Miriam, Holy shit!!

I'll always have a soft spot for Dupont Circle, because I spent much of my college days at the Pop Stop getting cruised by the men, brushed off by the women and drinking too much late night coffee. I'm gobsmacked that a Dupont neighborhood association would want to exile a drag show. Is it a noise issue? Is it that the show is drag kings and not drag queens? Is Dupont Circle so gentrified now that the very people who made it the place to be are no longer welcome? What the hell happened? Who are these people that want to push a drag show out of the neighborhood?

This reminds me of when I went to the Village Halloween parade this past year.

There were these women standing behind me saying "GAY" to each other every time a drag queen walked by and snickering.

I'm thinking in my head 'Of course they're gay. You came to the NYC Greenwich Village Halloween parade. There are people dressed up as giant penises, and you're surprised that there are gay people marching in the parade? Excuse me- RUNNING the parade.'

Idiots.

I am a DC king (former I guess) that recently moved to the Bay Area and I want to thank you for posting this. We found out about this less than a week ago and it is incredible to me how quickly they organized. Beyond this show, about 80 members turned up to the DCCA meeting last night and I am still reading details.

What is interesting is that the DCCA president, upon receiving numerous calls and emails, is saying that the ban is because Chaos does not have an "Entertainment Endorsement" license. Which is a bit confusing to me and others because Chaos has held performances of all kinds (drag kind and queen, burlesque, etc.) for over 10 years, but some of our law-savvy members understand it a bit better. But the manner in which DCCA went after Chaos is a bit fishy and the language used offensive.

For example, the DCCA keeps changing its story on why this is happening. They will say the license stuff and then they say they have a petition from residents of the area around the noise level at Chaos. But when prodded further about the petition and asked for a copy, a member was told it wasn't actually a petition, but rather a handful of people who work for the ABC Board to raise complaints. And the ABC Board is the group that made the decision to ban Chaos entertainment with due influence from the DCCA. Nice little circle.

The list goes on, but again, thank you for posting this and I want to give a huge shout out and much love to my DC Kings for taking it to the streets like we always do.

~DSL

I'm actually not surprised at all that in 2008, in one of the gayest neighborhoods in DC, that lots of local residents are troubled by a couple of drag performers at a local gay bar. Consider the ongoing dust up between queer residents of the West Village and Chelsea over the presence of queer youth on the piers and in the local streets--most of them of color and many of them low-income or homeless. Assuming that we're all family because we all know something about homophobia just doesn't do it in the 21st century--or whenever issues re: class, race, gender, and gender expression come into play.

"Maybe this is too much to ask, but wouldn't you think that in 2008, in one of the gayest neighborhoods in DC, a couple of drag performers at a local gay bar wouldn't bother anyone? Apparently not."

I don't live in DC, but I'd say that that's *exactly* what one would expect from a neighborhood with a history of gay gentrification-- less "respectable" manifestations of queerness quickly become persona non grata-- whether that means poor/homeless people or people of color (as it most often does), or gender nonconforming people (drag performers, in this case). Residents of Greenwich village here in NYC have been trying to kick out LGBT youth of color for years because they don't want 'that kind of people' around, the Castro in SF obviousy has a similar history, so does the North Halsted Street area of Chicago, if I'm remembering right.

I for one would be really curious to know more about the situation with gentrification and LGBT folks in Dupont Circle more generally, if there are any residents on here that are savvy about such things (007femme, thanks for expounding upon the sitation); I can't really imagine it's an isolated incident.

I just googled "Entertainment Endorsement license". A very informative PDF file came up. It seems that in order to have live entertainment of any kind, a business establishment must have this license. Seems pretty straight forward.

I mean, um, what Nancy said.

This is from DCCA's "About Us" page:

"Over the years, DCCA has supported a number of efforts to protect that broad diversity, ranging from tenants’ rights legislation and elimination of sexually repressive D.C. laws to moratoriums on alcoholic beverage licenses in order to protect neighborhood businesses from displacement."

What a disappointment.

I'm just a law student, but here's how I understand the law.

Performances are protected speech under the 1st amendment. The DCCA say they're upset about this "type" of performance which means they're discriminating based on the content of the protected speech; that's unconstitutional. Just as the KKK gets the same right to have a parade as everyone else, drag show performances have to be regulated just the same as any other type of performance.

noname it's actually not that straightforward. I'm not law-savvy so I can't really explain that end of it well, but what is of interest is the fact that the "entertainment" license was not required until 4 years ago, but the DCCA has been trying for about 10 to get rid of the entertainment in the neighborhood. To me, from the inside facts I have read, this is not a case of the DCCA really caring if all Dupont bars/clubs are up to code. They went after one that they have been repeatedly going after and finally found something that will stick...for now. Chaos's lawyers on the case and feel they have a pretty good arguemnt.

And yes, this gentrification is happening all across DC to people of color, poor people, gay people, etc. I lived there for quite some time, in Dupont actually, and many of us queer folk began moving to Logan Circle due to such changes as ridicuous rent increases. And nobody wanted to touch Logan Circle then, but of course it's up and coming and expensive now.

I know it seems obvious, but I wouldn't necessarily jump to the conclusion that there' an anti-gay agenda at play here. There are obnoxious, NIMBY people who don't like ANYthing--they work to prevent anything from every getting built anywhere, one of their key issues is trying to keep any new bars from opening in the DuPont circle or surrounding areas, and they also try to shut down existing bars that annoy them. This probably has more to do with the fact that Chaos is sometimes noisy and their general hatred of fun and bars more than any specific anti-gay agenda.

Unfortunately, DC's ANC system gives these busybodies way too much power to prevent bars, new high-density development, or anything else that make life more affordable or pleasant for people other than them.

007femme - If they are selectivelyenforcing the code, that is a problem. The code should be enforced for all establishments it covers.

Maybe they should do the drag show anyway. And then the DCA would have to send in cops to raid the place. And the drag queens might fight back. And start sort sort of riot. And it could touch off some kind of rights movement. And end up being marked for many years.

It could happen.

Boo - The performers would not be arrested. The establishment would be fined or even shut down for repeated violations.

noname you're exactly right. The idea was tossed around of hosting the show regardless, but after the initial anger subsided and clearer, saner thoughts came, people realized that at the end of the day it would be Chaos held liable.

I believe they got a permit as well for the protest outside of the club for that same reason. No need to add fuel to the fire and give DCCA or the ABC Board yet another violation.

noname you're exactly right. The idea was tossed around of hosting the show regardless, but after the initial anger subsided and clearer, saner thoughts came, people realized that at the end of the day it would be Chaos held liable.

I believe they got a permit as well for the protest outside of the club for that same reason. No need to add fuel to the fire and give DCCA or the ABC Board yet another violation.

Chaos has a special place in my heart and I don't remember it bothering anyone when I went outside.

I was a regular at bingo in NYC and the drag bingo in DC was a nice touch for the short time I lived there. No money changed hands in DC bingo, just great prizes which would be better used in the privacy of my own room :-P

I'm a proud t-girl but I have to add a bit of perspective here. I grew up in an upscale neighborhood around the corner from the famous drag club Queen Mary. In the old days, the Queen (as she was called) was a good neighbor, and no one minded the odd lumberjack in heels tippling down the sidewalk, and many a suburban dad had his head turned by a stunningly beautiful tranny. But in the 80's things began to change. Cruising and prostitution brought cops and arrests to our neighborhood day and night; cum-filled condoms ended up in young children's hands, and not a month went by when some neighbor didn't make a complaint about stumbling upon a trannie giving or getting blowjobs against a parked car. In the end, the neighbors put their foot down, the clientele found the new rules unacceptable, they left, and the Queen went under after 40 years, because they'd forgotten to be ladylike. Maybe Club Chaos needs to take a good look in the mirror.

I'm really unsure how Chaos could be a bad neighbor. It's an underground club beneath businesses that are closed at night during its drag shows.

If you are evr anywhere near Chaos, go see those girls work it out: it's worth it!

Gentrification is right.
As far as were queers are living in DC, well DuPont has become pricey, way to pricey if you want to live on your own.

The city is gentrifying very fast. Columbia Heights is flushed with new developments and DuPont, Capitol Hill, and several other areas are unreachable as far as rents.
Several people I know live in Mt. Pleasant and the 16th street border of Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights.

I will say I went to the show it was canceled.
This is not a situation like the queen, in fact its a situation that is riddled with complexities that go into the gentrification of DuPont.

Club chaos was known to be a "queer" club as supposed to the clubs that primarily cater to fairly well off gay men. The other places in DuPont have not faced these issues to the same extent.
With that being said, the DC Kings are going to be at Phase 1 this Sunday I think, and I will take that opportunity to support them.