”
Led by Lt. Dan Choi, who was
previously arrested twice for hand-
cuffing himself to the White House
fence, the crowd shouted out the
Pledge of Allegiance to the six peo-
ple handcuffed to the fence.
After reciting the last line of “With lib-
erty and justice for all,” attendees
repeated the refrain, “For all! For all!”
After the six demonstrators were
arrested, Paul Yandura, an organiz-
er with GetEqual, said they were
charged with misdemeanor failure
to obey a lawful order. He noted that
each paid a fine of $100 and their
cases are now closed.
Those attending the rally said
they joined the event to show
their frustration with Obama and
his approach toward “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell.”
Erika Knepp of Annapolis,
Md., said it’s “absolutely ridicu-
lous” that Obama hasn’t called
for repeal this year.
“He was voted on making
promises, and that’s all it’s come
to,” she said. “We had the
National Equality March to make
him promise to keep his promis-
es, and there’s been nothing so
far, and it makes me very angry.”
Also expressing anger at the
rally over Obama’s handling of the
issue was a gay Army Reserve
Office Training Corps student at
Georgetown University, who spoke
to the Blade on the condition of
anonymity to avoid being expelled
under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
The student said he felt
Obama “betrayed” him because
the president has not fulfilled his
campaign promise to repeal
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“When he said that, I was real-
ly relieved, knowing that I might
be able to come out without hav-
ing to lie all the time to my peers,”
said the student. “But after learn-
ing that the White House is not
following through on that, it’s actu-
ally disappointing.”
Many repeal advocates now
see a delayed implementation
bill as the best chance for over-
turning the law this year.
Such a measure would tech-
nically meet the standards set
forth in the White House state-
ment, which said “the implemen-
tation of any congressional
repeal will be delayed until the
DOD study of how best to imple-
ment that repeal is completed.”
HRC’s Smith called delayed
implementation an “essential”
component of any bill that would
pass this year.
“I believe that the work of the
working group likely needs to be
completed before repeal can be
implemented, but it still can be
executed this year and imple-
mented over a period of time
based on the working group rec-
ommendations,” he said.
Sarvis said SLDN has support-
ed the approach of delayed imple-
mentation before in what he called
a “60-60-60” plan for repeal.
“We delay repeal of [‘Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell’] for 180 days
after the president signs the
defense bill to ensure a timely
transition to open service and an
orderly implementation,” he said.
Under the plan, Gates would
retain authority for discharges
immediately upon the legislation’s
passage. An estimated 60 days
later, the Pentagon working group
would make its recommendations
on Dec. 1. After an additional 60
days passes, the Defense
Department could issue guidelines
on implementing open service, and
60 days later, the services can
issue their own regulations.
The issue of whether the
White House would support
delayed implementation legisla-
tion came up during a panel dis-
cussion on May 1 at the Equality
Forum, an annual LGBT summit
in Philadelphia.
Brian Bond, LGBT liaison for
the White House, sidestepped a
question about whether the
Obama administration would
support passing delayed imple-
mentation legislation.
When the letter came up dur-
ing a panel discussion highlighting
LGBT officials in the White House,
Continues on page 16
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 15

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Six protesters who handcuffed themselves to the White House gates Sunday were charged
with misdemeanor failure to obey a lawful order.
White House protesters
disappointed in Obama
Continued from page 14
Bond read a prepared White House state-
ment saying Obama’s commitment to
repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is
“unequivocal,” but that the president wants
to wait on implementing repeal until the
Pentagon completes its study of the law.
“If change were easy, we wouldn’t be hav-
ing to have this fight right now,” Bond said. “I
think that letter is a good example of how this
is going to be a fight and a challenge.”
In response to the statement,
Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff, who
was on the panel with Bond, asked
whether repeal supporters could infer that
the president supports a congressional
vote for repeal “as long as the implemen-
tation is delayed until after December.”
Bond didn’t say whether the White
House supports such a move, but noted
an endorsement of such a proposal is
part of an “ongoing discussion.”
“I think that’s an ongoing discussion right
now,” Bond said. “Again, there are several
camps here trying to figure out — don’t for-
get, at the end of the day, it is Congress that
will repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ not us.”
Bond said the president is committed
to his campaign promise to repeal “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” and that Obama has
Washington Blade photo by Michael Key
made clear “on any number of times that
we are working on this.”
“It’s not going to be easy,” Bond said. “It’s
going to messy. It was about this same time
last year that my phone was blowing up and
my e-mails were blowing up that we’re not
going to get hate crimes done. So, I guess
what I would say to you is the president has
not changed his position.”
But Bond’s comments didn’t appease
some on the panel, who expressed disap-
pointment with Obama’s work on LGBT
issues in the nearly 18 months that he’s
been in the White House.
Panel moderator Jarrett Barrios, president
of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation, noted a growing impatience in
the LGBT community with Obama.
“We are impatient and, I think, a lot of the
folks out there are impatient,” he said.
“Whether it was the ‘fierce advocate’ speech,
or whether it was the campaign, we heard a
little bit more zeal than we feel right now.”
In a subsequent panel, Choi had stern
words for the president on the issue and gave
him a D-minus for his handling of LGBT issues.
“I’m absolutely dissatisfied by the thinking
of the entire administration that hundreds of
soldiers [losing] their jobs this year is not as
important as a handful of Democrats who
might lose their jobs,” Choi said.
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 17
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LOCALNEWS

3 teens charged in gay D.C. principal’s murder

Continued from page 1
Betts, 42, was found shot to
death April 15 in a second floor
bedroom of his house in Silver
Spring, Md. Police said they found
his fully clothed body after col-
leagues at D.C.’s Shaw Middle
School, where he worked as prin-
cipal, became concerned when
Betts failed to report to work.
On the day they discovered
Betts’ body, investigators dis-
closed they found no signs of a
forced entry into Betts’ house,
leading them to believe he invit-
ed his killer or killers inside.
Also charged in the case was
Artura Otey Williams, 46,
Lancaster’s mother. Police said
she was arrested Monday at the
home on Fifth Street, N.W., on
charges related to her alleged use
of one of several credit cards taken
from Betts’ house. She was not
charged with the murder itself.
In a related development, D.C.
Attorney General Peter Nickles
separately disclosed Monday
that Lancaster and Sanders had
recently escaped from a juvenile
home where they were in cus-
tody by the city’s Department of
Youth Rehabilitation Services.
Nickles did not identify the crimi-
nal offense or offenses the two
youths had been charged with to
land them in DYRS custody.
Manger, when asked by a
reporter at the Montgomery County
Police news conference whether
the chat line through which Betts
allegedly met his killers catered
solely to gay clientele, said, “I’m not
aware of that. I don’t know.”
He said he also didn’t know the
name of the chat line, saying only,
“It’s been described as a sex chat
line, a social networking chat line.”
But he noted that investigators
believe Betts met one or all of the
three 18-year-old men implicated
in the case through the chat line on
the night he was murdered.
After the news conference,
police spokesperson Capt. Paul
Sparks described the system as a
“national chat line” linked to a web
site. Sparks said he didn’t know the
name of the chat line or the site.
Many gay-oriented sex chat
lines are advertised in local and
national gay publications and
web sites.
Manger’s news conference out-
side Montgomery County Police
headquarters in Rockville came the
same day that teams of police offi-
cers and detectives in Montgomery
County, Prince George’s County
and D.C. used search warrants to
conduct early-morning raids on
four residences where they
believed evidence and suspects
in the case were located.
Manger said Williams was
arrested during a search of her
house on the 5300 block of Fifth
Street, N.W.
He said Saunders, Lancaster
and the third 18-year-old man
were taken into custody during the
search of an apartment along the
1300 block of Southview Drive in
Oxon Hill, Md., which is located in
Prince George’s County.
Among the items found during
the Southview Drive search was
Betts’ wallet, which was in pos-
session of one of the men impli-
cated in the case, Manger said.
He noted that police found a
receipt in the wallet for a pair of
Nike shoes that were purchased
using one of Betts’ credit cards
shortly after the murder.
Police also used warrants
Monday to search residences
along the 4300 block of Third
Street, S.E., in D.C., and along
the 2400 block of Southern
Avenue in Temple Hills, Md., in
Prince George’s County.
Neighbors reported seeing police
remove items from the residences,
including several large bags contain-
ing items from the home on Fifth
Street, N.W., which is near the bor-
der of D.C. and Silver Spring.
According to Manger and state-
ments released Monday by
Montgomery County Police, inves-
tigators began piecing together evi-
dence linking the murder to the
arrested suspects less than a week
after Betts’ body was discovered.
The first break came when
investigators discovered that
Williams had used one of several
credit cards stolen from Betts’
house on the night of the murder
to purchase $111 worth of gro-
ceries from a Giant supermarket in
Silver Spring on April 16, the day
after Betts’ body was found. The
Giant is located less than two
miles from Betts’ house. Police
said Williams was recorded using
the credit card on a video surveil-
lance camera at the store.
Police charged her with two
counts of knowingly receiving a
stolen credit card with the intent
to use it, attempted theft of items
less than $1,000 in value, and
attempted fraudulent credit card
use. She was being held in D.C.
while awaiting extradition to
Montgomery County.
“Lancaster was identified
through fingerprints obtained
from the crime scene inside
Betts’ residence,” says one of two
statements released Monday by
Montgomery County Police.
“Through the course of the
investigation, it was confirmed that
Lancaster has no known ties to
Betts,” says the statements.
“Saunders, also with no known ties
to the victim, was identified through
fingerprints obtained inside and
outside the vehicle belonging to
Betts, a 2007 Nissan Xterra, which
was stolen from his residence on
the night of the murder.”
D.C. police recovered the
vehicle April 17, two days after
Betts was found dead in his
house along the 3900 block of
Fourth Street, S.E.
“It was determined that several
credit cards belonging to Betts
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LOCALNEWS
Activists concerned about
dangers of online hookups
Continued from page 18
were stolen from the residence,” one of the
police statements says. “The continuing
investigation revealed that Betts’ credit cards
were used to make purchases throughout
the area, including Silver Spring, Oxon Hill,
Hyattsville, Northwest and Southeast
Washington, D.C.”
The statement notes that surveillance
photos show Lancaster, Saunders and
Williams using the credit cards.
“This remains still a very active investiga-
tion,” Manger said during his news conference.
In response to reporters’ questions, he
said he didn’t know whether Lancaster,
Saunders and Gray used the chat line to
rob or harm other people. He also told
reporters that he didn’t know what prompt-
ed one of the suspects to allegedly shoot
Betts to death if the motive was robbery.
“The interviews have not been completed,
so we don’t have that information,” he said.
Sparks, the police spokesperson, said
more arrests could be made in the case.
Officials with the D.C. group Gays &
Lesbians Opposing Violence have said
that law enforcement agencies in the D.C.
area should issue a public alert about
criminals targeting gays for robberies and
assaults through online social networking
sites or phone chat lines.
may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 19
GLOV co-chairs Kelly Pickard and Joe
Montoni said during the group’s regular
monthly meeting in April, one week after the
Betts murder, that plans were made to dis-
tribute fliers and other alerts urging mem-
bers of the LGBT community to exert cau-
tion when using such sites or chat lines.
On Dec. 27, gay D.C. resident Anthony
Perkins, 29, was shot to death in his car in
Southeast D.C. by a suspect who met him
through a phone chat line, according to D.C.
police and the U.S. Attorney’s office. Authorities
have so far declined to name the chat line.
D.C. police charged 20-year-old Antwan
Holcomb with first-degree murder while
armed in connection with Perkins’ death.
And in January, gay Maryland resident
Gordon Rivers, 47, was fatally shot inside his
car while it was parked on Naylor Road in
Southeast D.C. Police later arrested 17-year-old
William Wren of Southeast D.C. and 22-year-
old Anthony Hager of Temple Hills, Md., on
murder charges in connection with the case.
D.C. police said in an arrest affidavit that
Wren admitted knowing Rivers before the
murder and having called Rivers by phone
to arrange a meeting with him on Naylor
Road, intending to rob him.
Police and the U.S. Attorney’s office have
declined to disclose how Wren met Rivers,
spurring questions as to whether the two
met online or through a phone chat line.
20 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
VIEWPOINT
Will we remember in November?
Democrats must not
get away with delaying
‘Don’t Ask’ repeal
By KEVIN NAFF
Forget about the back of the bus
— that whooshing sound you hear
is the sound of the administration
tossing us under the bus. Again.
Make no mistake that the events
of last Friday, in which Defense
Secretary Robert Gates sent a let-
ter to House Armed Services
Committee Chair Ike Skelton (D-
Mo.) demanding a halt to congres-
sional action on repealing “Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell” amounts to a cow-
ardly and transparent effort to give
cover to moderate Democrats in
the November elections.
Those midterms are looking
ominous for Democrats and so,
per usual, LGBT initiatives are the
first sacrificial lamb. Not only does
this all but ensure “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell” won’t be repealed this
year, some experts predict it’s
now off the table until 2013 —
after the 2012 presidential elec-
tions, when the Democrats will be
back with their hands out-
stretched for more mighty gay
dollars while offering more empty
promises and excuses in return.
White House chief of staff Rahm
Emanuel told Servicemembers
United that the odds of repealing the
military’s gay ban this year stand at
about 30-40 percent. Someone
should tell him that nearly 80 percent
of American voters support repeal
now, according to several recent
polls. Meanwhile, the Palm Center,
another of the expert groups work-
FEEDBACK
The following comments
were posted to our web site.
Visit washingtonblade.com to
join the conversation.
Re: “HRC, Solmonese in the
hot seat” (editorial by Kevin Naff)
One thing that really disturbed
me about Joe Solmonese’s partic-
ipation in the town hall meeting
was that whenever a question was
asked of him, his instinctual posi-
tion started with defending the
White House. He spoke as if he
were the designated spokesper-
son for the president at the meet-
ing. It was quite bizarre. …
On the national level, all the
LGBT organizations are split into
specific rights instead of one organ-
ization committed to one compre-
hensive LGBT civil rights bill. For
ing for repeal, says LGBT service
members may now have to wait until
2013 for relief from the injustice of
this cruel and stupid law.
Gates’ letter warned that legisla-
tive repeal prior to the completion
of the Pentagon working group
study (scheduled for Dec. 1) “would
send a very damaging message to
our men and women in uniform
that in essence their views, con-
cerns, and perspectives do not
matter.” That statement raises the
obvious question: When was the
last time rank-and-file service
members were polled about an
impending policy change?
Shortly after Gates’ letter leaked,
the White House responded: “The
President’s commitment to repeal-
ing don’t ask, don’t tell is unequivo-
cal. This is not a question of if, but
how. That’s why we’ve said that the
implementation of any congres-
sional repeal will be delayed until
the DOD study of how best to
implement that repeal is completed.
The President is committed to get-
ting this done both soon and right.”
What’s left unclear by the White
House statement is whether
Obama supports a vote in
Congress now that delays imple-
mentation until 2011.When asked
by the Blade to clarify the state-
ment Saturday at Philadelphia’s
Equality Forum, Brian Bond,
deputy director of the White House
Office of Public Engagement, said,
“I think that’s an ongoing discus-
sion right now. … at the end of the
day, it is Congress that will repeal
‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ not us.”
The refusal to endorse a vote
for repeal is a striking departure
from what we’ve been told since
the 2008 campaign. The Blade
gun rights activists, there isn’t a
handgun coalition, a hunting rifle
coalition, a gun show coalition — it’s
just one, strong, united group: the
NRA. It gets even worse when you
drop down to the state and local
level. Everyone wants to be the next
Harvey Milk and nobody wants to
join the other person’s group. …
Everybody needs to drop their
egos and their turf wars. A coali-
tion of all the major LGBT rights
groups needs to be organized.
Some will engage in lobbying,
others direct action, some will
choose to participate in some
actions, others won’t, but all must
work together, communicate and
coordinate. Right now it’s a disor-
ganized [mess] and our oppo-
nents know it. — Marc Love
When was it decided that blogs
has reported for weeks that the
House has the votes to pass
repeal legislation, thanks in large
part to the fierce advocacy not of
President Obama, but of Rep.
Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.). House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)
told the Blade just last week that
she wants a vote on repeal this
year. She’s not known for schedul-
ing votes on bills that won’t pass,
so it’s a safe assumption that
repeal would pass the House.
The situation in the Senate is
less clear. Supporters of repeal say
they are within a few votes on the
Senate Armed Services Committee
of securing approval. The full
Senate would likely support repeal,
though it’s doubtful the Democrats
have 60 votes to block an expected
filibuster. Of course, what’s needed
to put repeal over the top is hands-
on lobbying from Obama. Instead of
pressing the handful of fence-sitting
Democrats, Obama is telling them
not to act this year, a recipe for a
much longer repeal delay when
Republicans close the gap or even
retake the House in November.
Gates — a George W. Bush
appointee — reports to the com-
mander in chief and he didn’t
draft that letter without Obama’s
knowledge and support. If the
Democrats think they have prob-
lems now, let’s see what hap-
pens to their fortunes after they
alienate a key part of their base.
If my e-mail inbox is any indica-
tion, LGBT Americans have finally
arrived at the breaking point, out-
raged at the endless broken
promises and delayed advances.
Treating our full equality as an
expendable bargaining chip is no
longer acceptable. When will the
and reporters set the opinion of
the gay community? I don’t think
Solmonese has anything to apolo-
gize for re: the Kathy Griffin rally.
It’s not the only thing HRC is doing
for “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Go to
HRC Backstory, they have activi-
ties in several states. — MJ
Solmonese is the gay Marie
Antoinette, primping and playing
dress-up while this brief time
with a Democratic majority is
squandered. He expects us to be
satisfied with crumbs when we
want marriage and equality. HRC
should be fighting for us. Instead
Solmonese sucks up to Rahm
Emanuel and demands nothing.
He and HRC are entirely inef-
fective and completely out of
touch. I cannot think of one thing
Democrats stop running from their
own shadow, ever fearful of what
Fox News or Sarah Palin or the
Tea Baggers might say about
them? Fox News can’t attract two
million viewers on a good night.
We’re a nation of more than 300
million people, the vast majority of
whom oppose “Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell,” including many prominent
Republicans. Supporting repeal of
this odious law that compromises
our national security and wastes
billions of taxpayer dollars will not
cost any Democrat his or her seat.
LGBT lobbyists, activists and
everyday supporters of equality
must now redouble their efforts. Call
your members of Congress and the
White House demanding an end to
“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” this year. If
Obama is unwilling to include
repeal in his Defense authorization
bill, then Congress must press for-
ward and vote now, before the
Republicans have a chance to win
back the House in November.
The Human Rights Campaign,
Servicemembers Legal Defense
Network, and all other LGBT
groups that are engaged in lob-
bying the administration and the
Hill must make it clear that failure
to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
this year will amount to a betray-
al of the LGBT community and
that there will be consequences.
As Sunday’s White
House protesters
chanted, we must
“remember in
November.”
Kevin Naff is editor of
the Washington Blade.
Reach him at
knaff@washblade.com.
they have accomplished satis-
factorily in years. — Jeff
“Why was he in London during
this critical period for securing the
final votes to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell?’ Was the Senate Armed
Services Committee holding a British
retreat that we don’t know about?”
Simple answer: Solmonese
was at an event in London held
last week by Stonewall, the sort of
equivalent in the U.K. of HRC in
America. With a volcano erupting
in Iceland and volcanic ash in the
sky, all airspace was completely
closed down and flights grounded.
Joe Solmonese was literally
stranded in London, along with
thousands of others. Sorry to
spoil any “conspiracy theories.”
— Mark Windsor
washingtonblade
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VIEWPOINT
Government can help stop prisoner rape
Att’y Gen’l Holder
considers new
inmate protections
By LOVISA STANNOW
It’s rare for conservatives and
liberals to come together in support
of LGBT rights. However, the effort
to end prisoner rape is such a
case. Sexual violence plagues our
nation’s detention facilities, and
federal surveys of inmates have
found that gay and transgender
detainees are by far the most likely
to be abused. In Congress and
among leading pundits, the left and
right agree that the U.S. needs
strong national standards to stop
this devastating form of abuse.
Government studies reveal that
at least 100,000 men, women and
children are assaulted behind bars
each year. Anyone can become a
victim, but perpetrators tend to tar-
get LGBT prisoners and those who
are small, young, non-violent, and
incarcerated for the first time.
Many survivors of sexual vio-
lence suffer additional abuse when
reporting an assault or requesting
D.C. deserves world-class LGBT community center
With only weeks to
find a new home, our
future is uncertain
By MICHAEL SESSA
When I first began volunteering
at the DC Center in 2002, I did so
with a deep conviction that a
world-class city like Washington,
D.C., deserves a world-class
LGBT community center. I believe
that the LGBT residents of the
District are underserved and that
an LGBT community center could
successfully improve the lives of its
community, similar to how other
successful community centers
have in other major cities like New
York, Los Angeles, Chicago,
Philadelphia and Baltimore.
Building such a permanent
home for our LGBT community
has been an elusive goal for the
District, and one that predates
me or our current organization.
The establishment of a sustain-
able center remains a challenge
and even more so as we must
now vacate our current location
within the next few months.
We knew when we moved to
our current location at 1810 14th
St. that we would eventually need
‘ ’
The Obama administration can
drastically improve safety behind bars,
if it has the political will to do so.
medical and mental health treat-
ment. Rather than receiving protec-
tion and assistance, prisoner rape
survivors often face disbelief, apathy
or ridicule from corrections officials.
Even worse, officials commonly
blame LGBT rape victims, claiming
that they invited the violence simply
by being gay or transgender.
Rape is a crime across the
U.S., and the Constitution bars
corrections agencies from inflict-
ing cruel and unusual punishment
on detainees. Despite such legal
protections, it is exceptionally diffi-
cult for prisoners to hold abusive
corrections officials accountable –
and officials know it. Prisoner rape
thrives in facilities where predato-
ry staff and inmates know they
can get away with abuse. Deeply
rooted institutional homophobia
compounds the problem.
But sexual abuse in detention
is preventable. And the Obama
administration can drastically
‘ ’
At this crucial moment, it is time for
our local government to step forward
and commit to fully supporting its
LGBT residents and their needs.
to vacate as JBG Properties, the
owners, would be developing the
site for commercial and/or resi-
dential purposes. JBG Properties
assisted us in finding this tempo-
rary home and we are thankful for
their generous support.
The move to this location was
a calculated risk, but it was a
good decision. In just a few short
months, we’ve shown the
community and the city what a
community center can look
like. We’ve provided a home to
seven LGBT organizations
(including the Washington Blade,
the Chamber of Commerce,
DCCAN etc.) and each finds
significant value in connecting
to one another in common
space. We’ve hosted meetings
for dozens of other LGBT groups
and town halls with organizations
like the Department of Health
and the GLLU.
Our Center is vibrant, our pro-
grams are flourishing, and the
improve safety behind bars, if it
has the political will to do so. Last
June, a bipartisan government
commission issued recommend-
ed national standards aimed at
preventing and addressing sexu-
al abuse in detention. Mandated
by the federal Prison Rape
Elimination Act of 2003, these
standards draw on best practices
already in use around the coun-
try, and include specific provi-
sions to protect LGBT inmates.
For example, the standards
require that housing decisions
include a consideration of whether
an inmate belongs to a known vul-
nerable population; at-risk individu-
als and survivors of sexual assault
must not be housed together with
likely or known predators. The stan-
dards also spell out requirements
for staff training, inmate education,
and sexual assault investigations.
They call on facilities to provide
prisoner rape survivors with access
LGBT community has over-
whelmingly embraced us and the
programs and services we pro-
vide. The needs of the LGBT
community are unique and we
have worked to enable the com-
munity to work together through
the DC Center. Successful
examples include DC For
Marriage, GLOV, HIV Working
Group, Crystal Meth Working
Group, and Elder Think Tank,
(now SAGE Metro DC), among
many others.
Our notice to leave this loca-
tion has come, unfortunately,
much sooner than any of us
would have liked and our future
is, at this moment, uncertain. Our
vision and our passion, however,
remain the same as when the
DC Center was first incorporat-
ed: We seek a permanent, sus-
tainable home for the DC Center.
We’ve made much progress
toward this goal over the years not
only in programs, but in funding as
may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 21
to medical and mental health serv-
ices even if inmates are too afraid to
testify against their attackers.
U.S. Attorney General Eric
Holder is currently reviewing the
standards, before issuing a final
rule making them binding on
detention facilities nationwide.
Sadly, some corrections leaders
are pressuring Holder to weaken
the standards. They claim that it
will cost too much to implement
these measures – that it is too
expensive to stop prisoner rape.
The reality is that the financial
benefits of preventing sexual
assault in detention – and surely
they are less important than the
moral considerations – are enor-
mous. The standards would help
eliminate sexual abuse that, in
the past few years alone, has
resulted in litigation costing cor-
rections systems many millions
of dollars in damages.
When survivors of prisoner rape
require medical care, as they often
do, corrections agencies bear most
of the costs. And people trauma-
tized by sexual assault behind bars
often suffer serious long-term prob-
lems – including HIV infection, post-
traumatic stress disorder, depres-
well. The DC Center has greatly
diversified its funding sources by
increasing individual donations, pri-
vate foundation support and corpo-
rate support. The one challenge we
have yet to overcome is financial
support from our local govern-
ment. Except for a targeted grant
for outreach prevention of crystal
meth, the DC Center has received
no financial support whatsoever
from the District of Columbia.
Unfortunately, we are not
aware of any LGBT community
center that can be sustainable in
the long-term without the sup-
port of its local government. At
this crucial moment, it is time for
our local government to step for-
ward and commit to fully sup-
porting its LGBT residents and
their needs, and doing its share
to make sure this world-class
city has a world-class LGBT
community center.
We as a community have
much more important work
ahead of us to ensure our safety
and progress. For example, the
percentage of hate crimes based
on sexual orientation was 74 per-
cent of all hate crimes reported
(2008) compared to a national
average of 15 percent; recent
NHBS data suggest that more
than 14 percent of gay men are
sion, and alcohol and other drug
addictions. When survivors are
released, local communities foot
the bill for treating these conditions.
Until May 10, Holder is solicit-
ing public comments on the pro-
posed standards. LGBT organiza-
tions and individuals should take
this opportunity to urge Holder to
conduct his review promptly and
enact a strong set of measures
aimed at ending sexual abuse in
detention. By far the fastest and
easiest way to submit a public
comment in favor of the standards
is to sign on to Just Detention
International’s petition, posted at
www.justdetention.org.
When the government takes
away someone’s liberty, it is respon-
sible for protecting that person’s
safety. Prisoner rape is a perversion
of justice. The national standards
promise to bring us closer than ever
before to ending sexual
violence behind bars.
Lovisa Stannow is
executive director of Just
Detention International, an
international human rights
organization that seeks to
end sexual abuse in all
forms of detention.
living with HIV/AIDS yet 40 per-
cent of them don’t know it; and
many LGBT youth in public
schools still face an unsafe
learning environment.
You can’t help but wonder
what progress we could make
and how we could help improve
the lives of LGBT residents if we
could rely on a long-term loca-
tion from which we can coordi-
nate and administer targeted
programs and services.
To be clear, the DC Center will
move forward and is not shutting
down. With six short weeks until
we have to vacate our current
location, this is a crucial time in
the life of our still very young
organization. Now is the time to
get involved. Now is the time to
bring to the table your energy
and ideas, your commitment and
connections, your time and
financial resources. And yes,
now is the time to demand more
from our elected offi-
cials. We will move
forward, but we are
counting on your
help to do so.
Michael Sessa is
president and board chair
of the DC Center for the
LGBT Community. Reach
him via thedccenter.org.
22 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010

washingtonblade.com • vol. 41, issue 19 • may 7, 2010 • Page 23
Mother’s Day
memories
Susan Silber and her
adult children on
growing up in a
diverse family
By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
Avi Silber, a 21-year-old college
junior in St. Louis, was a little con-
fused growing up. As a kid, he
assumed that any two adults who run
a household together must be a cou-
ple because his moms are lesbians.
He chuckles at the memory now.
He thought Bert and Ernie were
partners. Same for the three guys
on “Full House” and the two aunts
on “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.”
“I don’t remember when I had
the realization,” he says. “My best
friend next door had straight par-
ents but I didn’t think of parenting
as a sexual relationship. I just
thought they were roommates
who loved each other. So me and
my best friend decided to live
together when we grew up.”
By now, of course, Avi and his
27-year-old sister Danielle, have it
all figured out. And they consider
themselves fortunate to have been
SUSAN SILBER with her children, DANIELLE and AVI.
Twenty questions for local business owner —
and mom — Ellen Davis. Queery, PAGE 24
raised by their moms, Susan
Silber and Dana Naparsteck.
Susan, a Takoma Park attor-
ney who specializes in family law
and LGBT issues, always knew
she wanted to be a mom but did-
n’t think it was possible.
“I’d always loved working with
children,” she says. “I worked at a
daycare center in college, I
babysat a lot, worked at summer
camps. But I just thought it was
impossible to come out as a les-
bian and also be a mother. So that
was very different than this gener-
ation that doesn’t see it as much
of a challenge anymore, but it did
take a really long time to think how
I would be able to have children
and also be in a relationship with
a woman. That took many years
and lots of false starts.”
Susan and Dana got together in
1978 and both wanted kids. They
moved from Adams Morgan to
Takoma Park in 1981 and bought a
house. Susan had worked on the first
LGBT March on Washington in 1979
and met Billy and his partner Chris.
The two couples spent months plan-
ning the logistics, then Susan got
pregnant on the first try and Danielle
was born in 1983. Avi came in 1988.
Photo courtesy of Danielle Silber
“I gave birth,” Susan says, “But
we were very clear that we would
be equal parents and the men
were very supportive of that deci-
sion. They’ve never been anony-
mous sperm donors. They were
very involved as parental figures.”
The Silbers’ story was never
simple, but it got more complicated
over the coming years. For a while,
another man named Art lived with
Chris and Billy. He and his current
partner, Mark, also helped raise the
kids and Avi and Danielle think of
them all as parents.
The women are lesbians. Two of
the dads are gay and two are bi. Two
are black. Avi is straight. Danielle
says although she’s only dated guys
she’s not opposed to the possibility
of falling in love with a woman and
considers herself part of the queer
community. Susan and Dana split
up about 12 years ago but the
whole group gets together a few
times a year for family gatherings.
“I had an extremely happy
childhood,” Avi says. “It was really
nice having such a large group
supporting us and it was nice hav-
ing such a diverse experience and
a diverse outlook on different peo-
ple and different things. I have
more than one of everything. I can
relate to everyone in some ways
because I’ve had such diverse
parenting. Oh your dad’s strict?
Mine is too. Oh you’re dad was at
Woodstock? Mine was too!”
Danielle had a few confusing
moments as well. She and her
childhood pal Alida were playing
house one day at about age 4 and
got into a fight over who would be
the mom. Susan says Dana went to
see what the fuss was about and
told them there was no reason why
they couldn’t both be the moms.
“I looked at her rather incred-
ulously,” Danielle says. “She said,
‘Well you have two moms.’ I
thought, ‘Oh yeah, I do.’ It was
the first time it dawned on me
arts & entertainment
SUSAN SILBER, a local lesbian attorney, raised two kids in Takoma Park.
that the popular media represen-
tation was different from what my
own family looked like.”
Danielle and Avi both say there
were some minor bumps along
the way. In middle school Avi had
classmates who used words for
his moms he later discovered
were epithets. And Danielle
remembers minor logistical chal-
lenges — like everybody in the
class being given supplies to
make just one mother’s day card.
“I was incredibly closeted about
my family until high school,”
Danielle says. “But once I did
come out about it, I realized I had
a strong enough foundation that it
didn’t matter if my parents were
gay and we’re a gay family. I had
classmates who were incredibly
supportive, even celebratory.”
For Susan and Dana, there
were bigger hurdles involving
insurance and financial matters.
“There were a huge number of
these legal and benefits issues,”
Susan says. “And huge financial
implications when we broke up
that would have been different had
we been in a straight relationship.”
Susan, 62, says her own par-
ents came a long way in accept-
ing her family over the years. Her
father is deceased; her mother
lives in North Carolina.
Washington Blade photo by Michael Key
“They evolved enormously over
the years and became more and
more accepting,” Susan says.
“They have been extremely loving
grandparents and were extremely
accepting of Dana when she was
with me, but I do see a huge dif-
ference when I go to weddings for
my nieces and nephews in the
way a whole community sort of
embraces a couple. I think that is
changing, though.”
Avi and Danielle both say
they’ve told their story — even
once to Barbara Walters on
“20/20” — so many times it’s sec-
ond nature to them now. Avi calls
it “muscle memory.”
“Some of my friends have
heard it so many times I just let
them tell it now,” he says.
Danielle, who lives in New
York City and works on refugee
issues, never tires of it but does
grow weary of what she calls the
“exotification” of her family.
“Because the reality is that all
families are interesting and differ-
ent and have different components
and issues and different extended
members,” she says. “The real dan-
ger is creating a confining structure
of what families are.”
Story continues at
washingtonblade.com.
24 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010

QUEERY: 20 Questions for Ellen Davis

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
Ellen Davis never thought she’d be a
mom but an unexpected epiphany changed
all that. “I never thought I’d have kids,” the
45-year-old insurance broker says. “But I
just woke up one morning at 27 and it was
truly like my body was saying, ‘OK, where’s
the kid? Where’s the baby?’ At first I could-
n’t quite understand it and I know it may be
hard for you to grasp, but it was literally like
my body was saying this and it did that
every day. It really got to be a driving force.”
Davis, a lesbian, found a spouse who
shared her dreams and they were mar-
ried 16 years ago (she declines to name
her partner). Davis gave birth to their two
sons, 10-year-old Noah and 7-year-old
Jacob, and says their life in Potomac,
Md., is wonderful 99 percent of the time.
“Sure, there are those moments where
I feel like my head is going to explode, but
they’re so brief.” Davis says she’s much
more conscious of how quickly her sons
are growing rather than being a lesbian
family. “The time we actually have them in
our arms is a very short period of time,”
she says. “Sure, I hope they always come
over even in their 20s and 30s and want
to snuggle on the couch and watch a soc-
cer game or share a meal or whatever.
But of course eventually they’ll have their
own life. I’m sure we’ll always have a fan-
tastic relationship but I’m also aware that
the time I have them, to see them, touch
Washington Blade photo by Michael Key
them, feel them, play with them, go
places — it’s very brief.”
An insurance broker for 26 years and a
mortgage broker for 24, Davis branched
out and started her own company, Life
Health Home Insurance Group in
Potomac and Gaithersburg last year. The
New York native enjoys family time, read-
ing, traveling and cooking but says relax-
ing moments are rare with two kids, a wife
and a company. “My first thought for the
book question,” she says with a chuckle,
was, “Mom, mom … MOM! because
that’s what I hear all the time.”
How long have you been out and
who was the hardest person to tell?
Out since I’m 14. I thought the hardest per-
son to tell would be my mother but when I
said the words “Mom I’m gay” it was the
easiest thing I had ever said to her. I came
out to my parents when I was 18.
Who’s your gay hero?
My brother Eric, who passed away two
years ago. While alive he was an education
evaluator for the New York City public
school system for 23-plus years. He worked
with emotionally and physically handi-
capped/disturbed students and they and
their families adored him. In his short life he
was able to touch thousands of lives.
What’s Washington’s best nightspot,
past or present?
By the time we moved to the D.C. area
we were past the bar scene so I would
have to say any of our friends’ homes or
ours having a dinner party with good
food, good wine and a ton of laughter!
What’s your dream gay wedding?
At the time we had our ceremony, 13 years
ago, we were able to have a wedding and
reception that met all of our expectations
and dreams at that point in our lives. If we
chose to do the wedding and reception
over again now I would definitely do some
things differently but for the most part we
created what we wanted.
What non-gay issue are you most
passionate about?
Anything that deals with my children, their
their applications for employment, at 6
a.m. It’s 7 a.m. and I already have two
new agents in training — it’s already a
banner day. I’m so glad I’ll have the
opportunity to share my day with them.
If your life were a book,
what would the title be?
“2.2 Kids and a White Picket Fence”
If science discovered a way to change
sexual orientation, what would you do?
Celebrate who I am.
What do you believe in
beyond the physical world?
I believe that after our bodies die that
our souls continue to be.
What’s your advice for
LGBT movement leaders?
Keep working together to create the oppor-
tunity for the federal government to recog-
nize same-sex marriage/partnership. Every
person deserves to have the protections
and benefits of the federal government.
What would you walk across hot coals for?
My children.
What gay stereotype
annoys you most?
Any negative stereotype that are high-
lighted and chosen for the media.
What’s your favorite gay movie?
There are several but every time we see
“Imagine You & Me” on TV we have to
watch it. It’s just a great, feel good

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 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 25

SOCIALAGENDA
What’s better than the full monty?
‘Naked Boys
Singing,’ of course!
By DAVID J. HOFFMAN
What comes after “The Full
Monty?” Don’t be shy — you’ve
asked yourself this question.
Well, the answer is here, at
D.C.’s 1409 Playbill Cafe near
Logan Circle: What Kelly Ripa of
“Live with Regis and Kelly” once
called “the three greatest words
in the English language —
“Naked Boys Singing!”
And yes, the exclamation
mark is part of the title.
Six boys in fact, and naked as jay-
birds while on stage for almost the
entirety of this 70-minute production
of the long-running off-Broadway
musical revue that began there in
1998 and then surfaced in 2007 as a
musical comedy film of the same title.
This show — produced by D.C.’s
LGBT arts troupe, Ganymede Arts,
and directed by its versatile and
multi-talented artistic director Jeffrey
Johnson — is performed in the inti-
mate back room of the Playbill Cafe
from May 7 through June 13.
And “intimate” of course means
you’re up close and personal with
all six of the naked boys, but please
don’t get carried away and strip
down yourself and sing along.
Of course male nudity is the
whole premise of the show and its
mostly clever 16 songs, with piano
accompaniment, some of which
are comic and others are poignant,
with credits for 13 writers including
the gay stand-up comic Bruce
Vilanch. But from its cheerful and
sassy opening number, “Gratuitous
Nudity,” an open invitation to ogle
the merchandise, which of course
everyone in the audience is doing
at first, from then on the attention
turns to their personalities — and
yes, of course, their bodies but also
their faces — and (since it’s a
cabaret-style revue) their voices.
But the opening come-on is
clear. “Tonight it’s all right to stare,”
they sing. “Tonight you won’t won-
der what’s under our underwear!”
In fact, this opening song says it
all: “Tonight, get ready for something
risqué, tonight we throw inhibition
away/why even bother to make a
fuss, when it’s obvious to us/ you’re
here to see gratuitous nudity.”
Each of the six cast members
gets the chance to strut his vocal stuff
‘Naked Boys Singing’
May 7-June 13
1409 Playbill Cafe
1409 14th St., N.W.
Tickets $35
ganymedearts.org
with a solo number. And the other
songs, in a pastiche of styles alter-
nating between substance and silli-
ness, essentially “debrief” — literally
the meaning of nakedness when it is
emotional (“Windows to the Soul”) or
rent-boy (“Little Porn Star”) — and
not only and not chiefly sexual.
Most of the songs address the real
Washington Blade photo by Michael Key
poignancy of men in their most naked
moments — unguarded, defenses ‘NAKED BOYS SINGING’ includes 16 songs that address the poignan-
down, vulnerable. One is even a wist- cy of men in their most naked moments.
ful lament for a late lover sung with
all the sad, almost Proustian rever- example, 25-year-old baritone issues, it was pretty easy” doing
ie of the remembrance of things Aaron Alexander who gave up the- so, in fact,” he recalled.
past. More comically, “Fight the atre after high school, but recently Another cast member, 22-
Urge” depicts the funny pathos of “kind of fell back into it, by doing a year-old Johnny Simmonds,
gay boys in the high school locker lot of karaoke” as he told the describes himself as “a per-
room, hoping their anatomy does Washington Blade in an interview. former 24/7,” and his solo,
not betray them as jocks parade “So I auditioned for this show and “Nothing But the Radio On,” “very
around both buff and in the buff. I got it,” he declared. “In fact, I really much a Playboy spread of
Johnson directs with loads of didn’t know I could sing until my Marilyn Monroe and a Playgirl
boy-philiac charm as well as the- sophomore year in high school and spread of Burt Reynolds.”
atrical savoir-faire. And his cast in no one in my family can sing at all!” Tickets to “Naked Boys Singing”
this Chippendale glee club is filled He came out during his soph- should disappear and are on sale
with standout emerging talent. For omore year, and faced “no now at www.ganymedearts.org.

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Sundays
• Happy Hour All Night
and be ranked against other players nationwide. • Games on the Big Screen

Mondays
• Buzztime Trivia contest and
50 Cents Off Bottles and Drafts
• Games on the Big Screen

Tuesdays
• Happy Hour All Night

Wednesdays
• Free Pool, 50 Cents Off Bottles and Drafts

Thursdays
• Karaoke in the Show Lounge

We Offer Fridays
• Alternating Weeks, 1st and 3rd DJ,
a Full Menu 2nd and 4th Drag Show

Saturdays
A short drive from DC, Baltimore and Annapolis. • Karaoke
Come see what you’ve been missing! • Drag Bingo 3rd Sat. of Every Month

PW’S SPORTS BAR & GRILL

9855 Washington Blvd. N • Laurel, MD 20723
301-498-4840 • www.pwssportsbar.com
26 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
SOCIALAGENDA
friday, may 7
The international hit, “NAKED BOYS
SINGING!” will heat up the beginning of
summer. The D.C. production will pre-
miere a song by the original writers creat-
ed especially for local audiences. The
show will run from May 7-June 13 at 1409
Playbill Cafe, 1409 14th St., N.W. Visit
ganymedearts.org/NBS.htm for tickets.
RAW will return to the Green Lantern,
located at 1335 Green Court, N.W., from
10 p.m.-3 a.m. Raw is an electro-disco
party on the first Friday of each month
inspired by gay parties of the early 80s.
Join your host, Karl Marks and resident
DJs Shea and Bil for some dirty retro fun.
Fill your night with fog, lasers, strobe
lights and throbbing music. Free entry
before 11 p.m., cover is just $3 after that.
SHAWN COLVIN performs at the
Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave.,
Alexandria, Va., at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are
$45; call 703-549-7500 for information.
saturday, may 8
It’s a family-friendly celebration of mar-
riage equality at “MY BIG FAT GAY
WEDDING RECEPTION,” 7-10 p.m., All
Souls Church, Unitarian, 1500 Harvard
St., N.W. Tickets are $50/individual or
$100/family available at all-souls.org.
Magician and child care for the kids; danc-
ing and door prizes for the adults.
The Capitol Hill Restoration Society’s
53rd annual MOTHER’S DAY HOUSE &
GARDEN TOUR. Hours for the tour are
Saturday, 4–8 p.m. and Sunday, 11
a.m.–5 p.m. The Sunday refreshments
break at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian
Church is from 2–4:30 p.m. Tour tickets
are $25 in advance ($20 for CHRS mem-
bers) and $30 the weekend of the tour.
They may be purchased at www.chrs.org
and at select venues around the Hill (loca-
tions available at the CHRS web site).
History will be made tonight when BETTY
WHITE hosts SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
for the first time. In honor of this momen-
tous occasion, Shaaron Van Riggins is
throwing a special party at Duplex Diner,
Town’s popular Madonnarama party returns this Saturday night.
Duplex Diner celebrates BETTY WHITE’S ‘Saturday Night Live’ hosting gig with a
party this weekend.
2004 18th St., N.W. Watch the live SNL
telecast (which starts at 11:30 p.m.) plus
“hijacked” commercial breaks, drink spe-
cials, including Betty White-themed cock-
tails, music by DJs Shea Van Horn +
Aaron Riggins, and prizes for best WHITE
and BETTY WHITE inspired costumes.
Fuego’s GOT TALENT CONTEST, 1818
New York Ave, N.E., from 10:30 p.m.-3 a.m.
Hosted by the Queen of the House “Miss
Gigi Paris Couture” and featuring music
from DJ Flaco. To enter the contest contact
Philip at facebook.com/marquesadoyle
MOUSETRAP, billed as D.C.’s “biggest
Britpop dance night” is held at the Black
Cat, 1811 14th St., N.W., on the main
stage at 9:30 p.m. Tickets $10. Visit black-
catdc.com for information.
MADONNARAMA at Town, 2009 8th St.,
N.W. (corner of 8th & U) features perform-
ances by the Ladies of Town and the Town
dancers. Doors open at 10 p.m., drag show at
10:30 p.m.; music and videos downstairs by
Wess. $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 thereafter.
THE WHITMAN-WALKER CLINIC HIV
MOBILE TESTING will be at Apex, 1415
22nd St., N.W., 10 p.m.–1:30 a.m.
sunday, may 9
MEDITATION AND PRAYERS FOR
WORLD PEACE at the Vajroyogini
Photo couresy of Madonna.com
Buddhist Center, 1803 Connecticut Ave.,
N.W., 2nd floor. Without first developing
inner peace, world peace will remain impos-
sible to achieve. These classes include
a short teaching, guided meditations and
prayers for world peace. For more informa-
tion visit meditation-dc.org or contact
202-986-2257 or info@meditation-dc.org
monday, may 10
The Imperial Court of Washington, D.C. will
hold a “TOWN HALL MEET AND
GREET” at 7 p.m. at the DC Center, 1810
14th St., N.W. The Imperial Court’s sole
mission is to raise funds for the community,
give back more than it receives, and to help
raise awareness for important causes.
COUNTRY WESTERN DANCE LESSONS
at Remingtons, 639 Pennsylvania Ave.,
S.E., 8:30-9:30 p.m., $5 per person, per
lesson. (Dance class participants should
wear boots or shoes with leather soles.)
tuesday, may 11
MAsT (Masters and Slaves Together)
monthly meeting from 7:30–9 p.m. at the DC
Center, 1810 14th St., N.W. For more informa-
tion about this group visit: mastwashington.org.
Volunteers will be assembling safer sex
kits and enjoying drink specials at Motley,
7-10:30 p.m. Motley is the upstairs bar at
EFN Lounge, located at 1318 9th St N.W.
DRAG BINGO AT NELLIE’S SPORTS
BAR, 900 U St., N.W., hosted by Shi-
Queeta Lee, every Tuesday starting at 8
p.m. Free to play.
wednesday, may 12
RAINBOW RESPONSE monthly meeting
at the DC Center, 1810 14th Street N.W.,
from 7-8 p.m. Regular meeting of individuals
and agencies collaborating to address inti-
mate partner violence among LGBTQ peo-
ple in the greater DC area. This meeting
normally occurs on the second Wednesday
of each month. Check rainbowresponse.org
for additional information.
Each Wednesday at the Green Lantern is
POZ WEDNESDAY. Starting at 8 p.m.,
POZ mixers provide a supportive atmos-
phere for those who are HIV positive and
those who want to help eradicate the stig-
ma surrounding HIV. The Green Lantern
is located at 1335 Green Ct., N.W.
Thursday, May 13
ACTIVE DUTY THURSDAY at Motley Bar
above EFN Lounge, 1318 9th St., N.W.,
$3. First drink is free with a military ID.
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 27

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Ranked as one of the top Arts Destinations by AmericanStyle magazine,
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Go to VisitAlexandriaVA.com to plan your visit and find events, such as:

May 14-16: Mount Vernon’s Spring Wine Festival & Sunset Tour
May 28-30: Mount Vernon’s Sunset Celebration
June 19-20: 29th Annual Alexandria Red Cross Waterfront Festival

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© 2010, Alexandria Convention & Visitors Association. All rights reserved.
28 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010

SOCIALAGENDA
Ginsberg’s Beat memories
Visionary writer’s
photographs now
on display
By DAVID J. HOFFMAN
He saw “the best minds” of his
generation” destroyed by madness
and as “angel-headed hipsters
burning for the ancient heavenly
connection to the starry dynamo in
yawp” of that poet of free verse
and gay affection, Walt Whitman.
But he was also a photographer.
And it was Ginsberg, who died in
1997 at age 70, whose little-known
treasure trove of photographs —
taken of himself and other celebrat-
ed “Beat” writers such as Jack
Kerouac and William S. Burroughs,
among others, between 1953-1963
— forms the remarkable exhibit of
some 80 black-and-white portraits in
“Beat Memories: The Photographs
world in a grain of sand, and heav-
en in a wildflower” as one of those
who inspired him the most,
William Blake, once declared to
be the object of poetry.
His postwar generation, includ-
ing writers like Truman Capote and
Norman Mailer, musicians Charlie
Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, painters
like Larry Rivers and Jackson
Pollock, “celebrated an art that was
full of rebellion, risk, and experimen-
tation, and one that was highly Photo courtesy of National Gallery of Art

the machinery of night.”
He was like an Old Testament
prophet preaching in jeremiad
poetry to post-World War II
America. He was Allen Ginsberg,
a visionary writer and author of
the above famous opening lines
of his celebrated poem “Howl.”
He was an anarchist at heart and
anti-war activist, who would try by
chanting to levitate the Pentagon in
1967, and avatar to his poetic muse
the romantic poet Shelley who had
called poets the unacknowledged
legislators of mankind.
And he was the iconic poet of
gay consciousness and sexual
liberation of all men as possible
brothers, and indeed as lovers.
He channeled the “barbaric
of Allen Ginsberg,” on view now at
the National Gallery of Art’s West
Building through early September.
That Ginsberg was gay was
never in doubt in “Howl,” his first big
success in 1956, in which he sang of
those who “purgatoried their torsos
night after night, with dreams, with
drugs, with waking nightmares, alco-
hol and cock and endless balls,” and
in fact the poem is far more explicit
about the particulars of fellatio and
sodomy and yet from the very begin-
ning it was hailed as a notable part
of the new literary canon.
Eye-opening indeed, and so
are this set of unself-conscious
photographs that form an intimate
vision of Ginsberg as a young
man finding his way “to see the
expressive of their personal experi-
ence [and] ... a romantic, almost
heroic faith in their art and in its
redemptive qualities,” says Sarah
Greenough, the National Gallery’s
senior curator of photographs and
curator of this stellar exhibition.
They were soon hailed as “the
Beats,” a term taken “from slang
first used by jazz musicians and
hustlers ... to denote not only the
down and out but also the physi-
cally and emotionally exhaust-
ed,” says Greenough.
“Wild child” Ginsberg, while
briefly studying literature at
Columbia University, famously
found himself in Oedipal revolt
against his teachers. Instead,
Ginsberg followed other teachers
ALLEN GINSBERG, a visionary writer and author, was also a photographer.
An exhibit of his work is on display at the National Gallery of Art.
— romantic poets like Shelley and ular and the power of perception.”
sometimes opium-smoking sym- In fact the photographs were
bolists like Rimbaud, Hart Crane taken by Ginsberg almost nonstop
and Dylan Thomas, and of course as he carried his $13 Kodak cam-
most of all Whitman, alive to all era everywhere in his peripatetic
sensations in his “Song of Myself,” life, beginning in 1953 in Greenwich
and all of whom Ginsberg called Village and later San Francisco and
his “secret heroes.” then “on the road” in Europe, India
“What would Allen say? What and Southeast Asia until he lost the
would Allen say?” Greenough camera in 1963 and with it also his
asked aloud about this exhibit in a interest in recording life as “snap-
preview opening of the show, shots” of what he called “certain
which went public on May 2. And moments in eternity” and “the
she imagined him answering sacredness of the moment.”
while chanting in “his candid and
even beseeching voice,” with his Story continues at
“deep appreciation for the vernac- washingtonblade.com.

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In this fiercely dark comedy, the “bad boy

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means to be pretty. The Studio Theatre
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THE STUDIO THEATRE 14TH & P NW 202.332.3300 www.studiotheatre.org
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 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 29

SOCIALAGENDA: Youth Pride Day in D.C.

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30 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
THE GUIDE TO ARTS & CULTURE
HOT HITS AND HIDDEN JEWELS ONGOING
JOHN ADAMS, CONDUCTOR / through may 21
ERIC OWENS, BASS-BARITONE ONE DESTINY. Ford’s Theatre. 202-347-4833.
National Symphony Orchestra at fords.org.
The John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts through may 22
May 13 - May 15 KAFKA’S METAMORPHOSIS. Synetic
202-467-4600 Theater at Rosslyn Spectrum. 800-494-8497.
kennedy-center.org synetictheater.org.
The unique and imaginative John Adams conducts LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. Ford’s
his Walt Whitman-inspired composition The Theatre. 202-347-4833. fords.org.
Wound Dresser, featuring baritone Eric Owens.
Also on the program are works by Barber and through may 29
Elgar as well as Copland's Suite from Billy the Kid. RIFAR EL CORAZÓN / HEARTSTRINGS.
Teatro de la Luna at Gunston Arts Center.
INSIDE / OUTSIDE 703-548-3092. teatrodelaluna.org.
Gallery plan b
Through May 16 through may 30
202-234-2711 AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.
galleryplanb.com Round House Theatre Bethesda.
Inside / Outside is an exhibition of works in var- 240-644-1100. roundhousetheatre.org.
ious media depicting interiors and exteriors DUKE ELLINGTON’S SOPHISTICATED
from diverse points of views. The show LADIES. Arena Stage at Lincoln Theatre.
includes works by Ron Donoughe, Shoshanna 202-488-3300. arenastage.org.
Ahart, Kevin H. Adams, Michelle Montalbano,
Susan Hostetler, Gordon Binder, Aster da through june 13
Fonseca and Marci Erspamer. AMERICAN BUFFALO. The Studio Theatre.
202-332-3300. studiotheatre.org.
THE GRADUATE
The Keegan Theatre at Church Street Theater
Through May 23
703-892-0202 OPENINGS
keegantheatre.com friday, may 7
Benjamin Braddock is a recent college graduate who STEVENS JAY CARTER. Caos on F.
is facing high expectations from his parents and anxi- 202-215-6993. caosonf.com.
ety about his future. Upon Ben's return home, Mrs.
Robinson--the wife of his father's business partner-- monday, may 10
seduces him. Although the affair ends, it comes back MIDDLE EAST FESTIVAL: VOICE
to haunt him when he falls for her daughter, Elaine. OF THE WOMAN. Washington DC
Jewish Community Center. 800-494-8497.
MIKVEH washingtondcjcc.org.
Theater J at Washington DC Jewish Community Center
Through June 5
800-494-8497
washingtondcjcc.org LAST CHANCE
Inside the secretive world of the ritual bath, eight sunday, may 9
women's stories unfold in this sensitive depiction of FRAMING THE WEST: THE SURVEY
religious observance and evolving feminist con- PHOTOGRAPHS OF TIMOTHY H.
sciousness. A knowledgeable examination of tradi- O’SULLIVAN. Smithsonian American Art
tions and ritual, this hit Israeli play explores the ever- Museum. americanart.si.edu.
evolving position of women in Israeli society.
The Guide to Arts & Culture is supplied by CulturalCapital.com, a pro-
gram of the Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington. NSO: photo by LIMITED ENGAGEMENT
Dario Acosta, supplied by Kennedy Center; INSIDE / OUTSIDE: Joey P.
Mánlapaz, "All About Jane," oil on linen, 48" x 60", supplied by Gallery through may 8
Plan b; THE GRADUATE: supplied by The Keegan Theatre; MIKVEH: NSO POPS: SONDHEIM AT 80 / MARVIN
supplied by Theater J HAMLISCH, CONDUCTOR. National
Symphony Orchestra at The John F.
Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org.
may 8 - may 9
RAQS JAMEEL AND JAZZ FACTOR.
Joy of Motion Dance Center at The Jack
Guidone Theater, JOMDC Friendship
Heights. 202-362-3042. joyofmotion.org.
ONE NIGHT ONLY
friday, may 7
DAVID GONZALEZ. Clarice Smith
Performing Arts Center. 301-405-ARTS.
claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.
saturday, may 8
AN EVENING WITH ROSEANNE CASH
AND MARK O’CONNOR POETS &
PROPHETS. Strathmore. 301-581-5100.
strathmore.org.
GRANDE ROMANZA. Arts/Harmony Hall
Regional Center. 301-203-6070. pgparks.com.
ROB MARTINO AND MIND TRAFFIC IN
CONCERT. Society of Art Rock at The
Soundry. 703-698-0088. dc-soar.org.
AN EVENING OF CELLO AND PIANO.
The Embassy Series at Embassy of Poland.
202-625-2361. embassyseries.com.
sunday, may 9
JENNIFER KOH, VIOLIN & REIKO
UCHIDA, PIANO. The John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts. 202-467-4600.
kennedy-center.org.
wednesday, may 12
ART AFTER HOURS: HEIDI MARTIN
ENSEMBLE & JESSICA BOYKINS-
SETTLES. Strathmore. 301-581-5100.
strathmore.org.
FRANK PONZIO & ALEXANDER WU.
Arts/Harmony Hall Regional Center.
301-203-6070. pgparks.com.
JOURNEY TO ANTARCTICA. Smithsonian
Resident Associate Program at Smithsonian
S. Dillon Ripley Center. 202-633-3030.
residentassociates.org.
thursday, may 13
ADVENTURES AMONG ANTS.
National Geographic. 202-857-7700.
events.nationalgeographic.com.
ANDREW ARCECI & FRIENDS.
Strathmore. 301-581-5100. strathmore.org.
CONCERT: MATEO MONK. Athenaeum.
nvfaa.org.
SARAH WOLFSON, SOPRANO.
Reston Community Center, CenterStage.
703-476-4500. restoncommunitycenter.com.
FREE
saturday, may 8
FILM SERIES: CATALUNYA: POETRY
OF PLACE: GALA (ELENA DIMITRIEV-
NA DIAKONOVA) FOLLOWED BY
GAUDÍ. National Gallery of Art. nga.gov.
FIRST ANNUAL JURIED METRO DC
SHOW. Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.
202-547-6839. chaw.org.
MAJOR DUNDEE. National Archives
Experience. 202-357-5000. archives.gov.
AMERICAN POTLUCK, A FESTIVAL
RECITAL. Vocal Arts Society at The John
F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts. vocalartssociety.org.
sunday, may 9
FILM SERIES: MOVING COMPOSI-
TIONS: EXPERIMENT, MUSIC, AND
CHOPIN IN POLISH CINEMA. National
Gallery of Art. nga.gov.
MOTHER’S DAY TOURS. Riversdale House
Museum. 301-864-0420. pgparks.com.
through May 22
PEPA LEON. Reyes + Davis Independent
Exhibitions. 202-255-5050. reyesdavis.com.
through June 7
TERESA OAXACA - CLASSICAL REAL-
ISM: NEW WORKS. The Art League. 703-
683-1780. theartleague.org.
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 31

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32 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010

LGBTNIGHTLIFEGUIDE
dceagle.com
washington, dc The popular Levi/leather bar’s origins date
to the 1960s. Features billiards, regular
LARRY’S LOUNGE
1836 18th St., NW
30 DEGREES tournaments and other special events. Washington, DC 20009
1639 R St., NW Located near the convention center, two 202-483-1483
Washington, DC 20009 blocks north of Gallery Place Metro. Dupont Circle area bar and restaurant
202-462-6569 popular with both men and women.
cobaltdc.com DELTA ELITE
In Dupont Circle area; popular with men 3734 10th St. NE MIXTAPE
but check schedule for other events. Washington, DC 20017 Different locations
202-546-5979 mixtapedc.com
1409 PLAYBILL CAFÉ thedeltaelite.com twitter.com/MIXTAPEdc
1409 14th St., NW Longtime bar popular with African- Alternative dance party for queer men and
Washington, DC 20005 American men in Brookland women featuring electro, alt-pop, indie
202-265-3055 neighborhood; hosts regular ladies night. rock, house, disco and New Wave. Check
Logan Circle area restaurant and bar Check web site for special events. web site for 2010 schedule of events.
(Dupont Circle Metro) popular with the
theater crowd and featuring open-mike DIK BAR MOVA
nights, karaoke and other special events. 1637 17th St., NW 1435 P St., NW
Washington, DC 20009 Washington, DC 20005
ACADEMY OF WASHINGTON 202-328-0100 202-797-9730
thewashingtonacademy.com dupontitaliankitchen.com halodc.com
Longtime organizers of drag events in the In Dupont Circle area, above Trendy Logan Circle bar and lounge
city; most events held at Ziegfeld’s. See Dupont Italian Kitchen. popular with men features regular happy
web site for full list of upcoming events. hour and other specials. Formerly known
DUPLEX DINER as Halo, MOVA re-launched in early
ANNIE’S PARAMOUNT 2004 18th St., NW 2010 as a environmentally friendly bar
STEAK HOUSE Washington, DC 20009 with an emphasis on community service. MINK @ MOVA
1609 17th St., NW 202-265-9599 Washington Blade photo by Michael Key
Washington, DC 20009 duplexdiner.com NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR
202-232-0395 Popular restaurant and bar in the 900 U St., NW
In Dupont Circle area; popular longtime Adams Morgan area; happy hour Washington, DC 20001
restaurant and steakhouse with recently
renovated Upstairs Lounge.
specials and many other special events.
See web site for updated schedule.
202-332-6355
nelliessportsbar.com
baltimore LEON’S/
TYSON PLACE
Sports bar featuring poker events, drag 1722 870 Park Ave.
APEX EFN LOUNGE/MOTLEY BAR bingo, trivia contests and other specials. 1722 N. Charles St. Baltimore, MD 21201
1415 22nd St., NW 1318 9th St., NW Popular bar with massive outdoor deck Baltimore, MD 21201 410-539-4993
Washington, DC 20037 Washington, DC 20001 and plenty of TVs for watching sports. Multi-level after-hours dance club attracts leonsbaltimore.tripod.com
202-296-0505 202-341-8281 • 202-642-4537 a mixed crowd but remains gay-friendly. In business for more than 50 years,
apex-dc.com efnlounge.com • motleybar.com OMEGA Leon’s is the oldest gay bar in
In Dupont Circle area; popular with men, but twitter.com/EFN_Lounge 2122 P St., NW BALTIMORE EAGLE Baltimore and among the oldest in
check schedule regularly for other events. Funky, edgy neighborhood lounge in Washington, DC 20036 2002 N. Charles St. the country. Friendly bar with jukebox
Logan Circle with special events galore. 202-223-4917 Baltimore, MD 21218 gets especially busy on Sunday nights.
BACHELOR’S MILL Popular with men and women; features omegadc.com 410-82-EAGLE Tyson Place is a restaurant bar
1104 8th St., SE dancing, videos. Check web site for Dupont Circle area bar and club popular Longtime Levi/leather bar not far located behind Leon’s with a
Washington, DC 20003 event schedule. with men featuring dancing, drag and from Mount Vernon offers friendly bar, separate entrance.
202-544-1931 other special events. billiards, outdoor patio, videos and a
Longtime bar popular with African- FAB LOUNGE full store for your leather needs. PORT IN A STORM
American men in Capitol Hill area. 1805 Connecticut Ave., NW PHASE 1 Mostly men, but welcoming to women. 4330 E. Lombard St.
Washington, DC 20009 525 8th St., SE Baltimore, MD 21224
BANANA CAFÉ 202-797-1122 Washington, DC 20003 CLUB PHOENIX 410-534-0014
500 8th St., SE thefablounge.com phase1dc.com 1 W. Biddle St. Friendly neighborhood lesbian bar gets
Washington, DC 20003 In Dupont Circle area; popular with men twitter.com/phase1dc Baltimore, MD 21201 especially popular when the Ravens
202-543-5906 but hosts regular women’s events. The Phase opened in 1970 and remains 410-837-3906 play. Features billiards, music and more.
bananacafedc.com a popular lesbian bar and club. Features Mount Vernon-area downstairs bar
Popular Capitol Hill area restaurant and FIREPLACE regular special events, including Jell-O attracts men and women; friendly service. QUEST
bar (Eastern Market Metro) for both men 2161 P St., NW wrestling, 80s theme nights and more. 3607 Fleet St.
and women. Features Cuban, Mexican Washington, DC 20037 Check web site for details. DRINKERY Baltimore, MD 21224
and Puerto Rican cuisine. 202-293-1293 205 W. Read St. 410-563-2617
In Dupont Circle area; neighborhood bar REMINGTONS Baltimore, MD 21201 Neighborhood bar in Highlandtown
BLOWOFF popular with men. 639 Pennsylvania Ave., SE 410-225-3100 area is popular with men and women
815 V St., NW Washington, DC 20003 Another of Baltimore’s friendly neighbor- and offers billiards.
Washington, DC 20001 GREEN LANTERN 202-543-3113 hood bars in Mount Vernon featuring
blowoff.us 1335 Green Court, NW remingtonswdc.com billiards, jukebox and welcoming service. SAPPHOS
Created by musicians Bob Mould and Washington, DC 20005 twitter.com/remingtonsWDC 1001 N. Charles St.
Richard Morel, Blowoff is an occasional greenlanterndc.com Popular country/Western nightclub in Capitol GALLERY Baltimore, MD 21201
dance event popular with men. Events are twitter.com/greenlanterndc Hill neighborhood with more than 6,000 1735 Maryland Ave. 410-752-7133
held in clubs around the country; D.C.’s Friendly bar for men hosts regular happy square feet of space for dancing and billiards. Baltimore, MD 21201 centralstationpub.com
Blowoff parties are held at the 9:30 club hours and special events, including One half block west of Eastern Market Metro. 410-539-6965 Part of the Grand Central complex,
in the popular U Street corridor. karaoke and shirtless drink special Longtime bar and restaurant popular Sappho’s attracts a lesbian crowd
nights. Check web site for details. TOWN DANCEBOUTIQUE with African-American clientele. and offers comfy couches, outdoor
B.O.I. PRODUCTIONS McPherson Square Metro. 2009 8th St., NW patio and more in its second
boimarketing.com//community.html Washington, DC 20001 GRAND CENTRAL floor location.
Organizes regular women’s events around JACK’S 202-234-TOWN 1001 N. Charles St.
town. Check web site for updated information. 1527 17th St., NW towndc.com Baltimore, MD 21201
Washington, DC 20036 Dance club and bar popular with men 410-752-7133
COBALT
1639 R St., NW
202-332-6767
jacksdc.com
and women, features regular drag per-
formances. U Street Metro.
centralstationpub.com
Large entertainment complex featuring
northern va
Washington, DC 20009 Dupont Circle area restaurant popular friendly pub, lesbian bar Sappho’s upstairs FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR
202-462-6569 with men and women. ULTRABAR and a dance club on the first floor. 555 23rd St. South
cobaltdc.com 911 F St., NW Arlington, VA 22202
In Dupont Circle area; part of complex JR.’S Washington, DC 20004 HIPPO 703-685-0555
of LGBT businesses at this address, 1519 17th St., NW ultrabardc.com 1 W. Eager St. Freddie Lutz’s Virginia establishment
including Level One restaurant on Washington, DC 20036 twitter.com/UltraBar Baltimore, MD 21201 includes a restaurant and friendly bar,
street level and 30 Degrees bar. 202-328-0090 Large dance club with gay-friendly 410-547-0069 regular specials and is popular with
jrswdc.com events and vibe located downtown near clubhippo.com men and women. Crystal City Metro.
CREW CLUB Longtime friendly Dupont Circle area Metro Center. Large club popular with men and
1321 14th St., NW bar popular with men; videos, regular women featuring billiards, top
Washington, DC 20005 special events. ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS DJs/dancing, karaoke, videos and
202-319-1333
crewclub.net LACE
1824 Half St., SW
Washington, DC 20024
more. Opened in 1972, Hippo’s motto
is “where everyone is welcome.”
laurel, md
Men’s 24-hour gym in Logan Circle area, 2214 Rhode Island Ave., NE 202-863-0670 PW’S
featuring steam rooms, lounges, Washington, DC 20018 secretsdc.com JAY’S ON READ 9855 N. Washington Blvd.
private dressing rooms and more. 202-832-3888 Featuring all-nude male dancers 225 W. Read St. Laurel, MD 20723
lacedc.com Wednesdays-Sundays, drag performances, Baltimore, MD 21201 301-498-8202
DC EAGLE Every night is ladies night at Lace; large dance floor and many regular 410-225-0188 pwssportsbar.com
639 New York Ave., NW features regular special events for women special events, contests and more. Piano bar attracts a mostly male Restaurant and bar is popular with gay
Washington, DC 20001 in Brookland neighborhood. Check web Large parking lot available; located in crowd, though welcoming to women and lesbian sports fans and is known
202-347-6025 site for details on happy hour specials. Buzzard’s Point warehouse district. and straight patrons. for its superb burgers.
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 33

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36 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010
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MASSAGE
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WEDDINGS & SERVICES
RC PRIEST, American Catholic affiliation, licensed
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MUSICAL
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FIRST CLASS MUSIC for any occasion. Piano-
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LIMOUSINES/DRIVERS
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COUNSELING
LGBTQ AFFIRMING THERAPY at Dupont Metro.
Individuals, couples, families, adolescents. Over 15
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COUNSELING FOR GAY MEN. Individual/couple
counseling with volunteer peer counselor. Gay
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INDIVIDUAL THERAPY FOR the gay & lesbian com-
munity. Relationships, grief, anxiety, transitions, careers.
Jonathan Kirkendal (202) 550-3589. www.dclpc.com.
LEGAL SERVICES
FULL SERVICE LAW FIRM Representing the GLBT
community for over 25 years. Family adoptions, estate
planning, real estate, immigration, employment. (301)
891-2200. Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A. &
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EMPLOYMENT LAW ATTORNEY - Wrongful
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BUY/USED BOOKS
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ADOPT AN ADORABLE PUPPY OR DOG All-breed,
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MOVING
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CLEANING
TOO NEAT GUYS INC. Residential & commercial clean-
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A CLEANING SERVICE invites you to relax while
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(202) 234-7050, 202-486-6183.
WINDOW TREATMENTS
FREE NO OBLIGATION HOME SHOPPING for
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Environmental Concepts Design (202) 397-7909.
FLOORING
GREEN, ECO-FRIENDLY HARDWOOD FLOOR
REFINISHING Specializing in all areas of wood
floors, installations, dust-free sanding and refin-
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TREE CARE
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NEARBY GETAWAYS
BEAUTIFUL VACATION RENTAL HOME in the
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HOME
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SALE/DE
NEWLY RESTORED VICTORIAN IN MILTON’S
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large kitchen, 2 Mst 2-1/2 baths, 2 porches, large
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exotic
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may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 37
MALE MASSAGE by 31 yo, 5’ 9”, 170 lbs, Hot Latino
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38 washingtonblade.com • may 7, 2010

WE COVER THE COUNTRYSIDE

NORTH WOOD CABIN – DELAPLANE, VIRGINIA
Stunning 112 +/- acres with breathtaking views of
rolling countryside and distant mountains. Serenity
takes over near the gazebo at the 1.6 acre pond. In
the Orange County Hunt, historic Goose Creek
borders the parcel for a mile. An idyllic, two bed-
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final county okay, also available in 50 ($750,000)
and 62 ($1,395,000) acre parcels. 62 acres
includes pond and cabin. FQ77219027 $2,145,000
Walter Woodson (703)499-499-4961

SWEETWOOD MANOR – MARSHALL, VIRGINIA

Gorgeous mountain views overlooking 15.5 acres of
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ing space with an energy efficient “green” approach.
Exceptional house with fine finishes, 11’+ ceilings and two
story stone fireplace. Attached 4 bay garage. FQ7257436
$1,395,000 Helen MacMahon (540) 454-1930

ADAMS GREEN – MIDDLEBURG, VIRGINIA

Four bedrooms, three and half bath Cape Cod. Sits
on 3 private acres outside the town of Middleburg.
Gourmet kitchen is complimented with hardwood
floors, the master suite and walk in closet are exqui-
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room and family room. Fully finished basement.
Deck with hot tub and mature plantings. LO7100447
$999,999 Margaret Carroll (540) 454-0650

CONDE ROAD – MARSHALL, VIRGINIA

Stunning villa perched high on 8.4+ acres in heart of
Fauquier. First floor master with luxurious bath and
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room, wet bar. 4 fireplaces. Stately pool and enter-
taining area. Three car garage. FQ 7270932
$895,000 Walter Woodson (703)499-4961

SAINT LOUIS ROAD – MIDDLEBURG, VIRGINIA

Solid brick colonial located between Middleburg
and Purcellville. 4 bedroom home with hardwood
floors throughout, 2 1/2 baths, open kitchen and
family room with wood burning fireplace, bright
sunroom, large unfinished basement. Mature
plantings surround the pool and gazebo.
Gorgeous bank barn with space for an apartment
above. LO7078187 $850,000 Margaret Carroll
(540)454-0650

PIEDMONT DRIVE – MIDDLEBURG, VIRGINIA

Elegant 4/5 bedrooms 3 1/2 bath townhome in
the village of Middleburg. 4 full levels, approx
4,000 sf of living space including fully finished
lower level. Main floor has hardwood floors, large
eat-in kitchen two sided gas fireplace in lovely
sunken living room and den/office. Lots of space,
private patio, convenient easy living. LO7312498
$599,999 Helen MacMahon (540) 454-1930
DEENNY
NNY H ORNER
PEDDLER’S COTTAGE – THE PLAINS, VIRGINIA
This charming home boasts three bedrooms and EVERS & CO. Real Estate, Inc.
two baths in the picturesque village of The Plains. 703.629.8455 (c) 202.464.8400 (o) Denny@DennyHorner.com
Delightful den with brick fireplace. Wood floors in
spacious living room with fireplace and lovely man-
tel. Virtually entire dwelling remodeled since 2006.
Exceptionally well-maintained property with exten-
sive plantings. Convenient to shops, restaurants,
services, I-66 and other major routes. FQ7050369
$399,000 Walter Woodson (703) 499-4961

MARTIN AVENUE – MIDDLEBURG, VIRGINIA

Extra large corner lot in the village of Middleburg.
This traditional cottage has 3 bedrooms, nice liv-
ing room with wood burning fireplace and hard
wood floors recently refinished - throughout the
home. There is room for expansion above with the
floored attic and large side porch. LO7250829
$390,000 Helen MacMahon (540)454-1930

110 East Washington Street

Middleburg, Va 20117
(540) 687-5588
info@sheridanmacmahon.com
www.sheridanmacmahon.com
 may 7, 2010 • washingtonblade.com 39

Connecting with the Online Crowd

Owned and Operated
by NRT Incorporated
VAN NESS
HUGE PRICE
REDUCTION!
4701 Connecticut
Ave, NW #205
$579,900
Large 2 bedroom/2
bath renovated coop
with tons of light!
Hardwood floors
throughout, Chef's
kitchen with high-
end appliances & granite, separate dining, updated
bathrooms & more. Also, conveys with
one garage parking space! Walk to Van
Ness Metro, shops & restaurants.
DWIGHT MORTENSEN 202-361-4400
DAVID BEDIZ 202-352-8456
WWW.DWIGHTANDDAVID.COM
Join Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage and
put LeadRouter to work for you
If you’re interested in improving your customer response times, while increasing
your lead volume, transactions, gross commission income and referrals, call me
Kevin McDuffie: 202-439-2435 or email me at kmcduffie@cdmove.com. 202-387-6180
NEW PRICE! OPEN SUNDAY 1-4
BALLSTON GEORGETOWN
2718 P Street, NW
$475,00 $1,599,000
880 Pollard Street Treetops, now Bank
#225 Owned, was fully reno-
vated and rebuilt in
• 2 Bedrooms/ 2003 includes chefs
2 Baths kitchen w/top-of-the-
• 2 Metros Closeby line appliances, cus-
• Garage Parking tom kitchen cabinets,
• Balcony, Pool speakers throughout home; marble & granite fireplaces, built
& More in office & library, whirlpool baths, premium windows. SOLD
AS-IS, SELLER WILL MAKE NO REPI-
ARS. BROKER MAKES NO REPRESEN-
TATIONS RE PROPERTY CONDITION.
Facebook.com/CBRBDupont
STANTON SCHNEPP J.T. POWELL “JOIN THE DUPONT OFFICE FAN PAGE FOR
202-997-5192 202-465-2357 OPEN HOUSES, NEW LISTINGS, SPECIAL
EVENTS, AND LOCAL MARKET INFORMATION.”
WWW.STANTONSCHNEPP.COM WWW.JTPOWELL.COM

PRICE REDUCTION! JUST SOLD! LURAY LOGAN CIRCLE

$999,000! Dupont Circle 201 STAGE COACH LANE 1111 11 St NW #105
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS 1830 18th St, NW #A LURAY, VA 22835 $419,900
1309 Euclid Street NW $775,000 $549,900.00 2 Bed/2 BA
This is a unique opportunity to
Great 4 unit, 4 level Victorian in Luxury multi-level own one of the Shenandoah Like new, light filled end
Columbia Heights. Sep electric 2BR/ 3BA+den home Valley's most historic homes. unit on the first floor. Two
and gas for each unit, including in brand-new boutique This circa 1810 Victorian farm- Bedroom, 2 full baths,
building. Top of the line house can serve as your dbl. sink in master bath.
sep electric house meter. Easy appointments, exqui-
condo conversion of existing units. incredible home or as a river inn as it did nearly two cen- Black granite kitchen
site light throughout turies ago. The property provides the best of Virginia living,
Parking is a non issue being locat- PLUS private roof ter- and bamboo floors. In-
with almost four riverfront acres nestled between the Blue unit central air, washer/
ed so close to metro. Needs work race with stunning Ridge and Massanutten Mountains. All of the attractions of
and sold Totally As-is, how you see views. Call me to sell historic Luray and the Appalachian Trail are at your doorstep. dryer. Loads of closet
it, just as it is. Seller will make no your home today! The estate combines the past and the present with its four and cupboard space.
repairs. All rea- bedrooms, 4.5 baths, five working fireplaces, enormous sun- Close to Metro.
sonable offers room, screened porches, barbeque and
bonfire pits and eight-person Jacuzzi tub.
considered. Own a piece of Virginia History!

J.T. POWELL J JAMES BRAEU BRADFORD A. DEEL MICHAEL MARRIOTT

202-465-2357 202-215-2240 CELL 202-577-5833 801-201-7373 CELL
WWW.JTPOWELL.COM WWW.JAMESBRAEU.COM WWW.CBMOVE.COM/BRADFORD.DEEL WWW.DCGOTOGUYS.COM

SW WATERFRONT NEW LISTING EXTRAORDI- OPEN

HUGE PRICE FIRST OPEN NARY VALUE! SUNDAY 1-4
REDUCTION! SUNDAY 1-4 COLUMBIA Logan
238 G St SW LOGAN CIRCLE HEIGHTS Circle
$529,900 910 M Street, NW U STREET 1322 15th St
3 level, 3 bedroom, 2 #802 The Benjamin #B-3
and a half bath condo $399,000 #303 $295,000
that lives like a town- 1BR/BA 2535 13th Newly renovated
house. This beautiful You’ll love living at Street NW 1BR, 1BA with
space includes a ren- the sophisticated $314,000 hardwood floors
ovated kitchen with “Whitman” with its Bright and beautiful 1BR condo in a fully renovated in living areas
SS appliances, gran- building (2005) with gleaming cherry hardwood floors, and bedroom.
rooftop pool, 24/7 granite counters, SS appliances & ceramic bath. Gas
ite counters, a breakfast bar, and large patio for enter- lobby attendant, fitness center & party room! SS appli- Freshly painted
fireplace, large closets and washer/dryer in unit. Walk to with neutral designer colors; 2 blocks to
taining. Parking space also conveys. ances, granite counters & luxury bath U Street dining, Columbia Heights
Near Metro, Waterfront, Arena Stage shops, 4.5 blocks to Metro. GARAGE Whole Foods; VIDA; Restaurants and
with soaking tub. Pet friendly building.
theatre, and more! PARKING AVAIL FOR SALE. shops. Close to Metro.

DWIGHT MORTENSEN 202-361-4400 MICHAEL MARRIOTT J JAMES BRAEU ROBERT (BOB) WILLIAMS
DAVID BEDIZ 202-352-8456 801-201-7373 CELL 202-215-2240 202.436-0032
WWW.JAMESBRAEU.COM WWW.CBMOVE.COM/ROBERT.WILLIAMS
WWW.DWIGHTANDDAVID.COM WWW.DCGOTOGUYS.COM

OPEN SUNDAY 1-3 NEW PRICE!

Introducing LOGAN CIRCLE U ST/LOGAN
the new Blue Matter blog 1201 Q Street, NW #1
$379,000 $979,900
2Br/1BA 909 T Street NW
Surrounded by south- • Renovated Top
ern facing windows, to Bottom
this corner unit with • 4 BR/2.5 BA
turret is flooded with Owner’s Unit
sun. Fantastic loca- • 1 BR/1 BA Legal
tion only 3 blocks to Rental Unit
Blue Matter is the brand new Whole Foods, 1 block off Logan Circle. The stone floors, • 2 Metros Closeby!
Coldwell Banker blog, designed to huge closets, recessed lights, granite counters, extreme-
OPEN SUN, 1-4 PM
provide consumers with insight ly low condo fee, and the unusually large
number of parking spaces surrounding
and commentary on the real estate the building make this a Slam Dunk!
experience from the people who
know it best - the experts through- J.T. POWELL STANTON SCHNEPP
out the Coldwell Banker brand. 202-465-2357 202-997-5192
WWW.JTPOWELL.COM WWW.STANTONSCHNEPP.COM

“The most tools, the most technology, the most leads, the best working environment. Sound interesting?
Call me to discuss the advantages of Coldwell Banker. We offer more so our agents can do more for our clients.”
Kevin McDuffie, GRI, Managing Broker
kmcduffie@cbmove.com • 202.439.2435 (c) • 1606 17th Street NW cbmove com