Freddie Lutz and Johnny Cervantes – Photo: Ward Morrison / Metro Weekly
Cue the wedding bells for Freddie Lutz and Johnny Cervantes!
The owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington and his partner of 28 years will be getting married in view of hundreds of thousands of WorldPride revelers during the WorldPride Parade on Saturday, June 7.
“I’m literally inviting the entire world,” laughs Lutz. “I’ve thought about doing a wedding float for Freddie’s for years now, but we have never pulled it off.”
Lutz had always dreamed of a fancy, public wedding on a parade float, but he and Cervantes declined to get married immediately after same-sex marriage was legalized in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
“When they legalized gay marriage, I said, ‘Honey, you want to get married tomorrow?’ And he said, ‘No, but you can take me to Tiffany’s,’” Lutz recalls. “Neither one of us thought it was super important to get married at the time.”
What finally tipped the scales in favor of getting married was an offer from the Equality Chamber of Commerce, which approached him about exchanging wedding vows on a float during the WorldPride Parade.
“I’ve been thinking about getting married for so long that I had everything basically planned out,” says Lutz. “One of my past managers, Ray Martin, who worked for JCPenney, got online and ordered all this stuff. So we’re decorating the restaurant, and we’re going to have cake and champagne and a reception after the parade.” Complete with a drag show, of course.
The reception will be open to the public, although the restaurant, at some point, will have to cut off entry to ensure they don’t exceed maximum capacity.
“We’re inviting everybody, and I’m hoping it will actually bring business to the whole street,” he says, referring to the establishments lining 23rd Street South in Arlington’s Crystal City neighborhood. “I’m on the board of the National Landing Business Improvement District, and I represent 23rd Street on the BID, so I’m all about bringing business to the street.”
While patrons of Freddie’s Beach Bar might expect to see some purple decor and a smattering of pink flamingoes on the float, Lutz says he and Cervantes are actually sticking with traditional black-and-white wedding attire.
“I asked them to build a little four-inch box for Johnny to stand on because he’s a little shorter than I am,” he says. “He’ll be in all black with tails and a top hat. I will be in white with a white bow tie and something similar to a wedding dress on the bottom. He’ll have a boutonniere and I’ll have a bouquet. And we’ll be passing out invitations to the entire parade. They say: ‘You are cordially invited to drag your gay asses across the river to celebrate the marriage of Freddie Lutz and Johnny Cervantes. Please join us at Freddie’s Beach Bar, Northern Virginia’s only ‘straight-friendly’ gay bar.’”
Why get married in such a public way? Lutz chalks it up to his flamboyant personality.
“My mother used to call me ‘Production Pete,’ and if you know me, I have a tendency to not do things low-key. I went to art school. I’m all about decorating and over-the-top theatrics: it’s not done until it’s overdone,” he jokes.
Cervantes says planning the logistics of the ornate wedding has been fairly smooth.
“Just from what you hear from people who have gotten married, or what you see on TV, a wedding is generally one of the most stressful times in your life,” he says. “But this has come on so quickly and so effortlessly, I almost don’t even have to think about it.”
Cervantes says the idea of getting married has always been in the back of his mind, but he and Lutz have been together for so long that they just didn’t feel the urgency a decade ago when many other same-sex couples were rushing off to the altar.
“I didn’t want to just be reactive to gay marriage becoming legal,” he says. “But I think it’s important, just as with anyone else that gets married, to serve as a model. A wedding is a formalization of the commitment between a couple, and I think it may be on par with when couples renew their vows after 25 years, 50 years together. I think that’s where we are right now in our relationship, except it’s going to be our first time formalizing it.”
Despite his excitement for the nuptials, Lutz is also mindful of the rise in anti-LGBTQ sentiment and the current backlash toward LGBTQ visibility in the United States.
He notes that anti-LGBTQ advocates frequently threaten violence against venues that host drag, especially if those are performed in proximity to children. Freddie’s itself has been on the receiving end of bomb threats for presenting family-friendly drag brunches and story hours.
It’s for that very reason Lutz has shied away from having his grandniece and grandnephew serve as flower girl and ring bearer during the ceremony, expressing concern for their safety.
“It would have been so beautiful to have them on the float, but I don’t want to put them in harm’s way,” he says. “Isn’t it terrible that I have to think about what if something happens?”
But Lutz also believes that D.C.’s WorldPride is a chance for LGBTQ people to unashamedly celebrate their identities, despite the federal government’s blatant expressions of disapproval.
“I don’t think that as a community, we can afford to be afraid,” he says. “With WorldPride happening right now at the foot of the Capitol, in view of the White House… [it’s] a form of protest and a show of presence and force from the LGBTQ community.”
Ibrar Nadeem, an aide to Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, bragged to Muslim supporters about the candidate's past opposition to marriage equality during a "Muslims4Jack" event in Piscataway, New Jersey on October 18.
"We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage," Nadeem said, as recorded in a video posted to X.
Nadeem went on to note that Ciattarelli had voted against legalizing marriage equality as a New Jersey state assemblyman and claimed that his preferred candidate would continue to oppose it.
On Monday, November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected former Kentucky county clerk and same-sex marriage opponent Kim Davis' appeal of a lower court's decision against her -- including a petition demanding that the court revisit and overturn its landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nation's highest court denied a writ of certiorari, which would have signaled its intention to review Davis' case -- and the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodgesdecision, which struck down state-level bans on same-sex marriage. It would have taken four justices to agree to hear Davis' challenge.
John Reid, the gay Republican nominee for Virginia lieutenant governor, has defended the right of his running mate, current Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, to oppose same-sex marriage -- even though he personally disagrees with her on the issue.
Speaking on the conservative talk radio program The Wilkow Majority on SiriusXM, Reid said he and Earle-Sears are "willing to put aside our differences" to support policies they believe are best for Virginia. Host Andrew Wilkow then asked Reid to name an issue on which the two disagree.
"She's not for gay marriage. She's 100 percent against it," Reid said. "You know, she's from Jamaica, and her religious background tells her a very different narrative than my Episcopalian white-guy Virginia background. I understand!"
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