Oral History with Maurice Dorsey (LCCA)

Maurice Dorsey is a thirty-year resident of Logan Circle, an author, a former ANC commissioner, and former employee of the University of the District of Columbia and the USDA where, among other things, he helped LGBT employees become successful in the workplace. He related stories of two long-term relationships and how they quietly lived their lives – going to the Kennedy Center, sharing newspapers at coffee shops.

Maurice recalled that in the 1990’s there was a perceived divide between 14th and 15th Streets, NW given drugs, crime and prostitution along 14th Street. Annie’s on 17 th Street NW was a safe restaurant for gays to dine out. Friends and Halo were bars of choice. Reflecting on the changes he has seen, Maurice said, “Logan Circle was not the Logan Circle we know now…If you walked out my front door and turned right to go to 15th Street, you would have thought you were on the Champs-Elysées with the beautiful trees and everything, the cars zooming up and down the street. But if you turned left…14th Street was just dreadful.”