Local
D.C. Center lands $25,000 donation
Crew Club contribution to help renovate new space in Reeves building
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2013/04/D_C_Allen_thumb_c_Washington_Blade_by_Pete_Exis.jpg)
![D.C. Allen, Crew Club, gay news, Washington Blade](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2013/04/D_C_Allen_insert_c_Washington_Blade_by_Pete_Exis.jpg)
‘We decided it was important for the Center to be there for all of us in the community,’ said Crew Club owner D.C. Allen (Washington Blade file photo by Pete Exis)
The owners of the Crew Club, a D.C. health club and sauna that caters to gay men, presented the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community with a $25,000 donation on Tuesday at a reception to kick-off a fundraising drive to help finance the center’s move to a new home.
Center Vice President Michelle Ross, who heads the center’s relocation committee, said the donation by the Crew Club through it co-owners D.C. Allen and his husband, Ken Flick, provides a major boost in raising the estimated $75,000 needed to renovate the LGBT Center’s new space in the city’s Reeves Center municipal building at 14th and U streets, N.W.
Ross and D.C. Center President Michael Sessa have said the 15-year lease the Center just signed with the city to rent space in the highly desirable location at the Reeves Center required that they accept the space “as is” and pay for getting it ready for occupancy.
Although the renovation work needed is more extensive than originally anticipated, the two said community supporters like Allen and Flick and other donors along with supporters who are providing pro bono work related to the renovation should make it possible to complete the project by late June, Ross said.
“We decided it was important for the center to be there for all of us in the community,” Allen told the Blade.
Allen said he and Flick have been impressed with the center’s varied programs that help support a diverse cross section of the LGBT community, including programs for LGBT military veterans and LGBT immigrants and those seeking U.S. political asylum. Sports and career development programs as well as addiction and recovery related efforts, including the center’s longstanding crystal meth program, are among many other center activities, Allen said.
“We felt it was extremely important that this not drag on and that they start their renovation and get in there as soon as possible,” he said.
Ross is urging members of the community to visit the center’s website for details of the renovation plans, including floor plans and drawings prepared by an architect and interior designer who are helping with the project. The renovation plans can be viewed at www.thedccenter.org/home.
The need to find a new home for the center surfaced after center officials were told they would have to leave their current space at 1318 U St., N.W., because the building in which they are located will soon be taken down to make way for a new high-rise office building.
The renovation and design plans shown on the center’s website call for naming rooms after large donors and displaying permanent plaques on the walls of the new space bearing the names of contributors.
“Be a permanent part of the Center and purchase a piece of history,” the site says.
Virginia
Parades, community events held to mark Pride Month in Va.
Upwards of 30,000 people attended PrideFest in Norfolk on June 22
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Activists across Virginia last month held a series of events to mark Pride Month.
Hampton Roads Pride, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1997, held 37 different Pride events throughout the region in June.
Their biggest event, PrideFest, which is part of their larger three day event, Pride Weekend, celebrated its 36th anniversary on June 22. Pride Weekend took place from June 21-23 and began with a block party at NorVa in Norfolk.
PrideFest took place at Town Point Park, and an estimated 30,000 people attended. More than 70 venders participated, while Todrick Hall and Mariah Counts are among those who performed.
Another PrideFest event with a DJ in the afternoon and live music at night took place in Virginia Beach on June 23. Congressman Bobby Scott and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are among those who attended Pride events in Suffolk on June 30.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander, along with members of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Councils, also attended the Pride events in their respective cities. Jamar Walker, the first openly gay federal judge in Virginia, also took part.
“You know people all throughout Pride Month, at all of our various events, tell me all kinds of stories about their own experiences and the past of this community … and some of our older folks especially, remember when we couldn’t have this,” Hampton Roads Pride President Jeff Ryder told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview.
“It was a great year,” he added. “It was a big achievement for us to have unique celebrations in each of our seven communities. Each of these cities is so different from one another, but to be able to create a Pride celebration that’s unique in each of those places was really great, and I think really well received by folks who may not have felt represented previously. We’re always trying to do better, to embrace every aspect of our community, and take a big step forward there this year.”
State Dels. Adele McClure (D-Arlington County) and Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington County) are among those who spoke at Arlington Pride that took place at Long Bridge Park on June 29. The Fredericksburg Pride march and festival took place the same day at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on June 10 hosted a Pride Month reception in Richmond.
Youngkin in previous years has hosted Pride Month receptions, even though Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups have criticized him for supporting anti-LGBTQ bills.
The Republican governor in March signed a bill that codified marriage equality in Virginia. Youngkin last month vetoed a measure that would have expanded the definition of bullying in the state.
Baltimore
Baltimore street named in honor of trans activist
Iya Dammons is founder of support groups Safe Haven in Baltimore, D.C.
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2024/07/20240629_Iya_Dammons_at_street_naming_ceremony_in_Baltimore_insert_courtesy_Iya_Dammons.jpg)
Baltimore city officials and LGBTQ activists participated in a ceremony on June 29 officially dedicating the renaming of a street in honor of transgender woman Iya Dammons, who founded and serves as executive director of the LGBTQ services organization Maryland Safe Haven.
A section of Baltimore’s 21st Street at the intersection of North Charles Street, where the Maryland Safe Haven offices are located, has been renamed Iya Dammons Way.
The ceremony took place six years after Dammons founded Maryland Safe Haven in 2018 and one year after she launched a Safe Haven operation in D.C.in 2023 located at 331 H St., N.E.
A statement on its website says Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women “navigating survival mode” living.
“Through compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individual agency,” the statement says. “Our programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,” it says.
Among those participating in the street renaming ceremony were Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, interim director of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs Alexis Blackmon, and Dominique Morgan, an official with the national foundation Borealis Philanthropy, which provides financial support for transgender supportive nonprofit organizations, including Safe Haven.
“This is a significant achievement and historic moment for our city,” a statement by Maryland Safe Haven announcing the ceremony says. “Iya Dammons has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights and has worked tirelessly to provide safe spaces and resources for transgender individuals in our city,” it says. “This honor is well-deserved, and we are thrilled to see her contributions recognized in such a meaningful way.”
Baltimore
Despite record crowds, Baltimore Pride’s LGBTQ critics say organizers dropped the ball
People on social media expressed concern about block party stampede
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-29-at-18.01.33.png)
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | This year’s Baltimore Pride Week attracted 150,000 people — record attendance that far exceeded initial projections of 100,000.
But some see room for improvement and want organizers to address safety issues and make changes so the annual event that celebrates the LGBTQ population is better run.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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