Local
Obituary: William Johnson, 73
Adult gay entertainment owner succumbed to cancer, heart disease
William ‘B.J.’ Johnson, 73, a businessman who operated adult entertainment clubs in D.C. and Virginia in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Lone Star gay bar, died Jan. 5 at Holy Cross Hospital in Silver Spring, Md., of complications from bladder cancer and heart disease.
Johnson, who was gay, was known in the gay community as the owner of the Lone Star, a club at 9th and E Streets, N.W. that featured nude female dancers to a largely straight clientele during the day. Johnson operated the club as a gay bar at night that featured nude male dancers.
Shirley Dearolph, a friend who worked as a bartender at the Lone Star and other clubs owned by Johnson, said he bought the Lone Star from the U.S. government in 1978 in an auction after the IRS seized the club from its previous owner. According to news reports, the previous owner, a federal employee, had been convicted of embezzling money from the government for the purpose of buying the club.
“At the time he bought it there were just the go-go girls in the day,” Dearolph said. “It closed at 8 o’clock because most of the customers worked for the government and nobody stayed out late.”
According to Dearolph, within a few weeks of taking control of the Lone Star, Johnson opened it at night and hired male strippers, becoming the city’s second club to offer nude male dancers to a gay clientele.
The Chesapeake House, a gay bar located three blocks north at 9th and H Streets, N.W., began featuring male strippers a year or two earlier, Dearolph said.
Before buying the Lone Star, Johnson established a name for himself in 1976 as the first person in the nation’s capital to offer totally nude female strippers at a nightclub he bought in the city’s then red light district on 14th Street, N.W., called Benny’s Rebel Room.
Dearolph said that during that same period in the 1970s Johnson bought This Is It, another female burlesque nightclub in the infamous 14th Street strip between H and K streets, N.W. Around that same time Johnson bought Ziggie’s, a burlesque club in Arlington, Va., which also featured female strippers.
In the late 1970s, two gay bathhouses and a gay adult bookstore opened on the 14th Street strip near Johnson’s nightclubs. Possibly anticipating what was to come in the mid-1980s, Johnson sold Benny’s and This is It in 1978 at the peak of their popularity but at a time when civic activists began to complain about the adult businesses.
Noting they were located in the heart of downtown Washington and less than three blocks from the White House, real estate developers and some D.C. government officials joined forces to “clean up” the area. By 1986, most of the 14th Street adult clubs had closed, with some having their licenses revoked for alleged liquor law violations.
“He was a good businessman,” Dearolph said. “He sold This Is It and Benny’s around 1978 and bought the Lone Star. He kept the Lone Star until we had to close it in 1986 when they were doing the development down there.”
Similar to the 14th Street strip, the Lone Star and other bars and clubs along 9th St., N.W., including the Chesapeake House and the gay bar Louie’s, were displace by upscale high-rise office buildings.
Johnson was born in Laurel, Md., and spent much of his early years on his parents’ farm in nearby Spencerville. He received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, College Park, and began his career as a teacher. He later spent “many years as a successful businessman, owning a number of successful businesses, including several bar establishments,” according to a statement released by family members at the time of his death.
At a Jan. 10 memorial service, friends said Johnson lived for many years in a townhouse he owned in D.C. on Capitol Hill while spending time at the farm and farmhouse in Spencerville he later inherited from his parents.
“It was his pride and joy,” said Dearolph. “He didn’t grow crops and raise animals. He kept it manicured and beautiful. It was his showcase.”
In addition to Dearolph, one of Johnson’s closest friends and associates, Johnson is survived by his nieces, Deborah Clark and Donna Dunn; his great-nephew, Glenn Edens, Jr; great-nieces Lisa Edens and Ashley Crisp; and one great-great nephew, William Chase Rezmer.
At the time of his funeral, family members requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the William ‘BJ’ Johnson Memorial fund at the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society.
District of Columbia
Hands Off the Arts to form ‘human chain’ around Kennedy Center
Drag performer Tara Hoot among event organizers
An organization called Hands Off the Arts has announced it is holding a protest on Friday, Sept. 18, in which between 400 and 800 participants are expected to create a “human chain” around the Kennedy Center to voice their strong objection to President Donald Trump’s call for possibly demolishing the Kennedy Center.
“Hands Off the Arts is organizing a rally Sept. 18 against the president’s defacing of JFK’s memorial, his removal and censorship of art, and the threat to demolish the center if he can’t remake the site in his image,” a statement released by the group says.
The statement says the event will start with a rally at 6:30 p.m. on the Kennedy Center steps and culminate with a “human chain” around the building. “There will be musical performances, testimonials from current and former employees, along with other special guest speakers,” it says
A separate announcement by the group says longtime D.C. drag performer Tara Hoot, who has performed at the Kennedy Center in past years, was among the organizers of the Sept. 18 protest.
The planned protest follows Trump’s decision last year to use his authority to replace the existing members of the Kennedy Center’s board of directors with new members loyal to him. Over the objection of longtime Kennedy Center supporters, the Trump-appointed board changed the name of the center, at Trump’s request, from the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
But following the threat of legal action by opponents who pointed out that the name change could not be legally made unless approved by Congress, the name change was cancelled, with Trump saying he would take steps to restore it later.
The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports in a Sept. 13 news story that because of negative publicity related to Trump’s actions, the Kennedy Center was facing “fiscal collapse” and possible bankruptcy and could be forced to shut down as early as this week.
According to the Post report, a 57-page document presented to the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees says the center was facing a financial and structural building crisis, with the recent collapse of part of the building’s inside ceiling, indicating the building was unsafe for employees and the public. Among other things, the document says the Kennedy Center may not be able to make payroll or pay for routine maintenance “within a matter of weeks,” the Post reports.
Some LGBTQ advocates were among those who joined others in boycotting the Kennedy Center to express their objections to Trump’s actions, including a statement by Trump that he objected to the Kennedy Center’s practice of hosting drag performances.
The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington has been among the LGBTQ performing arts groups and artists that have performed at the Kennedy Center.
“With the future still very much uncertain, now more than ever, the Center needs you to stand up for freedom of expression and against authoritarian overreach into arts and culture institutions,” the Hands Off the Arts group says in its announcement of the Hands Around the Kennedy Center protest.
“You have the opportunity to make a difference — show up with Hands Off the Arts and show your power as part of Hands Around the Kennedy Center,” it says.
A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Baltimore
Transgender woman killed in Barclay community mourned by friends, advocates
Sophie Lee shot to death on Friday morning
By DARREONNA DAVIS | Denise Johnson imagined spending Sunday with her daughter, Sophie Lee, eating crabs at the park. Instead, she stood on a Barclay street corner Sunday evening surrounded by nearly 100 people who came to remember her daughter, a transgender woman who was fatally shot there Friday.
The 27-year-old woman was found in the 2400 block of North Calvert Street around 1:15 a.m. Friday, Baltimore Police said in a news release.
Lindsey Eldridge, a police department spokesperson, said it’s unclear if her identity had anything to do with her death and the investigation is ongoing.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, landed an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a new job, let us know so we can share your success.
Congratulations to Jaime Christopher Pierce on their appointment to serve as a member of the Virginia Governor’s LGBTQ+ Advisory Board. Pierce was sworn in on Sept. 3 by Greg Parks, clerk of the Alexandria Circuit Court.
Pierce currently serves as vice chair of the Alexandria City LGBTQIA+ Task Force and as a member of the Alexandria Pride planning committee. They previously served on the board of directors of Equality Virginia.
Upon being sworn in, Pierce said, “Public service has been a central part of my life for more than 30 years, and this appointment gives me an opportunity to serve the Commonwealth in a different and very personal way. My career has allowed me to work with people and communities throughout Virginia, and I hope to bring that experience, along with my own lived experience and my involvement in the LGBTQ+ community, to the work of the Board.” They added, “Having Greg administer the oath makes the occasion even more meaningful because of his own historic role as Virginia’s first openly gay elected circuit court clerk.”
Pierce also serves as Circuit Court Services Manager for the Department of Judicial Services, at the Office of the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia. They began their career in Virginia’s judiciary in 1994 as a deputy clerk with the Virginia Beach Circuit Court and have since held several professional and leadership positions within the court system. Pierce is a member of the National Association for Court Management (NACM) and the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management. At the national level, Pierce participated in the workgroup that developed the National Association for Court Management’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Guide, a resource designed to help court professionals advance inclusive practices and strengthen access, fairness and belonging within the justice system.
Pierce earned a degree in Criminal Justice from Liberty University, and a certificate in Paralegal Studies from Norfolk State University.
Advocate, Out parent company adds Trump supporter to board, prompting outrage
78th annual Emmy Awards recapped
Indonesia’s top Muslim clerical body proposes criminalizing LGBTQ people, advocacy
Hands Off the Arts to form ‘human chain’ around Kennedy Center
LGBTQ issues, attacks on Democrats dominate unusual RNC midterm convention
Multi-billion-dollar 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund to continue until 2090
LGBTQ Military Happy Hour set for Sept. 15
Calendar: September 11-17
Comings & Goings
