Washingtonblade.com, Volume 51, Issue 41, October 09, 2020

Bars bracing for COVID winter Business owners working to adapt to cooler weather,

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

PAGE 22

OCTOBER 09, 2020 • VOLUME 51 • ISSUE 41 • WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Crew Club building for sale or lease; owners may not reopen The owners of the Crew Club, the D.C. gym, sauna and bathhouse for gay men, have placed the club’s building on 14th Street, N.W. near Logan Circle on the market for sale or lease and they do not expect to reopen the club, which closed earlier this year due to the coronavirus epidemic, according to co-owner DC Allen.

Allen told the Washington Blade on Saturday that the building’s new owner or leaseholder would be free to reopen the Crew Club, which has occupied the two-story building’s second floor for more than 25 years, but that’s not likely to happen.

Large signs attached to nearly the entire front wall of the building at 1321 14th St., N.W. promote its use as a “Flagship Retail Redevelopment Opportunity.” One of the signs, placed

by D.C. Realtor Wes Neal, says a potential feature of the building is a 7,000-square-foot roof deck.

Allen said that although some bathhouses in other parts of the country, including in Fort Lauderdale, have reopened as states and cities have relaxed coronavirus related restrictions, he decided not to reopen the Crew Club.

“I didn’t feel that was healthy,” he said. “So we did not reopen. And I don’t know if we will,” Allen said. “I just don’t know. Everything is up in the air. If the new owners want a tenant

The Crew Club building on 14th Street is for sale (Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

then maybe we will.”

In January, Allen told the Blade he and his husband Ken Flick had decided to retire and had a contract to sell the Crew Club building to Douglas Development Corporation, one of the city’s largest real estate developers. Allen announced the club would be closing Feb. 29 and scheduled a closing party on that day.

But Allen announced one day later on the Crew Club’s Facebook page that an “unexpected turn of events” prompted him and Flick to keep the club open indefinitely. He told the Blade at the time that Douglas Development backed out of the sale, prompting him to recruit new business partners to operate the Crew Club on a day-to-day basis, with him and Flick remaining part owners.

Allen said in an interview with the Blade last week that the arrangement for the new partners to operate the Crew Club “fell apart” when the coronavirus pandemic hit the city in full force a short time later. “That’s all gone,” he said.

“All I have now is Ken and I are retired and the building is for sale,” Allen told the Blade. “And it is unlikely the club will reopen.”

A permanent closing of the Crew Club will mark the end of the city’s last remaining gay bathhouse.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

Non-binary candidate looks to fill Falls Church Council seat Simone Pass Tucker is running as an openly non-binary person for the Falls Church City Council in the city’s Nov. 3 election. If elected, they would become the first non-binary candidate to take office in Virginia history and only the second in the history of the country.

Tucker, a 22-year-old Falls Church native, is running as a progressive candidate with a platform of turning the city into the model of what a “little city” could look like.

According to their website, they hope to bring greener technology to the city and cheaper housing through subsidy programs. They also vow to reform policing in Falls Church by shifting officers’ focus to community building and away from “predatory measures”.

“Falls Church City is unique in our location and size, and I believe we have the ability to pave the way for what small progressive cities should be like,” their website states. “If elected, I pledge to be a voice for the voiceless in Falls Church.

Let’s do better.”

Tucker is running against Falls Church Education Foundation Executive Director Debbie

SIMONE PASS TUCKER

(Photo courtesy of the People for Simone Pass Tucker)

Maryland finally repeals sodomy law A law that officially repeals Maryland’s sodomy law took effect on Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court in its 2003 Lawrence v. Texas ruling said state laws that criminalized consensual same-sex sexual acts between adults were unconstitutional.

Maryland earlier this year approved a bill that repealed the state’s sodomy law. Virginia lawmakers in 2014 repealed their state’s sodomy ban.

STAFF REPORTS

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Hiscott and Josh Shokoor, a member of the city’s Housing Commission, to fill the council vacancy created by the death of Councillor Dan Sze in July.

According to their website, Tucker became active in politics as a child when they joined their parents to knock on doors for Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns in 2008 and 2012.

They went on to become involved in activism around reproductive rights, Middle East peace, and environmental justice during their college years at North Carolina State University and the College of William and Mary.

“Simone’s vision for Falls Church is one that emphasizes sustainability, helping build a community by, and for, its residents, one in which generations can prosper in our beautiful small town not just now but decades down the line,” Tucker’s campaign manager Benjamin Lotto said in an email to the Washington Blade. “They want to help foster the charm and creativity that makes them and so many Falls Church residents unwaveringly proud of their city.”

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Out Brigade D.C. Pride ‘Parade’ set for Oct. 10

Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual Pride Parade and festival, is urging members of the local LGBTQ community and their supporters to join an event called the “Out Brigade,” a caravan of decorated vehicles scheduled to travel throughout the city on Saturday, Oct. 10, to celebrate their pride.

The 2020 Capital Pride Parade originally scheduled for June was cancelled because Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director RYAN BOS said the route and location of the of the coronavirus pandemic. checkpoints will not be publicly disclosed in an effort to discourage large gatherings of “You didn’t think we’d let this year take spectators. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key) away our right to a parade, did you?!” a message on the Capital Pride Alliance website says.

“Hop in your decorated car, turn up the music, and join our Out Brigade mobile parade train, as we spread joy, resilience, and PRIDE throughout all 8 Wards of Washington, DC!,” the message continues. “Participants are encouraged to use their creativity to display their pride with lively banners, flags, costumes, and decorations! Participants with the best decorated Pride mobiles or who have fund-raised the most will be eligible to win exciting prizes.”

According to the Capital Pride message announcing the Out Brigade event, proceeds

By PETER ROSENSTEIN from the event – including from a $100 entry fee for cars, trucks, or vans – will benefit the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community and Capital Pride Alliance “so that pride celebrations, The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our important programming, and critical advocacy work can continue in 2021 and beyond.” community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, The announcement says participants are being asked to register their vehicles – either joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes cars, trucks, motorcycles, scooters, or bicycles – in advance of the event so organizers can with us at: comingsandgoings@washblade.com. coordinate the planned route of the multiple “caravans” traveling in different parts of the city.

Congratulations to Adam Ouanes on joining the Juniper “Each registered vehicle will be assigned a designated checkpoint to check-in and start Center in Chicago. The Juniper Center offers psychotherapy from,” the announcement says. “After checking in, you will make your way to each designated and group therapy for adults, couples, families, and children checkpoint, as part of a caravan of vehicles. All vehicles must follow traffic laws,” the message and has a wide range of therapists with specific focuses. says.

Upon joining the group Ouanes said, “My approach “Participants are encouraged to let their Pride be SEEN and HEARD during their route!” it to therapy is through a relational lens and is influenced says. by a myriad of perspectives including, but not limited to, Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said the route and location of the Psychodynamic Therapy, Narrative Therapy, Cognitive checkpoints will not be publicly disclosed in an effort to discourage large gatherings of Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and spectators, which would be a violation of the city’s social distancing requirements. Participants mindfulness-based skills.” will be informed of the routes and checkpoint locations when they register for the event.

He has acquired a great deal of experience and passion ADAM OUANES Information about registering and additional details can be accessed via capitalpride.org. for working with LGBTQ+ individuals, as well as those who struggle with addiction. He has a deep understanding of the LOU CHIBBARO JR. unique challenges faced by LGBTQ people who struggle with substance use. Ouanes also has experience and interest in working with emerging adults, and in grief work. He previously worked for the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia as a Transplant Social Work Intern and with The William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia as a Peer Counselor.

Congratulations also to Diego Garcia Blum on his election as Student Body President at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Upon his election he said, “I couldn’t be more honored. As The D.C. Council on Oct. 6 voted unanimously in a second and final vote to approve an immigrant, a Latinx person, and an LGBTQ+ individual, legislation to provide nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ seniors and seniors with this journey has not been easy. Coming close to becoming HIV who reside in long-term care facilities in the District. undocumented several times, I finally obtained a Green Card But the Council’s approval came after the city’s Chief Financial Officer issued a fiscal after working as a nuclear engineer for six years. I came to impact statement for the Care for LGBTQ Seniors and Seniors with HIV Amendment Act the Kennedy School with the freedom of my immigration of 2020 disclosing that the city doesn’t have the funds in its budget to implement the bill’s situation behind me, ready to live my values, and challenging main section related to nondiscrimination measures. myself to lead the student body is part of that journey. “ The bill, which has the strong support of LGBTQ rights advocates, calls for amending He added, “I was driven to public service because I want to the city’s Human Rights Act of 1977 to establish an “LGBTQ and HIV long-term care bill DIEGO GARCIA BLUM fight for the safety and acceptance of LGBTQ people living of rights to provide rights and legal protections for LGBTQ residents and residents with in places where they are unsafe. It is a calling born out of my own story of overcoming HIV in long-term care.” oppression as a gay man and witnessing the heartbreaking assault on LGBTQ people The CFO’s financial impact statement says the city’s fiscal year 2020 budget and the in repressive areas of the world. Throughout my work travels, I met dozens of LGBTQ fiscal year 2021 through 2024 planned budgets do not have sufficient funds to implement people still trapped in the same suffering I lived through when I was in the closet. As an the section of the bill that would require the D.C. Office of Human Rights to enforce the immigrant lucky enough to have come out of the closet in the United States, I saw myself nondiscrimination provisions in the bill. According to the CFO report, the funds needed in all of the people I met; their crushing pain was too familiar.” for those provisions are $109,000 in fiscal year 2021 and $434,000 over the four-year Garcia Blum worked for TN Americas in Columbia, Md., as a nuclear engineer and period that’s part of the city’s financial plan approved as part of the budget.

MATRIX Project Lead Engineer; and for TN International in Paris as a performance The bill will now go to Bowser, who is expected to sign it before it goes to Capitol Hill manager. He is a member of the National Board of Governors of the Human Rights for the required 30 legislative day review by Congress.

Campaign and a Harvard Kennedy School U.S. Latino Leadership Fellow.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

Comings & Goings

Garcia Blum elected student body president at Harvard Kennedy School

D.C. Council gives final approval to LGBTQ seniors bill

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United States Supreme Court Associate Justices CLARENCE THOMAS and SAMUEL ALITO have declared war on marriage equality. (Photos public domain)

Thomas, Alito declare war on same-sex marriage Justices release unexpected statement, alarming activists

By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com

A fiery and unexpected statement from U.S. Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito Monday signaling their intent to undermine the Obergefell decision is raising questions about whether marriage rights for same-sex couples are in danger, especially with the possible addition of Amy Coney Barrett to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The statement, which is irregular and completely voluntary, was made in response to the denial of a petition to review the case of Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky who gained notoriety in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses — both to same-sex couples and opposite-sex couples — based on her religious objections to Obergefell v. Hodges.

Thomas, in a statement co-signed by Alito, writes he concurs with the decision to deny review of the case, which has been percolating through the judiciary for some time, but says her request “provides a stark reminder of the consequences of Obergefell.”

“By choosing to privilege a novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the Court has created a problem that only it can fix,” Thomas writes. “Until then, Obergefell will continue to have ‘ruinous consequences for religious liberty.’”

Thomas criticizes the Obergefell decision, accusing the majority of impairing religious liberty and belittling the views of objectors who oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds.

“It would be one thing if recognition for same-sex marriage had been debated and adopted through the democratic process, with the people deciding not to provide statutory protections for religious liberty under state law,” Thomas said. “But it is quite another when the Court forces that choice upon society through its creation of atextual constitutional rights and its ungenerous interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause, leaving those with religious objections in the lurch.”

The willingness of two justices to signal they would to seek overturn precedent for marriage equality five years after it was established was a shock to observers who thought the issue had been resolved. Even President Trump has said he’s “fine” with the decision and thinks the matter “settled.”

Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement the message from Thomas and Alito “proves yet again that a segment of the Court views LGBTQ rights as ‘ruinous’ and remains dead set against protecting and preserving the rights of LGBTQ peoples.”

“From eliminating hospital visitation rights and medical decision-making in religiously affiliated medical centers to granting businesses a license to discriminate against LGBTQ couples, ‘skim-milk marriage’ would have a devastating effect on our community’s ability to live freely and openly,” David added, quoting a now famous quip from the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 2013 during oral arguments against the Defense of Marriage Act. Although the statement was signed by only two justices and a majority of five is 1 0 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09 , 2 0 2 0 • NAT I O NA L NE WS

needed to overturn marriage equality on the nine-member court, it raises questions about the confirmation of Barrett, whose nomination is still pending before the Senate Judiciary Committee after Trump picked her to replace progressive champion Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

If confirmed, Barrett — who’s known for having a conservative judicial philosophy —would take the place of a justice would was solidly in support of same-sex marriage, skewing the balance of the court further to the right.

David pointed out Barrett has said she openly holds the views of Antonin Scalia and Thomas and Alito “channel” the late justices with their statement.

“That fact, along with Barrett’s ties to anti-equality extremist groups who aim to criminalize LGBTQ relationships in the United States and abroad, shows that Barrett will only embolden these anti-equality extremist views on the Court,” David said, referring to Barrett admitting to having taken a fee to speak at a group associated with the antiLGBTQ legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom.

The Washington Blade has placed a request with the White House on whether Trump thinks marriage rights for same-sex couples would be safe in the aftermath of the confirmation of Barrett to the high court.

Conservatives have already had wins on the Supreme Court with the confirmations of U.S. Associate Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh in the Trump administration.

Neither, however, signed the statement, nor did U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, who dissented from the Obergefell decision but has been siding with liberal justices in recent decisions.

James Esseks, director of the American Civil Liberties Union LGBT & HIV Project, said the statement from Thomas and Alito was “appalling” in the aftermath of same-sex couples having secured the right to marry and same-sex couples enjoying the right for five years.

“When you do a job on behalf of the government — as an employee or a contractor — there is no license to discriminate or turn people away because they do not meet religious criteria,” Esseks said. “Our government could not function if everyone doing the government’s business got to pick their own rules.”

Esseks continued Thomas’ statement puts into stark relief the possible consequences of the pending case before the Supreme Court of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, which will decide whether a Catholic foster agency has a First Amendment right to reject same-sex parents and still obtain taxpayer funds through a government contract.

In the aftermath of Ginsburg’s death, legal observers have said the legality of religious-based refusals to LGBTQ people is the most vulnerable aspect of LGBTQ rights on the high court.

“That’s exactly what’s at stake in a case that will be argued on Nov. 4 — Fulton v. City of Philadelphia,” Esseks said. “We will fight against any attempts to open the door to legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people.”

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Grenell says not meeting with German far-right leader a ‘difficult thing’ Former ambassador disputes quotes in report

By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com

Richard Grenell, who has become the face of LGBTQ outreach in President Trump’s re-election campaign, said not meeting during his time in the administration with Germany’s far-right leader Alice Weidel, a lesbian, as he met with other party leaders was a “difficult thing,” according to a report Monday in the Carnegie Mellon University student newspaper The Tartan.

Grenell was quoted making those remarks in the context of a debate that took place Friday at the Institute for Politics & Strategy with Stuart Milk, the nephew of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk who has continued his uncle’s legacy to advance LGBTQ rights. The two worked with each other on the Trump administration’s global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality, which was the focus of the debate.

When discussion shifted to answering a question about the rise of right-wing movements in Europe and the threat they pose to LGBTQ rights, Grenell hedged, arguing it’s “not a black and white issue” and both Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and the far-left German party are “not good on gay rights,” according to the The Tartan. (Merkel as chancellor of Germany allowed a vote to legalize same-sex marriage, but cast a vote against it.)

That’s when Grenell reportedly said a “difficult thing” for him was meeting with the far-left German party, which he dubiously claimed was bad on LGBTQ rights, but not meeting with Alternative for Deutschland (AfD), the far-right German party, citing “an embassy policy that I would not meet [with AfD].” The party leader, Alice Weidel, rails against immigration to Germany, and opposes LGBTQ rights even though she’s an out lesbian.

Milk reportedly was quick to disagree with Grenell about the lack of danger of the rising farright in Europe, saying “it is something that should be on everyone’s table,” according to The Tartan.

Milk reportedly cited anti-LGBTQ rollback in Hungary under Viktor Orban and gave the personal story of an LGBTQ activist he had worked with for years being killed in Hungary.

Grenell, in response to an email inquiry from the Washington Blade on whether he wanted to flesh out his comments that not meeting with Weidel was a “difficult thing,” was characteristically defiant and vague in disputing the quoted remarks in The Tartan report.

“You didn’t hear the conversation or even a single sentence of it and your gossip-style game of telephone is not what I said at all and is typical of how you always distort what Republicans say and do,” Grenell wrote.

Grenell has previously made favorable remarks about conservatives in Europe. As U.S. ambassador to Germany, Grenell gave an interview to Breitbart News in which he said he “absolutely [wants] to empower other conservatives throughout Europe” and praised Austria’s Sebastian Kurz. (During the debate, Grenell was quoted as denying the report,

RICHARD GRENELL, the former German ambassador, said not meeting with the country’s far-right leader who’s a lesbian was a ‘difficult thing.’ (Photo public domain)

calling a question on it “silly” and saying he wanted to “empower people like me, which meant gays, and gay conservatives.”)

The main focus of the debate, however, was the global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality.

Although critics have said it amounted to nothing, Grenell has defended progress on the initiative.

According to The Tartan, discussion quickly shifted away from the initiative to a debate between Grenell and Milk on their approach to LGBTQ rights and the best presidential candidate in the 2020 election on that issue.

Milk expressed strong support for Joe Biden, although he emphasized his political views were separate from the Milk Foundation, which has 501(c) status, and Grenell explained his support for Trump despite the anti-LGBTQ record the incumbent has developed during his administration, according to The Tartan.

When Grenell dubiously claimed Trump is the “first president in history to come into office supporting gay marriage,” apparently based on comments Trump made after the 2016 election when he said he was “fine” with the Supreme Court ruling for samesex marriage, Milk reportedly countered with details about Trump’s anti-LGBTQ record Milk reportedly cited the transgender military ban and a 2016 Republican Party Platform that endorsed legislation allowing religious exemptions to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Milk also pointed out Vice President Mike Pence spoke at a conference for the anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council.

A key moment came when Grenell, questioned

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on whether the global initiative to decriminalize homosexuality included support for transgender rights, said he “[fights] for gay and lesbian rights” and is “not a trans activist”, though he is “a full supporter of trans rights”, and added that decriminalization is “the first step” when it comes to LGBTQ rights, according to The Tartan.

But Milk reportedly didn’t accept that transgender exclusion from the LGBTQ movement, insisting transgender rights aren’t separate and “any type of criminalization against any element of the LGBT community is a criminalization of us all.” According to a recent U.N. report, at least 13 member states criminalize being transgender.

Milk didn’t respond Tuesday to the Washington Blade’s request to comment on whether they would dispute any aspect of the report in The Tartan.

Bill Brink, a spokesperson for the Institute for Politics & Strategy, said in response to an inquiry from the Washington Blade the event was recorded, but the school won’t make the recording public because the event was off the record. Asked to dispute any part of the report in The Tartan, Brink referred to his previous comment.

The Tartan report acknowledges a spokesperson for the Institute for Politics & Strategy declared the event off the record to allow the speakers to be “candid” and give the “best information possible,” but the report says the debate was “open to anyone affiliated with Carnegie Mellon with no written agreement to keep the details of the talk off the record.”

make meaningful career CONNECTIONS “As the infrastructure industry continues to grow, we want DC residents to be first in line for these high-paying jobs.”

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We are committed to creating opportunities for DC residents and ensuring our workforce reflects the people and communities where we live and work. Interested in getting DCIA training?

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© Potomac Electric Power Company, 2020

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Gay men take over #ProudBoys on Twitter

A scene from Schitt’s Creek. Similar images of men kissing made the rounds on Twitter last weekend in response to the attention the Proud Boys terrorist group received from President Trump during the first presidential debate.

A hashtag used by the far-right fascist group Proud Boys has been hijacked by gay men to the delight of thousands of people on social media.

The male-only organization, which is affiliated with white supremacists, gained notoriety last Tuesday after Donald Trump refused to condemn them in the first presidential debate.

Now gay men around the world have taken over the hashtag #ProudBoys to make it trend for different reasons.

STAFF REPORTS

White House stricken with COVID In a tweet last Thursday evening, President Donald Trump announced that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, had tested positive for the coronavirus.

“Tonight @FLOTUS and I tested positive for COVID-19. We will begin our quarantine and recovery process immediately, We will get through this TOGETHER!” the president tweeted. This tweet followed an earlier tweet by Trump that disclosed that one of his closest presidential advisers had tested positive.

“Hope Hicks, who has been working so hard without even taking a small break, has just tested positive for Covid 19. Terrible! The First Lady and I are waiting for our test results. In the meantime, we will begin our quarantine process!”

But that was just the beginning, as scores of White House and Trump campaign officials subsequently tested positive throughout the week, sowing chaos and creating confusion about the president’s condition.

Several COVID outbreaks seemed to center on a ceremony announcing Amy Coney Barrett as Trump’s Supreme Court nominee; numerous attendees later tested positive, including Sens. Mike Lee and Thom Tillis. Another outbreak seems to be linked to the White House press office, where Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany and four of her deputies tested positive, along with several reporters. And a third vector appears to involve Trump’s debate prep team, where Kellyanne Conway and Chris Christie were infected. Later in the week, it emerged that speechwriter Stephen Miller also tested positive.

CHRIS JOHNSON

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LGBTQ voters back Biden 76%-17%: GLAAD Despite a recent assertion from Eric Trump that the LGBTQ community has “come out in full force” for his dad, a new poll commissioned by the LGBTQ media watchdog GLAAD confirms the opposite is true and LGBTQ voters back Joe Biden over President Trump by a substantial margin.

The poll, conducted by Pathfinder Opinion Research between Sept.

21-25 among 800 LGBTQ adults, found LGBTQ likely voters support Biden over Trump, 76 percent to 17 percent. (Five percent of LGBTQ likely voters said they planned to vote for another candidate, while two JOE BIDEN percent were unsure.)

Additionally, 81 percent of LGBTQ respondents said they were more motivated to vote than in previous elections and 92 percent said they planned to cast a ballot.

Sarah Kate Ellis, CEO of GLAAD, said in a statement of the polling results, “LGBTQ voters are poised to make a deciding difference this election year.

“Today’s poll demonstrates a monumental lead for Vice President Biden in the race for president,” Ellis said. “The poll should put to rest the misinformation from unreliable sources about where critical LGBTQ voters stand in this election, misinformation that’s unfortunately been repeated in the media.”

According to a Pathfinder Opinion Research memo, interviews for the poll were conducted online utilizing a national research panel.

LGBTQ respondents, the memo says, were selected to represent the national LGBTQ population based on demographic estimates published by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, and weighted by gender, age, race, education and geographic region based on Williams Institute data.

Other key findings among LGBTQ respondents to GLAAD’s ‘State of LGBTQ Voters’ poll: • 88 percent of respondents report being registered to vote; • 16 percent of LGBTQ respondents had a favorable opinion of Trump, while 75 percent had an unfavorable opinion; • 57 percent of LGBTQ respondents had a favorable opinion of Biden and 25 percent had an unfavorable opinion; • 13 percent of LGBTQ respondents had a favorable opinion of Vice President Mike Pence, while 65 percent had an unfavorable opinion; • 50 percent had somewhat or very favorable opinions of Sen. Kamala Harris, with 32 percent having very favorable views of her; • and 53 percent of LGBTQ respondents reported experiencing anti-LGBTQ discrimination.

The poll is consistent with other polling data on the LGBTQ voters in the 2020 election, such as a Morning Consult poll in June finding Biden leads Trump among LGBTQ people, 64 percent to 19 percent, but stands to contrast to an informal survey of U.S. users of the gay dating app Hornet, which found 45 percent of LGBTQ men planned to vote for Trump.

Although that survey was highlighted by Tucker Carlson on Fox News and tweeted out by President Trump, polling experts rejected the data in interviews with the Washington Blade and one called media coverage of it “clickbaity, sloppy journalism.”

Barbara Simon, a GLAAD spokesperson, told the Washington Blade the LGBTQ media watchdog conducted the poll as part of “ongoing research” and its mission to find accurate data on LGBTQ people, but acknowledged the Hornet survey played a role.

“We kept seeing from the White House press secretary and Ric Grenell and others (including Trump himself) unsubstantiated claims of LGBTQ support…the Hornet poll was in the mix of that,” Simon said. “Your reporting on the Hornet poll showed why that poll wasn’t reflective, at all (thank you). We wanted to conduct a poll to set the record straight on the misinformation in the media about where our community stands and gauge registration and voter enthusiasm.”

CHRIS JOHNSON

Let Michael Guide You Home

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Trans woman’s death shocks Colombia

Deputy Belgian Prime Minister PETRA DE SUTTER

(Photo by Sparrow; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International License)

Trans woman named deputy Belgian prime minister

A lawmaker in Belgium last week became Europe’s highest-ranking transgender politician.

The Brussels Times reported Prime Minister Alexander De Croo named Petra De Sutter as one of his government’s seven deputy prime ministers. The newspaper said De Croo also appointed De Sutter, a member of Groen, the Flemish Green Party, as his civil service minister.

King Philippe on Thursday swore in De Croo’s new government.

De Croo and De Sutter are both from Belgium’s Dutch-speaking region. De Sutter is also a former member of the European Parliament.

“I am proud that in Belgium and in most of Europe your gender identity does not define you as a person and is a non-issue,” tweeted De Sutter on Sunday. “I hope that my appointment as minister and deputy prime minister can trigger the debate in countries where this is not yet the case.”

De Sutter ended her tweet with the hashtag “fight transphobia.”

Carla Antonelli, a trans member of the Spanish Socialist Worker’s Party who sits in the Madrid Assembly, is among those who congratulated De Sutter. ILGA-Europe Senior Policy Officer Cianán Russell echoed Antonelli.

“Congratulations, Petra De Sutter, for constantly showing us a path in which trans people can be people first, valuable as whole persons, with transness as just one piece in the whole,” said Russell in their own tweet.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

“Please help me make this video viral! The army just killed my wife! Please help me spread it! … They killed Juliana … We don’t have weapons, we don’t have drugs, we don’t have anything, this man killed her. Look, we’re not wearing anything, they killed Juliana, that man shot her in the head.”

Unable to contain his tears or anguish, Francisco Larrañaga pleads for help in a video that he recorded himself. His wife, Juliana Giraldo Díaz, a 38-yearold transgender woman, had just been killed instantly by a bullet that a Colombian soldier fired as she passed through a military checkpoint.

The shooting took place at around 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 24 in a rural area of Cauca department in southwestern Colombia. Giraldo was in the passenger seat of the car that Larrañaga was driving.

Two versions of why the soldier JULIANA GIRALDO DÍAZ opened fire are circulating in the (Photo courtesy of Wilson Castañeda Castro/Social media) Colombian media: One indicates the car did not stop at the checkpoint, while the other says the vehicle was backing up.

General Marco Mayorca, commander of the Colombian Army’s 3rd Division, supported the latter version. In an interview with Caracol Radio, Mayorga said a soldier reported having shot the vehicle’s tires when it was backing up near the checkpoint because he thought it was preparing to crash into it.

“The soldier said he shot the tires to stop the vehicle,” Mayorga added. “It seems to me that a bullet hit the pavement and changed course … unfortunately hitting Juliana.”

President Iván Duque and Defense Minister Carlos Holmes Trujillo condemned the shooting on Twitter. Duque has called for a swift investigation and added the person responsible should be prosecuted fully under the law.

Holmes said that the soldier involved in the shooting and other uniformed men who were with him when it happened have been relieved of their duties. Colombia’s attorney general has also launched an investigation into whether Giraldo was targeted because of her gender identity.

The Transgender Community Network, a trans rights group, notes Giraldo is the 28th trans person killed in Colombia this year. The Transgender Community Network says violence against LGBTQ Colombians has increased during the first eight months of 2020, with at least 63 people—including 17 trans women—killed.

YARIEL VALDES GONZALES

ICE arrests gay Va. man after traffic stop

A gay man in Virginia says U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested his partner last month after they pulled over his car.

Luis Valladares Cruz’s partner, Josh Ayala, told the Washington Blade last week during a telephone interview that they left their home in Woodbridge early on Aug. 13 to go to Starbucks. Ayala said he and Valladares left their neighborhood and then saw “flashing lights behind us” once they drove onto Old Bridge Road.

“We pulled to the side (of the road),” Ayala told the Blade.

Ayala said he and Valladares assumed it was a “routine police stop.”

“I really thought they were just police,” said Ayala. “We pulled off to the side (of the road.)

It happened so quick, I didn’t even see when they got out.”

Ayala said four men who did not identify themselves as ICE agents surrounded the car.

Ayala conceded to the Blade the car’s license plates had expired, but he said he explained to the agents that he had gone to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles two days earlier to renew them. Ayala told the Blade he then showed them his registration and asked why they had stopped him.

“We’re stopping you because your vehicle matches the description of a vehicle affiliated with a crime in this area,” said one of the agents, according to Ayala.

Ayala said he and Valladares then gave the agents their IDs. “Literally in three seconds he gives back mine, but with his identification when he shows it to them, that’s when they immediately are like, get out of the vehicle. We’re here for you,” Ayala told the Blade, referring to Valladares. “We have a warrant for your arrest, and I was in shock.”

Ayala told the Blade the same agents a year earlier stopped them and identified themselves as “undercover cops.” Ayala said he asked them why they were arresting Valladares and requested to see a warrant, but they did not show him.

A portion of the arrest that Ayala recorded on his cell phone shows Valladares standing behind the car with three masked agents.

Ayala told the Blade he later figured out ICE had arrested Valladares when the Prince William County Police Department confirmed it did not have any outstanding warrants for him. Ayala in a second tweet posted a recording of a phone call he received from Valladares after he arrived at the Caroline Detention Facility in Bowling Green, Va. “They took me to Target over there by the house and they slammed me on the floor,” Valladares told Ayala, speaking through tears as he recalled his arrest. “I was screaming in the parking lot because they had a car hiding over there at the Target where they have this construction site. They took me over there, babe.”

“They tried to slam me in the car and I kept putting my feet against the car because I didn’t want to get deported … they kept doing it and doing it,” said Valladares. “My hands are all bruised up. My skin is ripped apart on both of my hands … they grabbed the handcuffs and they put them so tight and they picked me up in my handcuffs and they scrapped my skin off my hands.”

Valladares, 25, is originally from Honduras, a country in Central America where violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity remains commonplace.

The officers arrested Valladares roughly two months after Prince William County ended its cooperation agreement with ICE. Advocates and elected officials have also accused ICE of not doing enough to protect detainees from the coronavirus.

ICE on its website notes as of 2:55 p.m. on Tuesday there were 31 detainees with confirmed coronavirus cases at the Caroline Detention Center.

Ayala said Valladares has tested positive for coronavirus and is currently in isolation.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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WASHINGTON BLADE

NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY AT THE WHARF

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O CTO B E R 0 9 , 2 0 2 0 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 7

JOHN GUGGENMOS

TAUSIF SANZUM

is a longtime D.C. resident and local business owner.

is a queer advocate, writer and a communication and journalism student at the University of Maine.

Vote Brooke Pinto for Ward 2 Council

The American dating dilemma for immigrants

We find ourselves trying to navigate challenging times. Size and scope are hard to fathom. Our restaurants and bars provide half of the District’s sales tax revenue and have taken a Tonya Harding like blow, and many will close and not reopen. The Council faces shrinking revenues and diminishing rainy-day funds, with the budget headed for an inevitable crisis with the hard choices still to come. And it’s worth saying the obvious: There is no recovery without small business recovery.

It’s essential for the District, but that’s not everything we are facing — the death of George Floyd has once again shown racial injustice. If it wasn’t obvious before, it’s blatantly obvious now that part of our community is still suffering, frustrated, and hurting — Black lives matter. We see the effects of economic inequities on someone’s fragile health and health care, the growing numbers of gay homeless youth, the District’s LGBTQ elderly living quiet lives of isolation, and the increasing depression and suicide rate. Undoing the damage done by Trump’s pandemic and the after-effects of the endemic are overwhelming challenges. If the Gods from Mount Olympus wanted to punish us, it’s hard to think of a more perfect scenario, and that is why I’m voting for Council member Brooke Pinto.

I want you to know Brooke like I know Brooke. She’s a progressive pragmatist that’s unquestionably qualified. Her granular understanding of the D.C. budget and its process is outstanding and can’t be emphasized enough.

And Brooke is smart, very smart. Her educational background in hospitality at Cornell, a law degree from Georgetown University, and the unglamorous position as a tax attorney in Attorney General Karl Racine’s office provided the experience that makes her ideal to work on the critical recovery for small businesses, including restaurants and bars.

Brooke’s dedication to our economic recovery’s urgent reality has her working late nights and early mornings. After listening to our restaurant’s concerns, Brooke co-sponsored a bill with Council member McDuffie to provide clarity to licensees on expanded outdoor seating for our restaurants, allowing them to plan for the future.

I also want you to know Brooke as the LGBTQ ally like I know Brooke. Going way back to her youth, she was president of her high school Gay-Straight Alliance and the first person her trans friend came out to. Brooke fought with the administration at the all-girls school they attended to ensure he didn’t have to wear the quilt uniform or a dress at graduation.

Brooke knows our community is under siege these days. The equality the LGBTQ community has gained is going to be challenged in court, and she will vigorously defend our rights as fundamental human values and needs. To help protect those fundamental values, Brooke worked on drafting hate crimes legislation to ensure that the D.C. Attorney General’s office could prosecute hate crimes. She continues to work with the Judicial Committee to ban “the gay panic and trans panic” defense.

Coming from Laramie, Wyo., this is close to my heart. On Oct. 10, 1998, Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, was tortured, tied to a barbed-wire fence, and left to suffer and die outside Laramie. And using a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity as an excuse for murder or violence is still a valid defense 22 years later in the District. Council member Pinto has committed to our community and me to push and ensure the bill moves through the final stages to become law this Council period.

Each election, I ask myself one question: Who is the most qualified person to represent Ward 2? And without a doubt, I know it’s Council member Pinto.

It’s not lost on me that I’m not endorsing the gay candidate, but to all my friends that feel being a member of the LGBTQ community is important: I say this is what I know for sure, a friend is a friend, an ally is an ally, and Brooke is both.

Although she didn’t need the big windup, as a 31-year resident of Logan Circle, a lifelong proud member of the LGBTQ community from Laramie, and a 30-year small business owner, I’m proud to enthusiastically endorse our Democratic nominee for Ward 2, Council member Brooke Pinto.

Ending any relationship can be hard but it becomes especially difficult if it is a beautiful and long-term relationship. I was 22 when I started dating my ex and by the time we broke up and moved out of our shared housing, I was 27. After the initial adjustment period, my friends encouraged me to jump onto the dating bandwagon and that is when all the drama in my life exploded. It had been five years since I last went on a date. Making a Tinder profile was definitely an interesting start. However, I soon realized that while I can meet wonderful people on dating apps or make great friends out of dates, not all dates led to potential long-term relationships. Also, it was important to keep in mind that it was not my responsibility to make a relationship out of every date.

Looking back at my dating profile in the last three years, here are few things that I learned, faced, struggled with and laughed at being a “feminine” brown gay immigrant navigating the dating scene in the USA.

A progressive pragmatist who embraces bold ideas

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Not everyone is after your American citizenship

‘IT IS ONLY MY PREFERENCE’ - or is it? One thing I learned pretty early on dating apps is the clear discrimination that people can perpetuate. While they call it “preference,” people blindly or consciously remove a vast majority of people based on race, masculine/feminine behavior, physical attributes, career choices from the coveted list of “eligible singles.”

‘YOU DO NOT LIKE SEX ON FIRST DATES, IS IT A CULTURAL THING?’ No, it is a comfort thing.

There is definitely a pressure of whether to engage in sex on first dates or not. If you do have sex on first dates, you are too loose; if you do not have sex on first dates, you are too closeminded. As a survivor of multiple childhood molestation, my body takes time to adjust to a new person being intimate with me. A lot of the conversations on dating apps came down to whether my “culture” of being from a “close-minded” country like Bangladesh impacts my decision not to have sex more openly. What will it take for people to understand that being nude and having sex can make people feel vulnerable and giving people the time and safety to organically be engaged in it has less to do with the culture and country of upbringing?

‘YOU ARE BANGLADESHI, IS IT LIKE IN INDIA?’ UMM, NO! It is not expected that one knows every country in the world but if you meet someone for a date, a simple Google search can tell you a lot about the country your date mentioned in your chat that he/she/they are from. This small information not only makes you seem a little more informed but also understanding and respectful on your date.

‘YOU MUST LOVE SPICY FOOD, RIGHT?’ Just because I am brown and from Southeast Asia, does not mean that I love spicy food. Assumptions based on stereotypes are not sexy and have no place on a good date. Ask your date what they enjoy eating without imposing what you think that they might enjoy eating.

‘SO, WHAT IS YOUR IMMIGRATION STATUS?’ It’s just liked my financial status, non-existent. Not every person is after your American citizenship. Just imagine how making an assumption that an immigrant is on a date with an American citizen just to get a spousal immigration visa makes you look. Definitely rude, discriminatory and ignorant.

‘I REALLY LIKE YOU, BUT YOU ARE TOO VOCAL ABOUT POLITICAL ISSUES.’ Telling a person of color/immigrant/queer person that he/she/they is too politically vocal is the biggest sign of unchecked privilege. A lot of times people forget that a lot of things that they enjoy or take for granted are issues and privileges that minority groups have fought for and yet continuously get discriminated against today.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

30 days to victory if we keep working hard

Many lives, including your own, may depend on Biden winning It is up to us — Democrats, independents and other decent people — to give a huge victory to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on Nov. 3. If we continue to work hard and the campaign focuses with laser-like efficiency on the few swing states that will ensure Biden has the 270 Electoral College votes he needs I am sure we can and will do it.

Clearly we owe some small debt of gratitude to the lying, disgusting, racist moron in the White House. He continues to display all his worst traits and showed what a boor he is during the first presidential debate.

While I don’t wish him ill health, at least not anything fatal, after all I want to see him in jail after he loses the White House, his contacting coronavirus along with the slew of Republicans who have been around him in the past two weeks, just serves to highlight how poorly he has dealt with the pandemic. It reminds everyone he said it was all a hoax and even made fun of Biden during the debate for wearing a mask.

While mocking Biden he may already have been sick since we can’t trust the White House is telling us the truth about when he knew he was ill.

While COVID is nothing to laugh at there were some funny lines making the rounds since Trump was sent to Walter Reed Naval Hospital where he continued to model poor behavior putting Secret Service agents in jeopardy for a political stunt.

One comment going around was that Trump was annoyed with Kellyanne Conway for leaving the White House just before the campaign is over so when she stopped at the desk on the way out the door to return her badge and pick up her gift bag for being part of the administration, COVID was in it. A quote being repeated often and attributed to Mark Twain was “I have never wished a man dead but I have read many an obituary with great satisfaction.” While it’s agreed Mark Twain never said this, there was a similar quote by Clarence Darrow, the lawyer in the Scopes trial, verified

by Matt Blum, which is: “All men have an emotion to kill; when they strongly dislike someone they involuntarily wish he was dead. I have never killed anyone, but I have read some obituary notices with great satisfaction.”

The truth is all this is bad for the United States. We must now focus on what happens if Trump can’t fulfill his responsibilities and must transfer power to Mike Pence for even a short time. Why is Mike Pence still going to be out campaigning in person while we don’t know for certain whether Trump will be OK? Shouldn’t they be keeping him in Washington?

While all this is going on, Biden is being his usual decent self and has pulled all negative commercials, something we know Trump would never have done had the situation been reversed. Biden is being open and taking daily COVID tests, and announcing the results, since Trump put him in the position of having to do so by being near him when he may have already been sick.

New polling has come out since the first presidential debate, all very positive with the Wall Street Journal/NBC poll showing Biden up by 14 percent at over 50 percent with Trump below 40 percent. Biden is also tied or leading in every swing state. History teaches us it is not a time to let down our guard and think we have won. Just the last week has shown us what can happen in a few days’ time. First it was Trump’s taxes, then it was his disastrous debate performance, and then being diagnosed with COVID. Biden is not immune from last-minute surprises and surely the Trump campaign is looking for some to spring on him.

So let’s buckle down, make those phone calls, send those postcards, call every family member and friend and remind them to vote. Literally many lives, including your own, may depend on the Biden/Harris ticket winning.

“If we desire a society that is democratic, then democracy must become a means as well as an end.”

– Bayard Rustin

Defend democracy.

Whether in person or by mail, please

VOTE!

We’re RENEWPR, a Washington, D.C.- based national public relations firm certified as an LGBT Business Enterprise by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. We’ve based our business on “restoring common sense to communications.” This Election Year, we encourage you to restore common sense to democracy by voting.

Please, do your part for democracy and VOTE. For more information on RENEWPR, visit our website: www.renewpr.com.

V I E WP O I NT • O CTO B E R 0 9 , 2 0 2 0 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 9

TOM JOUDREY

writes about queer entertainment and politics. His work has appeared in Slate and The Guardian, among others.

‘All About Eve’ at 70

Hollywood classic mirrors our age of political paranoia “All About Eve” was a triumph forged in a crucible of rancor and suspicion. Bette Davis bludgeoned the actress who played her onscreen confidant, Celeste Holm, as the “one bitch in the cast,” before adding cattily that George Sanders was also a “bitch” (she’d learned he was bisexual through Henry Fonda), then circling back for a swipe at Marilyn Monroe: “That blonde little slut couldn’t act her way out of a paper bag.” Monroe, who sobbed and vomited after shooting both her scenes with Davis, shot back: “That woman hates every female who can walk. She’s a mean old broad.”

The cast’s distrust mirrored the dynamics of the screenplay. “All About Eve” was built on a simple premise: There’s a viper in the nest. Bereaved widow Eve Harrington emerges from the shadowy alley in a rain-soaked trench coat, worms her way into stage actress Margo Channing’s inner-circle, then schemes and backstabs her way to the apex of the theater world.

But the story of the ambitious ingénue kneecapping the aging diva also captured the political zeitgeist during the Cold War. The Red Scare injected paranoia into American culture, inducing a paralyzing dread at the prospect of Communist infiltration. When Bill Sampson pleads with Margo to contain her “paranoic outbursts” and “paranoic tantrums,” he’s channeling the sense that the American psyche is at risk of being torn apart by anxiety over covert invasion. But the scale of the Cold War was unmanageable. The solution was to convert the domestic security of the nation into the domestic security of the nuclear family. The infiltrator went from Communist pinko to lavender menace.

The blackmailing, the rampant paranoia, the botched sexual seductions, the grasping after respectability—all these pieces fall into place only with a single realization: Eve is incidentally an aspiring actress but essentially a ruthless lesbian. The film falls squarely in that stretch of years when Hollywood had fallen under the heel of the Production Code, which, starting in 1934 forbade, among other obscenities, “any inference of sex perversion.” Perversely enough, the prohibition on explicit references to homosexuality made it the perfect menace. The unspeakability of the looming danger ratchets up the sense of dread.

The idyllic home under siege was an old Hollywood trope. In the white supremacist era of Jim Crow, “Gone with the Wind” managed fears over African-American reprisal by displacing white guilt onto a host of enemies—northern aggressors, carpetbaggers, General Sherman’s army of invaders—who reduce genteel plantations to rubble.

Scarlett’s triumphant restoration of Tara metaphorically restores the integrity of the southern home.

I grew up in the late 1980s and 90s, when the trope of the diabolical home invader was in full force. The mother who hires a nanny, cautioned “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” is liable to have her infant purloined, her husband seduced, and her careerist feminist friend fatally mangled by falling glass. “Fatal Attraction” warned of a highheeled vamp breaching the home to boil the beloved pet rabbit.

But “All About Eve” undercuts its own pretensions to decency. Eve Harrington’s origins story is a humble tale of hardscrabble survival, anchored by vignettes of farm life in Wisconsin, a grueling stint as a secretary in a brewery, and an ill-starred marriage to a now-perished war-hero. But Birdie cuts in to quip, “What a story!

Everything but the bloodhounds snappin’ at her rear end.” The vaudeville veteran sees right through this charade of benighted widowhood, peeling back the veneer to reveal the specimen of ruthless ambition beneath. On this level, Mankiewicz’s film is a masterwork of subversion, a precursor to films that savaged the American love affair with normalcy—“The Graduate,” “Blue Velvet,” “American Beauty,” and “Fight Club” among them.

That’s why “All About Eve” is essential viewing for our time. It reminds us that the call to “Make America Great Again,” buttressed by accusations of infiltration—trans people in bathrooms, nasty women in journalism, Jews replacing “us”—is built on an ugly illusion of purity in the heartland. Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s film guillotined the puerile myth of American innocence. It should stay dead.

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N O O S G N I M O C

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Doug Schantz, owner of Nellie’s Sports Bar, said it’s going to be a long winter.

(Washington Blade photo by Wyatt Reid Westlund)

Bars brace for COVID winter

Local business owners working to adapt to cooler weather

By STEPH PURIFOY

For Ed Bailey, co-owner of Number Nine and Trade, one emotion has persisted through the summer months and into the fall: anxiety.

Number Nine and Trade, both queer bars near Logan Circle, were forced to close starting in March when the coronavirus pandemic first hit the city. They reopened several weeks later for takeout and then several weeks after that for limited seating, Bailey said.

“We are operating at such a diminished capacity that we’re toeing the line between being able to support our existence and not,” he said in an interview. “We are just right there.”

For other LGBTQ bars across D.C., the story looks remarkably similar. Outdoor dining has proved to be a lifeline for those restaurants but with winter looming, Bailey and other bar owners are scrambling to find creative solutions to combat the cold.

Bailey said he’s already spent hundreds of dollars on heat lamps to place at each outdoor table at Trade and additional television screens and projectors for their outdoor spaces.

Howard Hicks, general manager of the Green Lantern, said they are looking into buying tents and heating lamps for their improvised patio area. The outdoor seating has been helpful in drawing customers who still aren’t comfortable dining indoors, he said.

But even if they have the heaters and tents, Hicks said he’s concerned that people just won’t come out at all during colder months.

“I’m worried that they’ll be very concerned about being in a place with heat and I’m worried that the number of cases will start going up again once everyone’s not able to go outside,” he said. “We’re concerned about the things that we’re not able to really control, but yet at the same time we are striving to make the space we have as comfortable as we can make it.”

Managers at Green Lantern have already applied for the Streatery Winter Ready Grant program, announced by Mayor Muriel Bowser on Sept. 21. Each grant recipient will receive $6,000 to winterize their patios and outdoor dining areas.

The city has devoted $4 million to the fund and applications will be approved on a rolling basis until the money runs out, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.

“The number one priority for restaurateurs has been the combined safety of their employees and customers,” Kathy Hollinger, president of the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, said in the statement. “They know that everyone’s comfort level is slightly different when it comes to supporting their local restaurants, and this additional relief will help businesses offset costs and extend outdoor service as we work our way through colder months.”

Bailey said he is appreciative of the efforts made by the city to assist small businesses but still accepts that the coming months will not be easy.

“We have every intention of making it through all of this and we’re smart enough to be able to make some intelligent decisions to kind of bolster the spaces for the colder weather,” 2 2 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09 , 2 0 2 0 • A &E

he said. “I’m trying to honestly be as optimistic as I can but I also feel like I’m being very pragmatic to understand that these are very difficult situations that we’re facing. And it looks like we’re going to be facing them through the whole next year.”

Doug Schantz, owner of Nellie’s Sports Bar on U Street, said they have some seating on the roof deck but have been able to keep most of their clientele inside because of their huge windows, which open to allow ventilation.

Once the weather turns cold, Schantz said the strategy will be to turn the heat up inside as much as they can while still keeping the windows open. He has also applied for the city grant to winterize Nellie’s.

Schantz said he ranks his concern for his business at a five out of 10.

“I know that we’re going to get out of this, I just think it’s gonna be a very rough winter,” he said. “We just have to figure out what our finances are and continue to keep everybody safe. There’s always the looming threat, no matter what you do every day, no matter what all the challenges are. This is also a pandemic that’s very serious and you’ve got to keep your employees and your customers safe.”

For Dave Perruzza, owner of Pitchers in Adams Morgan, the $6,000 grant from the city isn’t nearly enough to cover his expenses.

“Six thousand dollars is like nothing right now. Compared to the bills we have that have been racking up, $6,000 won’t put a dent in anything,” he said. “But I’ll take whatever assistance I can get. Honestly we’re hurting so I have no shame in asking for the money.”

For winter, Perruzza said they’re going to have to rely on takeout orders and using the bit of indoor space that they can.

“I’m very concerned,” he said of his bar. “We just don’t make enough money to sustain a business right now.”

He has been attempting to convince the city government to allow drag shows once again because he said it could be their lifeline through the winter.

“Gay bars are not gay bars without drag shows. It’s part of our culture,” Perruzza said. “I feel like if we can get that to happen in the bars, we can survive with our inside seating and a little bit even with our outside seating.”

Perruzza said he’s been extremely frustrated that queer bars aren’t allowed to host live events in D.C. because restaurants in surrounding states are.

“In my opinion, it doesn’t make it a level playing field for businesses in D.C.,” he said. “I get why the mayor is doing it, but she’s got to give way on certain things that other cities are doing, because D.C. people are just going to Virginia and Maryland to do this stuff.”

Bowser released a pilot plan on Sept. 25 to reintroduce live entertainment at only six specific venues, which can have no more than 50 people at each event.

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REHOBOTH BEACH

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 22

Businesses preparing for long winter According to a statement from the mayor, the program is an opportunity to restart live entertainment in a controlled environment where they can learn what protocols work best and then apply it to future guidance.

At Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, drag queens have been taking to the stage for the past three weeks. Owner Freddie Lutz said the drag events have filled up the bar and breathed life back into the space.

“We’re taking all the precautions we can so I’m not too worried about [the safety of the shows],” he said. “And they’ve all been very popular which is really encouraging.”

For bar owners like Bailey, Schantz and Perruzza, there’s a pervading sense of uncertainty and unpredictability. It’s almost impossible to plan around a public health crisis that changes by the day, said Bailey.

“There kind of is no future that you can plan on so you have to just live in the moment and work to get your day together, maybe your week. But beyond that, everything’s changing,” he said.

For the LGBTQ community, Bailey said their bars and clubs serve an entirely different purpose than other restaurants.

“For some people, going to a bar is just going to a bar. But for many LGBTQ people, you’re not able to be who you are at work, or at school, or even at home and so often, LGBTQ businesses are the refuge for people,” he said.

For some bars, like gay club Ziegfeld’s-Secrets, the toll of the virus has closed them for good. As winter approaches with no quick end of the pandemic in sight, Bailey said he has started to worry about the wellbeing of the LGBTQ community in the city.

“The community will always find a way but the bars have always been kind of at the center,” he said. “It’s where we congregate and discuss and celebrate and commiserate.

We don’t have a whole lot of other spaces to do that.”

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‘We’re toeing the line between being able to support our existence and not,’ said ED BAILEY, co-owner of Number Nine and Trade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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O CTO B E R 0 9 , 2 0 2 0 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 2 5

Last year’s Capital Pride festival is being replaced by the Out Brigade. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

CALENDAR

By Steph Purifoy

TODAY

Friday Tea Time is a virtual social gathering at 2 p.m. for older LGBTQ adults via Zoom. Participants are encouraged to bring their beverage of choice while socializing with friends. For more information, visit thedccenter.org/events The DC Center is hosting a Women in their Twenties and Thirties event at 8 p.m. via Zoom. WiTT is a social discussion group for queer women in the Washington, D.C. area. Go to thedccenter.org/events for more details.

Saturday, October 10 The LGBTQ People of Color Support Group will meet at 1 p.m. to provide an outlet for LGBTQ people of color to talk about anything affecting them. For the Zoom link to the meeting, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

The DC Center is hosting a Universal Pride Meeting at 1 p.m. to support, educate, empower, and create change for People with Disabilities. This support group session will be led by actor and disability advocate Andy Arias. For the Zoom code and information, go to dccenter.org and email supportdesk@thedccenter.org for the password.

Online Yoga at the Garden is being hosted by the U.S. Botanical Gardens today at 10:30 a.m. An instructor from WithLoveDC will guide participants through a one-hour meditation and yoga practice via Zoom. There will only be enough room in the Zoom for 100 participants. The sessions are free but registration is required. More information can be found on The U.S Botanic Garden’s Facebook page.

Sunday, October 11

SMYAL’s annual Fall Brunch is today at 12 p.m. The brunch will take place virtually and tickets can be purchased on SMYAL’s website.

Tuesday, October 13

Coming Out Discussion Group will hold a session at 7 p.m. It is a peer-facilitated group designed to create a safe space to share experiences about coming out. For more information go to thedccenter.org/events.

The DC Center is holding its bi-monthly Trans Support Group session today at 7 p.m. The group is intended to create a emotionally and physically safe space for trans people and those who may be questioning their gender identity. Visit thedccenter.org/events for more details.

Wednesday, October 14

Virtual Job Club meets today at 6 p.m. via Zoom. This weekly support program helps job seekers improve their self-confidence, resilience and motivation needed for effective job searching and networking. Discussions include strategies, techniques and goal plans needed to find meaningful and satisfying employment. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

Thursday, October 15

The DC Center is holding a Poly Group Discussion at 7 p.m. to discuss all aspects of polyamory and other consensual non-monogamous relationships. More information can be found at thedccenter.org/events.

Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture is holding “A Speakeasy Evening” at 7 p.m. o explore the intersections of African American and LGBTQ communities. The event will be headlined by Sampson McCormick, an award winning Black, LGBT standup comedian, writer and activist. Tickets can be found at the museum’s website.

OUT&ABOUT DC Center, Capital Pride hold first Out Brigade event On Saturday, members of the LGBTQ community can register their cars to participate in the first-ever Out Brigade to celebrate National Coming Out Day. The parade, organized by Capital Pride Alliance and the DC Center will go through all eight wards of D.C. Participants are encouraged to adorn their cars with banners, flags, and other decorations.

To register a multi-passenger vehicle, like a truck or van, the fee is $100 and to register a single-passenger vehicle, like a bike or scooter, the fee is $25. Those who wish to attend can sign up at capitalpride.org/events Capital Pride Alliance is also partnering with Broccoli City and Events DC for an LGBTQ movie night as part of the Out Brigade. Everyone who registers for the parade will receive a $5 discount code to use at Park Up DC’s 7 p.m. showing of “Hocus Pocus.”

Equality Va.’s Trans Empowerment Summit goes digital The four-day conference starts on Oct. 14 and will feature more than 20 workshops covering a range of topics

2 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09 , 2 0 2 0 • A &E

from health insurance to racial justice to voting rights.

Each day’s events start at noon and registration is free at equalityvirginia.org Events also include daily social events and networking options, a legal clinic for those looking to change their name and gender marker legally, and wellness center sessions where attendees can talk with a trans-affirming mental health or medical provider to ask questions and find resources. The programming is inclusive of trans and gender nonconforming youth, family members, and allies.

Spanish and ASL interpreters will be available upon request.

Dupont Underground opens ‘Rise Up’ exhibition From Oct. 2 to Nov. 1, Dupont Underground will be home to the “Rise Up” exhibition made up of photos from “everyday” photographers documenting the social justice movement across the country. DU’s goal is to give a voice to photographers who don’t have the resources to get their work featured in high-profile galleries. Visitors are asked to consider the messages of the photographers who are sharing their experiences from the 2020 uprising protests.

Entrance is free but donations are encouraged. The exhibition is open from 4-8 p.m. on Fridays and from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Blade holds Coming Out Day celebration The Washington Blade, in partnership with The Wharf and ABSOLUT, is hosting a Coming Out Day celebration on Oct. 11. The event at The Wharf brings business specials, pride-themed fitness classes, and more to the waterfront neighborhood. Visit washingtonblade.com/comingout for a full list of business specials, fitness classes and more.

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O CTO B E R 0 9 , 2 0 2 0 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 2 9

A sweet book about first love ‘Heartstopper’ a poignant reminder of coming out

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

TO OUR LOYAL READERS & SPONSORS...

STAY STAY

SAFE HEALTHY

WE’LL BE TOGETHER AGAIN SOON.

“

I love wandering through Smithsonian museums, eating on H Street with friends, and going to shows at Howard Theatre.

I’m a transgender woman and I’m part of DC. Please treat me the way any woman would want to be treated: with courtesy and respect.

Discrimination based on gender identity and

ISSUE DATE: SALES REPRESENTATIVE: expression is illegal in the District of Columbia.

If you think you’ve been the target of REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Proof will discrimination, visit www.ohr.dc.gov be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Revisions or call 727-4559. will (202) not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington

ONS O REVISIONS S

blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law or regulation, or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba OF the washington blade) and to hold brown naff pittsOFFICE omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred by brown naff pitts GLBT AFFAIRS omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations and warranties.

Show your support! Spread word of the #TransRespect campaign by photographing this ad and sharing on Twitter.

3 0 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 09 , 2 0 2 0 • A &E

And sparks flew.

Forget the beginning of a new romance; the middle is where the best part is, the boy-meetsboy part where everything’s a first. First hand hold, first hug, first kiss, that’s what you want to see. Sparks. Embers for a flame to come, maybe even some heat. And in “Heartstopper Volume 1” by Alice Oseman, that’s what you get.

Fourteen-year-old Charlie Spring hadn’t meant to come out as gay. It happened and he never really had control of it: one day, nobody knew and then everybody did. He was bullied, of course, and though there were a few guys in his class that he called friends, he never truly knew whom he could trust.

Take, for example, Ben Hope.

Ben was an older boy that Charlie hung around with sometimes, and when he really thought about it, Charlie knew in his heart that Ben was just using him. He was all kissy and stuff when nobody was looking but Charlie knew down deep

By Alice Oseman that Ben would never let anyone c.2020, Graphix Scholastic see them together. He knew for a $14.99/288 pages fact that Ben even had a girlfriend.

Ben was not forever; Charlie knew that much, and it was discouraging. And then he got paired up with Nick Nelson in First Period class.

Just one grade ahead, Nick was tall and handsome and friendly. He had light hair, an easy smile, and he put Charlie at ease the day they met. Soon, they were talking about things outside of class. Nick got Charlie on the school rugby team.

They texted and emailed long after school hours and they became good friends.

And Charlie started to fall in love.

But Nick Nelson was totally straight, everybody knew that, right?

Everybody but Nick: once, he’d had a mad crush on a girl but that was in 7th grade. Now he couldn’t stop thinking about Charlie. He wasn’t sure what that meant, exactly, and it scared him a little. Was Charlie feeling the same way?

While you’re reading “Heartstopper Volume 1” there are two basic sounds that will come from your lips: “Awwwwww” and “Arrrrrrgh!”

A D V E R T I S The I N Gfirst P Rwill O Oescape F repeatedly because this is one really sweet book about first love and first realization. It’s gentle and not TMI, and even if you’re well past the new-love stage and in a committed relationship, it’ll remind you of those first where-do-I-put-my-nose kisses. Author-illustrator Alice Oseman tells this boymeets-boy story with drawings that show the roller-coaster of teenage crushes and the awkwardness of early romance. Through those drawings, she also quietly lets readers know that some people struggle to understand their sexuality and that’s ADVERTISER SIGNATURE By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contract obligations with the washington To further the realism, there are bullies in this story, and a boy who almost blade newspaper. This includes but is notokay. limited to placement, payment and insertion schedule. seems dangerous.

Oh, and that other sound you’ll utter?

It comes at the end with a cliffhanger. Yep, you’ll have to wait for the Happily Ever After. Arrrrrrrgh!

If graphic novels are your favorites, or if you’re ready to fall in love, do it with Nick and Charlie. Made for the romantic soul, “Heartstopper Volume 1” sparks.

‘Heartstopper Volume 1’

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A mother can’t know everything

Author writes of choosing to support her child in ‘Found in Transition’

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

In your mother’s book, you were known before you were born.

She noted every kick, every head-bump, every stretch you made as she carried you. She felt your burps, and when you rolled over.

And though she’d never met you, she recognized you the minute you arrived because your mother knew you before you were born. But as in the new book “Found in Transition”

by Paria Hassouri, MD, a mother can’t know everything.

She always wanted to be a mom.

Born in the U.S., raised in Iran, Paria Hassouri was a teen when she returned to the U.S., where her mother insisted that Hassouri and her sisters get an education.

But schooling was secondary in Hassouri’s eyes. She’d wanted children since she was a child herself, and was particularly eager to have daughters, though she was not terribly disappointed that her first two babies were sons.

For much of her life, the second born, Ava, had been a handful.

By Paria Hassouri, MD There were many conversations c.2020, New World Library with teachers through the years, $25.95/215 pages Hassouri recalls: Teachers worried that Ava was depressed, had behavioral issues, or was suicidal. Ava was a smart kid with great creativity and she loved to try new things, but she didn’t tend to stick with them for more than a few months. Because of that, when, at the edge of adolescence, Ava finally told her parents that she was a girl, Hassouri thought it was another “phase.”

To her own later guilt, she refused to believe her child.

Though Hassouri was a pediatrician, her first identity was as the mother of three children, two boys and a girl, and now what? She was confused, wounded, and greatly saddened. She and her husband had carefully named their offspring according to family tradition, and now one of them wanted a new name and new pronouns that sounded wrong to Hassouri’s ears. She mourned that her secondborn would never become the man she’d envisioned. She cried and grieved. And yet, she writes, there really were just two options.

“I choose figuring it out,” she said. “I choose my child.”

Reading “Found in Transition” is tough – not for what it is but for what author Paria Hassouri says. It’s almost like sandpaper on a sunburn.

Foremost, there are a lot of hard truths inside this memoir, for which Hassouri states: “I have to own them and be honest about them,” and that took courage – although confessions seem to be necessary here, for her and for readers. This book, in fact, would’ve been much different absent those harsh, sometimes incomprehensible feelings and thoughts; readers may have even sensed that it wasn’t quite complete.

No, it would have been the lesser without its brutal truths from this maternal point of view, because here’s the thing: though Ava is a constant presence in a memoir that truly wouldn’t exist without her, this is really not her story. It might make you angry, it might make you cry, but this tale belongs to her mother; indeed, “Found in Transition” is 100 percent a mother’s book.

‘Found in Transition’

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Rupert Everett reminds us homophobia persists in Hollywood New memoir arrives as two virtual LGBTQ film fests debut

By JOHN PAUL KING

October, as you might already know, is the month when at least two major LGBTQ+ film/media festivals – QueerX in Los Angeles and NewFest in New York – normally take place, and although COVID has presented challenges for these kinds of events, both are rising to the challenge, following the example set earlier this year by others and making most of their scheduled content available virtually.

It’s also LGBT History Month, and in light of this year’s unique position in the middle of a world-changing crisis, it seems appropriate to observe that within this practical RUPERT EVERETT tells the story of his derailed comeback vehicle adaptation lies the seed of a future in which queer content ‘The Happy Prince’ in a new memoir. is more accessible than ever. For the first time, fans of LGBTQ film and television can participate in these kinds Carver says he later approached this gay former co-worker at the of festivals regardless of where they are, and in a post-COVID world valet station outside, asking him for clarification about what he meant; it’s highly likely that’s an innovation that will stick, which could be good in response, he claims, the unnamed man slapped him across the face. news for queer visibility, offering potentially millions of people access “It wasn’t playful but intentional, pointed and meant to be instructive. to content that was once denied them by geography and economics. A slap,” says the now-32-year-old actor. “I told him that if he ever Looking back at how far we’ve already come in that struggle, such a touched me again, I would name him.” thing can only be viewed as remarkable.

The experience led to an epiphany for Carver (“That was the And yet, in looking back, we might also want to take note of what moment when I said to myself, ‘I can’t do this. I cannot police myself in we’ve learned about the real enemy of visibility – the homophobia that that way,” he told Variety), and he came out publicly via his Instagram has long existed in the entertainment industry itself, and the insidious account a few weeks later. At the moment, it would seem he has no way it works behind the scenes, thriving in the shadows even as the reason to regret that choice; he’s currently in the spotlight for roles content we see becomes ever more inclusive. in two high-profile Netflix offerings, “Ratched” and “The Boys in the Conveniently enough, we can find a stark reminder in the story of Band,” and he’s slated to appear opposite Robert Pattinson in next out actor Rupert Everett – a poster boy for the way gay performers are year’s “The Batman.” sidelined by the mainstream industry – who is dropping a new memoir How he fares after that is something to keep an eye on. Up until (his third) this month. now, his exposure has largely taken place in front of a queer or queerLike many British thespians, Everett had begun his career onstage, friendly audience, but the newest film iteration of an iconic superhero rising to prominence as a gay public school student in the Julian will unquestionably draw a much wider crowd; if they don’t respond Mitchell play “Another Country.” When the play was adapted for the well, it’s not far-fetched to imagine that Hollywood might blame big screen, Everett reprised his role and became a rising star – but Carver’s out status, at least partly, for that failure. while playing a gay character might have been “brave” in Hollywood, Even if the movie is a hit, it’s no guarantee he can overcome what has actually being gay was quite another thing, and when the actor historically been a persistent and deeply ingrained stigma to achieve officially came out in 1989, the offers stopped coming. future success in the mainstream industry. Everett can attest to that.

It was a reversal of fortune that prompted him, 20 years later, to In a preview excerpt from his upcoming book, the British actor comment in an interview with The Guardian, “It’s not that advisable to dishes sardonically about the frustrations of his years-long effort to get be honest. It’s not very easy. And, honestly, I would not advise any actor a screenplay he wrote (“The Happy Prince,” about queer literary icon necessarily, if he was really thinking of his career, to come out.”

Oscar Wilde) made in Hollywood. Among the insights he reveals is the Thanks in part to those remarks, the handsome actor can hardly fact that things went sour when he declined producer Scott Rudin’s be called a beloved figure within the LGBTQ+ community – but his suggestion that the straight Philip Seymour Hoffman should play experience has relevance here, nonetheless.

Wilde instead of Everett himself.

Despite his continuing presence on stage and screen in the UK, “And here is where I made my greatest mistake,” Everett writes. “I and a brief career resurgence that came in the ‘90s from a pair of GBF should have said yes.” roles opposite Madonna (“The Next Best Thing”) and Julia Roberts Rudin initially relented, but eventually pulled out of the project after (“My Best Friend’s Wedding’), the kind of superstardom for which he a long list of directors also declined. Everett, once a Hollywood golden once seemed destined has been beyond his grasp ever since coming boy, was now officially persona non grata. out; with that in mind, though it might not have been in step with the “The Happy Prince” was eventually produced, but not without message we wanted to hear, his cynical advice for young gay actors to Herculean effort from Everett and a lot of help from his friends. Wellstay in the closet cannot be said to have been unwise. received but sparsely released, it’s now available, like so many other At least, that was the case when he made those comments, a little over LGBTQ stories, on streaming platforms across the globe. A happy a decade ago – but is it still true now? Another recent celebrity disclosure ending, perhaps, but not quite the comeback success it was intended seems to offer a disappointingly affirmative answer to that question. to be.

In an interview last week, actor Charlie Carver disclosed a shocking None of this takes away from the triumph of living in a world where story about a gay colleague who took extreme measures to warn an entire multi-million dollar industry exists around the production and him about revealing his sexuality publicly. Carver, who first garnered distribution of queer content. attention for his television roles in “Desperate Housewives” and “Teen Yet as we celebrate that victory, we cannot ignore the warning Wolf,” has been open about his sexuality since 2016, but he told embedded in the stories of these two out actors, a generation apart.

Variety that an unnamed industry associate – someone with whom he The entertainment industry may be willing to present a friendly mask has worked before, but not onscreen – had made comments to him to LGBTQ+ audiences, as long as it brings a profit – but we must always at the 2015 Emmy Awards about his “effeminate” acting, and that he be aware that, lurking behind it, is the familiar face of “needed to ‘get it under control’ around people in the business.” homophobia.

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Curb appeal is more important than ever when selling a home given sellers’ concerns about interior tours amid the pandemic.

What to know before selling your home in fall, winter 2020 Make sure your agent is using the latest technology, social media

By KHALIL EL-GHOUL

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed much of what we do on a daily basis. It has also changed the way we sell our houses. Much of what was previously done in person has moved to online platforms. Homebuyers are also developing new priorities such as looking outside of the city and into suburbs and rural areas. Currently, homebuyers are also searching for homes that offer spacious office areas and more amenities. If you are preparing to sell your home there are some things you should be aware of before putting it on the market.

Expert Online Marketing is Critical. Because of the current health pandemic, if you have concerns about offering open houses then as a seller you must present the curb appeal of your home through online platforms. Virtual tours are more popular than ever leaving first impressions critical for sellers. Hiring an agent that offers 3D matterport, virtual tours, video and high quality home photography is critical to the success of your home sale.

Your listing agent should have extensive knowledge of the “online experience” of real estate.

This means that they are using the latest technology, social media platforms and providing every opportunity for your home to get in front of the most qualified audience.

At Glass House, we offer our sellers the ultimate online showcase for their home. Every listing has its own unique customized website with a virtual 3D tour, fusion photography and opportunity for buyers to request more information and showings. We launch a custom digital marketing campaign for each home based on its targeted market, including advertising on top social media platforms as well as local print and digital publications. Our homes are under contract within an average of 8 days on market in 2020 and have a 97% list to sale price ratio.

Home Preparation & Investment in Improvements. Even in a seller’s market if you want top dollar for your home, you may have to invest in improvements. We recommend painting, decluttering, deep cleaning, power washing and carpet cleaning for all our listings. If you need small repairs such as a loose handle, a leaky faucet, a hole or dent in the wall, then get it done.

Improving your home so that buyers see it in the best condition possible is critical to getting the highest price. Recently, our sellers on a Falls Church, Va. single family home spent about $4,000 on improvements, which would have cost almost double if it were retail pricing, and netted $25,000 over asking price and $75,000 over the most recent comps. Another seller in Arlington did $24,000 of work over a six-month period, including finishing a partially finished

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basement, and netted $65,000 over asking price and $115,000 over the comparable homes.

Finally, another seller in Bluemont Arlington spent around $4,000 and netted $45,000 over asking price (not to mention - this entire sale from start to finish was done virtually).

Unoccupied & Vacant Homes. If it is possible to have your home unoccupied and vacant when you are ready to put it on the market, that is the best case scenario for a fast sale. Not only does an unoccupied home have more appeal than one packed with your furniture and personal items, but it also allows for in-person private tours.

Staging can emphasize your selling points. Today’s buyers are more interested in home offices, indoor and outdoor amenities like large pools, BBQ areas, and outdoor fireplaces. An unoccupied, staged office can accentuate this as a huge selling point. Master suites can even be staged adding a corner office that may have not been there before. Home gyms, basements, and outdoor amenities are also a key area for homeowners to accentuate. Appearance is literally everything when it comes to selling your home in today’s market. You are more likely to sell your home at a higher price unoccupied and staged.

This is The Time For Sellers to Be Motivated. The market is on fire right now. With more and more buyers finding comfort in buying homes sight unseen along with incredibly low interest rates, houses are flying off the market. If you have made the decision to sell your home this is definitely the time to be motivated and prepare in every way to get it on the market. If at all possible vacate your home and stage it appropriately to the needs of today’s homebuyers. If you are unable to move before selling your home be sure to purge, de-clutter and clean your home thoroughly. Accentuate selling points such as home offices and both indoor and outdoor amenities and hire a real estate agent that offers expertise in online marketing campaigns.

(Glass House Real Estate is a modern, more affordable way to buy and sell a home in the DC Metro area. Our team of accomplished agents proves that affordability doesn’t have to come at the expense of service or results. Learn more about what makes use different on our website: www.glassshousere.com.)

Khalil El-Ghoul

is principal broker of Glass House Real Estate.

Reach him at khalil@glasshousere.com or 571-235-4821.

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