Can Uproar Survive? Owner Tammy Truong Speaks Out

metroweekly.com:

The gay community in D.C. has been all abuzz ever since Uproar, an LGBTQ bar that has become a major hub for the District’s bear community — as well as the adjacent “daddy” and leather scenes – launched a campaign earlier this month to help the bar keep up with its rent payments and utility bills.Tammy Truong, the owner of Uproar, posted an appeal asking for financial help in response to “unexpected costs” in a message on the bar’s website, and on GoFundMe, where supporters can donate to the cause.

Thus far, the campaign, which seeks to raise $100,000 by February 6, has raised slightly over $7,400.“It’s gotten a little bit of traction,” Truong says of the campaign. “I would like it to be a little bit more successful, but I know it’s a hard time for people financially.”When I asked Truong about the “unexpected costs,” she answers that increases in the bar’s insurance rates for 2025 have forced Uproar’s management team to deplete their reserves.

The things that would have been paid for with that reserve money — rent and utilities — now constitute looming expenses.Despite being open for nine years and never having to file an insurance claim, Trong’s liquor liability insurance is $72,000.

That’s up from $68,000 during the pandemic, and $32,000 prior to the pandemic. And even that policy contains several exclusions.