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.
Rehoboth Beach
SUNFESTIVAL takes center stage as Rehoboth Beach closes out summer
Labor Day Weekend bustling with events, including David Archuleta performance
Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial end of summer in Rehoboth Beach, but there will be no shortage of LGBTQ events, with CAMP Rehoboth’s annual SUNFESTIVAL taking over town this weekend.
Thursday (9/3)
Get your Labor Day Weekend started early Thursday night with happy hour from 5-7 p.m. at Diego’s Bar & Nightclub, followed by Naughtee Bingo hosted by Magnolia Applebottom at 8:30 p.m.
After bingo, the party continues with Dancing at Diego’s from 9 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.
Aqua Bar & Grill will also kick off its Labor Day Weekend festivities Thursday with a DJ spinning from 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Friday (9/4)
The weekend ramps up Friday night at Aqua, where DJ Matt Bailer will keep the dance floor moving from 9 p.m.-1 a.m.
Over at Diego’s, DJ Steve Sidewalk will then take over Diego’s for Freedom Friday from 9 p.m.-1:30 a.m.
Saturday (9/5)
The main event of the weekend arrives Saturday with the opening night of CAMP Rehoboth’s SUNFESTIVAL.
Billed as the ultimate party to close out the summer, SUNFESTIVAL has become one of Rehoboth’s signature Labor Day Weekend events. The annual celebration sells out each year, with proceeds benefiting CAMP Rehoboth.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. with refreshments available at the cash bar while attendees are invited to socialize and find their seats.
Saturday night will feature local singer Ashley Williams as the opening performer, followed by headliner David Archuleta. The event will also feature a live auction.
Back across town Saturday, Aqua will continue its Labor Day Weekend DJ lineup from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Diego’s will also have plenty happening, with ‘Splash Party’ hosted by Magnolia Applebottom at 5 p.m., followed by a Saturday Dance Party with Brett Oosterhaus from 9 p.m.- 1:30 a.m.
The Blue Moon hosts its popular Legends Show at 9 p.m. It’s an all-live singing show by the Blue Moon cast of celebrity impersonators.
Etienne Pilon has taken Rehoboth by storm this summer. Check out the talented singer/pianist at The Pines from 7-10 p.m.
Sunday (9/6)
Sunday’s SUNFESTIVAL event will shift the focus to the dance floor, with globally renowned DJs Robbie Leslie and James Anthony scheduled to perform. Doors open at 7 p.m., with dancing continuing until 1 a.m.
On Sunday, Aqua will throw its annual White Party, with DJs spinning from 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Guests are encouraged to dress in white for the holiday weekend celebration.
Diego’s will host its Sunday High T-Dance with Pamala Stanley at 5 p.m. Later that evening, DJ Tannr will be spinning at 9 p.m.
John Flynn is on the piano from 6-8 p.m. at the Blue Moon.
Monday (9/7)
The final day of Labor Day Weekend brings one last chance to hit the dance floor before summer officially winds down.
Aqua will close out its five-day Labor Day Weekend celebration with DJ Biff from 3-7 p.m.
Maryland
Anne Arundel schools now need parent permission to call trans students by preferred names
Conservative groups challenged system’s policy
By JESSICA CALEFATI | Anne Arundel County Public Schools staff cannot use transgender students’ preferred names if their parents oppose it, according to an internal document reviewed by the Banner, a change that comes after conservative groups challenged the school system’s approach to gender identity.
Teachers union president Kristina Korona told members in an Aug. 20 email that the new guidance undermines district policy on acceptance and inclusivity and “will begin harming affected students immediately.”
Previously, the district didn’t require parental permission to use a high school student’s chosen name and pronouns corresponding to their gender identity, the internal document says. Now it does. The change comes as parents challenge the suburban school system’s gender identity policy and regulation in court and the Trump-Vance administration threatens the district’s funding.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
‘People don’t see me. They see a trend’
New popularity of all things Asian warps view of multiple cultures
As I was growing up, my parents often shared stories about how they were bullied when they were my age, just for being Asian. My mom is Cambodian and my dad is “Wasian,” Chinese and white. Students teased them for their looks, their homemade lunches, and treated their traditional holidays as jokes.
I once asked my mom when I was little if she could pack me dumpling leftovers for lunch. “Yes,” she said with a surprised look, adding, “I would have never wanted to bring dumplings to school when I was your age because I would always get bullied for them. I’m glad times have changed.”
At the time, I was confused. Whenever I brought a homemade Asian dish to school for lunch, I was happy to hear intriguing and curious questions from the other kids. It felt good to have my meal be popular and different from the Lunchables everyone else had.
Though times have changed, racism still continues. It just has a new face. Today, social media pretends to flatter our cultures in an insincere way trying to gain popularity just for clicks. Think anything from K-pop to Japan’s surge in international tourism. Even Starbucks has added drinks with the flavor of ube yam, native to the Philippines, onto its menu.
I feel that now when people see me, they don’t see me, they see a trend.
For years, Asian people have been portrayed as foreign or exotic. The new embrace of foods and fashion at first felt good. Asians have never been represented as much as they’ve deserved.
But this new popularity warps what non-Asians see. Instead of the blunt and direct racism my parents faced, everything now is a gray area, more discreetly hidden behind some TikTok video. It actually normalizes racism and stereotypes.
Whitewashing my culture
As a 15-year-old Asian American who lives in D.C., I’ve always been one of the few Asian kids in school; my high school today counts less than 2 percent of students as being of Asian descent. I remember always being called “that one Asian girl” or some slur a kid learned from their parents. Every time I search for something related to Asian culture, such as a recipe or maybe a holiday, it’s always the same thing: some white person whitewashing my culture.
Social media is the main culprit, of course. I realized this when I entered high school and got a phone and was introduced to the internet. That is when I realized how messed up the new stereotypes around Asians are.
One pattern I started to notice was people wanting to be Asian just because it was popular. It was hurtful, patronizing, and annoying. They made assumptions about our race and then only found us “cool” because we were trending. How can people go from hating us or finding us weird, to then only liking us because we’re popular?
There was a trend going around on TikTok called “race change to another” or RCTA. It is this trend of people manifesting certain physical traits to change their appearance in order to change races. According to journalist Emi Tran, writing then as an intern for NBC Digital, the trend started when a white woman wanted to be Japanese. The woman began posting TikTok videos of herself wishing for different features such as monolids. Tran wrote in that 2023 article that “the overwhelming majority of the RCTA community wants to be East Asian.”
People also look up to K-pop culture, idolizing the pop groups pulled together by big entertainment companies. Most people expect all Koreans to be K-pop fans. Korean friends are asked about K-pop all the time even though they are not into the South Korean music genre.
Although I am not South Korean — I am half Cambodian and Chinese — I still get asked, almost like I’m expected, “You’re really into this group, right?” or “Can you tell me how to pronounce this member’s name?”
I was asked even worse questions during COVID-19. Suddenly, discrimination and violence were increasing specifically toward Asians everywhere. Suddenly, almost everyone was blaming Chinese people for spreading and causing COVID-19.
I remember going to school for one of the last times before quarantine had started and hearing kids whisper, “Oh, she’s going to give us the Coronavirus.” President Donald Trump had publicly posted his opinions about the situation on social media, blaming China for the pandemic, even calling it the “Chinese Virus” or the “Wuhan Virus.” According to NPR, anti-Asian hate crimes in U.S. cities surged 149 percent that year.
The topic of Asians in the media has always been complicated. One moment people can hate us for being weird and different and the next we’re suddenly popular and cool for the same reasons.
I feel conflicted on whether I should feel happy that we’re being represented or angry that it’s all for the wrong reason and has the wrong effects.
Lily Brugman is a sophomore at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, one of Youthcast Media Group’s journalism class partners. She worked with YMG volunteer and Professor Emerita in journalism at American University Amy Eisman on this piece.
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