Last night a few of us made our way to Nellie’s Sports Bar, where the Washington Blade was giving out its Best of Gay D.C. awards. We were honored to pick up the prize for Best Local Blog, with their kind description:When D.C. residents need to keep up on local events, art, sports, restaurants or pretty much anything else related to life in the District, they head to DCist.com… The blog is truly a community…

Good morning, D.C. Yesterday was just about the most beautiful day, weather-wise, that the city has seen in a long time, and today we’re expecting more of the same. So is there anything on God’s green Earth that could cause us to lose the attendant sunny dispositions we all naturally have as a result? Oh, drat. It’s Thursday. Metro General Manager John Catoe will appear before Metro’s Board of Directors today and recommend raising minimum…

DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive new guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg The Avalon is screening tonight, for one night only, this classic musical by Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand. Both bittersweet and endlessly charming, the film features the always enchanting Catherine Deneuve as an umbrella saleswoman in love with the local auto mechanic. Nothing works out the way anyone wants it…

Via the Washington Blade, President Bush has issued a veto threat of the D.C. appropriations bill because it lifts bans allowing federal funding to be spent to enable residents to register as domestic partners and qualify for benefits like married couples, and lifts the ban on funding for needle distribution programs to drug users. “Under federal law, legal marriage is the union between a man and a woman,” the memo says. “Federal tax dollars are…

Veteran gossip columnist Michael Musto is in town today promoting his new book, La Dolce Musto, a collection from his columns of the same name (he’ll be at Nage Restaurant from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.). The bespectacled provocateur has spent 20 years at the Village Voice chronicling New York City’s gay life, nightlife and sex life, sometimes in terms that would make Candace Bushnell blush. Along with the tales of club kids, politics and sex…

Written by DCist contributor Christopher Durocher Never mind that D.C.’s delegate doesn’t actually have a vote in either house of Congress. Never mind that D.C. residents get a “shadow” representative and senator that are so influential that most members of Congress wouldn’t know our delegation if they tripped over them. Never mind that legislators, federal courts and pretty much the rest of the nation couldn’t care less that we in the nation’s capital are subject…

Written by DCist contributor Christopher Durocher. Last month the brave city councilors of Manassas, Virginia refused to vote against gay massage therapist Howard Daniel’s application to operate a business from his home, despite protests by members of a local church. Instead, the Council refused to vote at all, leaving Daniel’s with no answer, but many questions about whether homophobia in his community had limited his business opportunities. As the Post reports: Daniel’s application hadn’t actually…

Written by DCist contributor Christopher Durocher Where’s a boy (or girl or girly boy or mannish woman or transgendered person, or anyone else for that matter) suppose to get a drink these days? It seems that organizations are coming out of the woodwork to keep D.C. residents and visitors from enjoying the beverages so crucial to the success and enjoyment of any social interaction. High profile clashes over liquor licenses have been common between local…

Written by DCist contributor Christopher Durocher BeBar, the newest gay bar in D.C., opened its doors to the public last week. Though there may be nothing remarkable about another gay bar in the city (especially for the heterosexual set), Be Bar’s story is part of a larger story of ongoing gentrification in the city and the conflict it’s creating in a number of neighborhoods. For over six months, BeBar’s owners have faced vocal opposition from…

Written by DCist contributor Christopher Durocher In anticipation of the September 12 District primaries, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA) of D.C. released its ratings for mayoral candidates last week. The ratings, which score candidates from +10 to -10 based on their support for the GLBT community and its issues, ranked D.C. Council Chair Linda Cropp the top candidate with a +9.5 rating, while Councilmember Vincent Orange found himself at the bottom of the…