WRITTEN & REPORTED BY KAELA ROEDER
Community Space Faces Financial Shortall, Following Extended National Guard Presence | August is typically a slow month for DC area restaurants and bars. But the late summer’s federal takeover of DC’s Metropolitan Police Department and the ongoing presence of armed National Guard troops have devastated business for As You Are, a cafe, bar, dance lounge, and event space for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Sales were down 50% in August compared to 2024, and down about 30% compared to last September, according to co-owner Jo McDaniel (she/her). That’s why she launched a fundraiser to cover license renewals, repairs, and operating costs.
“We are never trying to burden our community or ask for more than we need,” McDaniel told LGBTQCommunityNews.nyc. “But,” she noted, “It’s been really hard to figure out the light at the end of the tunnel.”
McDaniel said the bar had reserve funds in anticipation of August’s annual slowdown, but the takeover obliterated that. Groups of National Guard members are patrolling As You Are’s block (500 8th & E St. SE) regularly, said McDaniel–and for a period of time, they were armed with assault rifles. Recently, she’s seen troops with sidearms.
That’s made patrons uneasy, said McDaniel, recalling the sight of people immediately returning to their cars upon seeing the National Guard. She’s also had an employee who hasn’t worked since early August, because of the anxiety of walking through troops to get to work.
“I can’t say that I blame them, because we’re not accustomed,” she said. “It’s not normal to have guns on our street quite like this.”
McDaniel has periodically asked the troops to move from the front of As You Are to nearby street corners. They sometimes oblige, she said, but other times they tell her and her wife, also a co-owner, that it’s “their orders” to stand there.
“It definitely has felt, when they lean against the rainbow flag on our fence and just stand there with their hands on their guns, it definitely feels targeted and scary,” McDaniel said.
The fundraiser has almost reached its $28,000 goal. One priority is paying for the space’s alcohol license, which has doubled in cost in the last three years. It used to be $3,200 in 2022, now it’s a $7,800 payment, per McDaniel.
Despite the lack of business, she sees As You Are as a safe space where people can feel less isolated, especially as troops patrol DC.
“I think queer spaces, generally speaking, it’s just, it’s where community finds each other,” McDaniel said. “It makes moments that are difficult feel a little less difficult because you’re not alone in it.”
Local Author to Debut Memoir at Little District Books | As Adams Morgan resident Steve Majors wrote his first book, he instinctively knew there would be a second.
Majors’ new series of memoir-minded essays, called Man Made: Searching for Dads, Daddies, Father Figures, and Fatherhood, explores how men, including his elementary school PE teacher and his father-in-law, shaped his life. It’s Majors’ second published work following 2021’s High Yella—a memoir documenting his navigation of being Black and queer, and becoming a father.
He wanted to have “further interrogation” of masculinity and male influence in Man Made, which will be released by University of Wisconsin Press on October 28. Majors will be hosting a talk about the book the same day, 7pm at queer-owned and operated Little District Books, located at 631 Pennsylvania Ave. SE.
“I think I just got to a chapter of my life where I felt more comfortable sharing what that journey was like, being comfortable in my own skin,” Majors told LGBTQCommunityNewsNYC.
The collection of essays aims to address “what it means to be a man today,” said Majors, who believes that exploration makes Man Made relevant to everyone, not just queer people. That said, he wanted to initiate dialogue about his book in a queer space, hence the Little District Books event.
“It felt important for me to begin the conversation there,” Majors explained, “and quite candidly, to support the community by inviting folks into that space where they can learn about my book and other books as well.”
Trump Considers Removing Pride Flags in DC | Residents, businesses and the local government display the Progress Pride Flag all year round—but during a September Oval Office meeting, President Donald Trump said he “would have no problem” banning it in the city.
The President was prompted by reporter Brian Glenn, a correspondent for the far-right Real America’s Voice network, the Advocate reported. Glenn showed a picture of the Progress Pride Flag, a symbol for queer people of belonging, claiming it was a “trans flag.”
These remarks are the latest in attacks on DC’s autonomy. The city is recovering from a 30-day takeover of its police department and ongoing National Guard troops patrolling the streets.
DC is not a state and has no voting representation in Congress, making the city more vulnerable to federal authority.
Ash Lazarus Orr, press relations manager for Advocates for Trans Equality, labeled the remark as “government censorship, plain and simple.”
“Censorship doesn’t stop with symbols,” wrote Orr in a statement to LGBTQCommunityNewsNYC, adding, “When leaders attack our flags, they send the message that trans people and our communities should be erased from public life. This kind of rhetoric fuels stigma, encourages harassment, and makes trans people less safe.”
Symbolic displays, like flags, are protected under the First Amendment, the US Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled.
The Trump administration has fired off more than 367 attacks in policy or rhetoric, according to the September 29, 2025 stats cited by a “Trump Accountability Tracker” maintained by the nonprofit LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD.
“Policing private property flags would be an odd priority for leaders who campaigned on lowering the price of groceries,” a GLAAD spokesperson wrote to LGBTQCommunityNewsNYC, adding, “All of us deserve leaders who are laser-focused on ideas to improve everyone’s quality of life.”
A ban would be a “direct violation” of expression, per Orr.
“Trump isn’t offering solutions to real problems. Instead, he is targeting LGBTQI+ people to divide Americans and score political points,” said Orr, further noting, “The Pride flag stands for love, resilience, and belonging. Trying to ban it reveals nothing but fear and intolerance.”
ABOUT KAELA ROEDER | Roeder is the lead DC and Virginia reporter at the news outlet Technical.ly. She’s an award-winning journalist, also working as a freelance reporter. Kaela was formerly the deputy editor at Street Sense Media, a local newspaper covering homelessness and housing in DC. She’s written for publications including Washington City Paper, DCist/WAMU and the Washington Blade. She holds a B.A. in journalism and anthropology from American University and was a Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellow.
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