President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of Washington, D.C. policing, billed as a crackdown on violent crime, has quickly turned into an economic and cultural crisis for the capital’s LGBTQ+ nightlife. In the most LGBTQ+ city in America, bar owners say sales have collapsed, patrons are staying home, and workers are carrying passports and legal documents just to walk the streets.

“This whole thing is being billed as a violent crime crackdown, but it’s just an immigration sweep,” Mark Rutstein, co-owner of Crush Dance Bar, told The Advocate on Saturday.

A deserted corridor

Rutstein said that on Wednesday evening, federal and local agencies staged checkpoints on 14th Street that led to 45 arrests, 29 of them immigration-related. He said that Homeland Security agents in vests were seen pulling a Latino man into an unmarked vehicle.

Rutstein said the visible presence of law enforcement for blocks sparked protests and “customer flight.” Thursday sales at Crush, which is at 14th and U Northwest, dropped 75 percent, and Friday, typically one of their busiest nights, was down by more than half. “Washingtonians leaving the city to avoid the chaos on top of a reduction of tourism is crippling small businesses,” he said.

Dave Perruzza, who owns Pitchers and A League of Her Own in Adams Morgan, said Friday night felt “like a desert.” “Thursdays are all local, but Fridays and Saturdays we get people from out of town, and we just had none of them. It was awful,” he said. He estimated a loss of $7,000 in a single night. “That’s not sustainable.”

Safe inside, fear outside

A viral video of a man later identified as Sean Charles Dunn throwing a Subway sandwich at federal agents circulated widely after the crackdown began. The incident happened on Sunday above Bunker, a popular LGBTQ+ underground nightclub on 14th Street, after bystanders said Dunn, who is gay, was denied entry.

Bunker co-owner Q Edwin said the real impact has come not from that single incident but from the heavy federal presence in the days since. “We’re seeing around the block a lot of federal agents, asking people for IDs, randomly stopping cars and checking,” he said. “We wanted to make sure people were aware that while they’re inside Bunker, it is a safe space. But outside, that’s another story.”

Edwin, a naturalized U.S. citizen who served six years in the Army, including tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he now carries his passport and veteran ID when driving in the city. “Even the ones that have green cards or work permits are scared to come to work,” he said. “It’s bad for business, bad for tourism. Everybody is afraid. And when the workforce is afraid, when the community is afraid, the economy suffers.”

Policies in place

All three owners stated that they have consulted with lawyers and trained their staff on how to respond if federal agents attempt to enter their premises.

Rutstein said Crush’s rule is straightforward: “Show us a warrant. We have nothing to hide, but you aren’t disturbing what is a safe place for the community.”

Edwin said Bunker has documentation proving its employees are verified and a plan for what to do if officers show up. “If ICE wants to come, we can show them proof that we have gone through the entire process,” he said. “If they are at our doors trying to come in, we will let the community know. We will let people know on the dance floor. The last thing we want is some of them trying to enter and force themselves into the club.”

Perruzza said his managers and security have also been briefed. “They’re not allowed in the establishment unless we call them and have an issue,” he said. “If ICE or somebody comes to your establishment, they have to have a warrant that’s daytime and date-stamped. They can’t just come in. In D.C., all businesses are private. Our thing is: sorry, you’re not coming in.”

He added that even the Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBTQ+ Liaison Unit, once a welcome presence in his bars, is no longer allowed inside. “We normally let the D.C. cops come in, the gay and lesbian liaison unit come in, but I can’t even do that,” Perruzza said. “I don’t want to freak out my customers.”

Trump’s “worst crime ever” lie

Trump has defended his actions by citing 2023 data and claiming D.C. faces “the worst violent crime ever.” But city records show violent crime is at historic lows.

Rutstein, who has lived in the city for 25 years, dismissed the president’s claims as “unequivocally false.” “The early ’90s had over 500 homicides, and it soon decreased to 300, and we aren’t even close to those numbers,” he said. “I don’t feel unsafe in D.C. Is there crime? Yes, just like all cities. But quoting that we are the worst crime ever is just not true.”

Business owners acknowledge that juvenile crime has been a challenge, but argue that deploying federal agents and immigration sweeps in nightlife corridors is not the solution. Perruzza, who has lived in D.C. for decades, said he feels safe walking across the city, even late at night, and rejects the White House’s framing of the city as lawless. “Adams Morgan has zero issues. I walk through Meridian Hill Park from the bars home, it’s dark. I feel safe. I just don’t feel unsafe, and everybody I talk to does not feel unsafe,” he said. “What we don’t like is, and it’s a constant with all my friends, the kids. I do think the kids are out of control, but I don’t think they need to call the National Guard to deal with the kids.”

For Perruzza, the problem lies less with policing and more with accountability at home. “I think it’s time to start holding the parents accountable. If your kids are out and they do something wrong, you should go to jail for the night,” he said. While stressing that he doesn’t support corporal punishment, he argued parents need to set limits. “Take away the phone, take away the iPad, take away the gaming system. Kids can’t live without a phone. You want to be a shithead, no phone. Plain and simple.”

He views today’s youth culture as a post-pandemic phenomenon that has gone unaddressed for too long. “There is something different about the teenagers and young people these days, and just the way that they are willing to behave. They have no sense of consequences since COVID. They let them get away with it for too long,” Perruzza said. However, he added, the presence of the National Guard is unlikely to have a lasting impact. “The kids aren’t going to come out now because the National Guard’s here. The minute they leave, the kids will come out again.”

A plea to locals

For LGBTQ+ business owners, the federal presence is not only reshaping nightlife but also threatening the fragile ecosystems that sustain D.C.’s queer communities. “Local people should go out. Local people should do things,” Perruzza said. “If we’re not getting the people from out of town, we really need local people to show up.”

Rutstein agreed, noting the hesitation some feel in this climate but urging solidarity: “I understand Black and brown people’s pause on going out right now, but we do need the community to patronize as they feel comfortable. We’ve received several messages on Instagram asking how they can help, and I say, come have a drink and a laugh or two with us to forget what’s happening, even if it’s temporary.”

Still, the prevailing mood is unmistakable. As Rutstein put it: “Panicked.”

The Advocate has contacted Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Affairs, for comment.