A delay of more than four months by a city regulatory agency in approving a certificate of occupancy for the Capitol Hill LGBTQ bar and café As You Are has raised concern among its owners and customers that one or more D.C.
government bureaucrats may be subjecting the bar to biased treatment. Lesbian activists and businesswomen Jo McDaniel and Rachel Pike, the owners of As You Are, said they and the landlord for the building in which the bar is located at 500 8th St., S.E.
have submitted all of the required paperwork to obtain a permanent Certificate of Occupancy needed for the bar to remain open.
They are currently operating under a temporary provisional Certificate of Occupancy, but if a permanent version of the certificate is not approved the bar will be forced to close under D.C.