District of Columbia
Town nightclub lawsuit against landlord dismissed in September
Court records show action was by mutual consent
A lawsuit filed in April 2024 by Town 2.0, the company that planned to reopen the popular LGBTQ nightclub Town in a former church on North Capitol Street that accused its landlord of failing to renovate the building as required by a lease agreement was dismissed in a little-noticed development on Sept. 6, 2024.
A document filed in D.C. Superior Court, where the lawsuit was filed against Jemal’s Sanctuary LLC, the company that owns the church building, shows that a “Stipulation of Dismissal With Prejudice” was jointly filed by the attorneys representing the two parties in the lawsuit and approved by the judge.
Jemal’s Sanctuary is a subsidiary of the Douglas Development Corporation, one of the city’s largest real estate development firms.
An attorney familiar with civil litigation who spoke to the Washington Blade on condition of not being identified said a stipulation of dismissal indicates the two parties reached a settlement to terminate the lawsuit on conditions that are always confidential and not included in court records.
The attorney who spoke with the Blade said the term “with prejudice” means the lawsuit cannot be re-filed again by either of the two parties.
The public court records for this case do not include any information about a settlement or the terms of such a settlement. However, the one-sentence Stipulation Of Dismissal With Prejudice addresses the issue of payment of legal fees.
“Pursuant to Rule 41(a) of the District of Columbia Superior Court Civil Rules, Plaintiff Town 2.0 LLC and Defendant Jemal’s Sanctuary LLC, by and through their undersigned counsel, hereby stipulate that the lawsuit be dismissed in its entirety, with prejudice, as to any and all claims and counterclaims asserted therein, with each party to bear its own fees and costs, including attorneys’ fees.”
The Town 2.0 lawsuit called for the termination of the lease and at least $450,000 in damages on grounds that Jemal’s Sanctuary violated the terms of the lease by failing to complete renovation work on the building that was required to be completed by a Sept. 1, 2020 “delivery date.”
In response to the lawsuit, attorneys for Jemal’s Sanctuary filed court papers denying the company violated the terms of the lease and later filed a countersuit charging Town 2.0 with violating its requirements under the lease, which the countersuit claimed included doing its own required part of the renovation work in the building, which is more than 100 years old.
Court records show Judge Maurice A. Ross, who presided over the case, dismissed the countersuit at the request of Town 2.0 on Aug. 20, 2024, on grounds that it was filed past the deadline of a three-year statute of limitations for filing such a claim.
Neither the owners of Town 2.0, their attorney, nor the attorney representing Jemal’s Sanctuary responded to a request by the Washington Blade for comment on the mutual dismissal of the lawsuit.
Town 2.0 co-owner John Guggenmos, who also owns with his two business partners the D.C. gay bars Trade and Number Nine, did not respond to a question asking if he and his partners plan to open Town 2.0 at another location.
What was initially known as Town Danceboutique operated from 2007 to 2018 in a large, converted warehouse building on 8th Street, N.W., just off Florida Avenue. It was forced to close when the building’s owner sold it to a developer who built a residential building in its place.
It was the last of the city’s large LGBTQ dance hall nightclubs that once drew large crowds, included live entertainment, and often hosted fundraising events for LGBTQ community organizations and causes.
District of Columbia
VIDEO: ‘Free D.C.’ protest on U Street
Demonstrators marched in vibrant entertainment district
Protesters marched along U Street, N.W., in D.C. on Saturday to protest the Trump-Vance administration takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department and the deploying of the National Guard to the city. In the area of D.C. around the protest are a number of bars and restaurants: including the LGBTQ venues Bunker, Crush Dance Bar, Revolt, and Spark Social House.
District of Columbia
LGBTQ groups denounce takeover of D.C. police – except for one
Log Cabin Republicans alone in endorsing Trump action
Log Cabin Republicans of Washington, D.C., the local chapter of the national LGBTQ Republican organization, has emerged as the only known local LGBTQ group to endorse President Donald Trump’s controversial action earlier this month to federalize the D.C. police department.
Several other local and national D.C.-based LGBTQ political groups have released statements expressing strong opposition to the Trump action, which involves sending in National Guard troops to patrol D.C. streets to fight what the president has called an out-of-control crime wave in the nation’s capital.
“The Log Cabin Republicans of Washington, D.C. commend the President’s decisive leadership in taking control of a crisis that local officials have failed to address,” the group says in a statement. “For decades, Washington, D.C. has suffered under the de facto one-party rule of Democratic leadership,” it says.
“The result has been a steady rise in crime, a decline in public safety, and a culture of complacency toward lawlessness,” the statement continues, adding that D.C. leaders have shown a “blatant unwillingness” to address the issue.
“We thank President Trump for stepping in where local leadership has failed,” D.C. Log Cabin President Andrew Minik says in the statement. “This bold action sends a clear message: the safety of Americans in our nation’s capital is non-negotiable.”
Among the local LGBTQ political groups that have expressed strong opposition to the Trump action and the position of Log Cabin Republicans is the Capital Stonewall Democrats.
“This is nothing more than a political stunt designed to distract and divide,” said Capital Stonewall Democrats President Howard Garrett in a joint statement released with the National Stonewall Democrats organization. “Flooding our neighborhoods with federal forces and seizing control of our police department will not make us safer – it will undermine trust, escalate tensions, and strip away D.C.’s right to govern itself,” he said.
The joint statement by the two LGBTQ Democratic groups also challenges Trump’s claims that crime in D.C. is at an all-time high.
“This is not about safety, it’s about control,” the statement says. “The facts are clear: Violent crime in D.C. is down 26 percent from last year. Robberies are down 22 percent, and homicides have fallen 18 percent,” the statement continues. “These numbers tell the truth – not the fear-driven narrative being pushed from the White House to justify militarizing our streets and commandeering our local police force.”
GLAA D.C., formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, expressed the organization’s opposition to the Trump action in a statement.
“This unprecedented show of force is theater designed to strike fear into our hearts,” the GLAA statement says. “Donald Trump is making reckless power plays while D.C.’s community is experiencing lasting harm. Donald Trump must be stopped by a mass movement of people who recognize the danger he poses to the freedoms we all cherish.”
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest national LGBTQ advocacy organization based in D.C., believes the Trump effort to take over the D.C. police force and to send in National Guard troops will have a negative impact on the LGBTQ community, according to Jarred Keller, the HRC Senior Press Secretary.
“By injecting shameful attacks on the LGBTQ+ community alongside threats of occupation in other major American cities, it’s clear this attempted takeover is about much more than the streets of D.C.,” Keller said in a statement to the Washington Blade
“It’s about control and intimidation,” he said. “His actions endanger all families and threaten all our freedoms. We call on all D.C. residents, and all Americans, to stand united in rejecting this blatant abuse of power.”
Kierra Johnson, president of the D.C.-based National LGBTQ Task Force, added her voice to the opposition to the Trump D.C. law enforcement federalization action.
“What is happening is an outrageous targeting of those who live, work in and love the Nation’s Capital,” Johnson said in a statement. “The Trump administration’s actions, taking control of the Metropolitan Police Department and deploying untrained military and government agency armed forces is beyond reprehensible,” Johnson said.
“The National LGBTQ Task Force, whose headquarters has been in D.C. for decades, understands this for what it is – an attack on our city, our people, and our democracy,” she says in the statement. “What we are experiencing now is nothing less than an attempt to occupy our streets and terrorize our residents.”
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition, which consists of multiple organizations that advocate for resources supporting LGBTQ residents, called the Trump action an “attack on D.C. autonomy.”
“This is a blatant violation of D.C.’s right to self-govern and a dangerous escalation rooted in political theater, not public safety,” the coalition said in a statement. “We stand with local community leaders and other advocates fighting for D.C. to be free.”
District of Columbia
Creating Change to take place in D.C. in 2026
Conference to coincide with Trump-Vance administration’s first anniversary
The National LGBTQ Task Force on Tuesday announced the theme of its 2026 Creating Change conference that will take place in D.C. in January will be “We Are Unstoppable.”
The conference is scheduled to take place in Washington from Jan. 21-25.
Jan. 20 will mark a year since the Trump-Vance administration took office. The White House’s decision to once again ban transgender service members, to target DEI programs, and to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department are among the myriad issues that advocacy groups have condemned.
“Creating Change is not a conference,” said Task Force Executive Director Kierra Johnson on Tuesday during a reception in D.C. “It is a homecoming.”
Creating Change took place in Washington in 2018. Baltimore hosted the annual conference in 2012.
Last year’s Creating Change took place in Las Vegas.
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