“Perhaps under this veneer of civic-mindedness is a little bit of homophobia,” says gay activist Chris Dyer.Īccording to Shelton, however, “it’s not the nature of the club that we’re opposed to. Not surprisingly, members of the gay community have raised a red flag. He even remembers someone saying, “‘We don’t want those people in our neighborhood.’” “I was invited by Councilmember Orange to go to an emergency public meeting on dance clubs moving to Ward 5 at the Bethesda Baptist Church.” At that meeting, he says he “was called up before an angry crowd” and rebuffed. He had hoped to relocate some of his businesses to Mount Olivet Road NE.

Accustomed to being the life of the party, Siegel now says he feels like an unwelcome guest. “Unless this changes, this kind of lifestyle will never happen again,” says the oft-quoted Bob Siegel, who once owned 11 properties, including Secrets, Heat, Ziegfields, the Follies, and Glorious Health & Amusement on what is now the stadium site.įor decades, Siegel’s properties anchored a stripper-studded playground for gay men and daring women. Then, of course, there’s the new baseball stadium, which has sent several Southeast strip clubs packing. As industrial areas go condo, more and more strip clubs are bumping up against restricted zones. Downtown is already crowded, and strip clubs aren’t allowed to locate within 600 feet of a residential building.

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