"They want to socialize with the owners and the staff because we make everyone feel welcome," he said. People come from all over the state as far and as Washington, D.C. We are not just a night club, we are a social club." "People now think we're just a night club and don't take in the fact that we are a nonprofit," Morris-Lewis said. I say tolerant because acceptance is a big deal and that's what we do, we accept everybody." How it works "I think that people don't have the sense of family and rallying around as they did back in my day because there are more places that are tolerant of the gays. "I think we still have a ways to go with our community," he said. The money made at the bar goes back into the bar - paying the bills and keeping the lights on. "We really do try to do as much as we can," he said.Įvery membership fee brought in goes directly back to the nonprofit Salty Dog Inc. He holds benefits for the community - for those who may be sick, without homes or local organizations like the Emergency Food Network, Toys for Tots and St. Groups use the space to meet, because there aren't places for them to meet.
Morris-Lewis has the Virginia Health Department come in once a month to do free testing services for his members. "It's more of giving an outlet for the community," he said. It's a venue where he holds benefits, bingo, drag shows, free testing services and other meetings. Impulse may be a social club, but Morris-Lewis said it's not centered around drinking and partying. "I felt like there was a sense of something needed for the young community to learn from us, where we came from and a sense of family for those who got kicked out of their house," he said. When 216 closed, there wasn't a place for Morris-Lewis and his friends to hangout. "I lost so many friends in one year and it hurts to think about it today to think where they could be with us." "I came out during a time when I would go to the hospital and hold the person's hand while he died," he said. He came out in a decade when AIDS was becoming very prevalent. "It was a rough time for gays, we were like family," he said. The establishment 216 took over Silver Fox. He helped establish 216, the bar and social club owned by nonprofit called Piedmont Triangle Society. He hopes to open the new spot by the beginning of 2019. City council recently approved the permits for the club to be located at 101 E. Now, Morris-Lewis is set to open a second location in Waynesboro. "It's a very welcoming environment, I love it so much." "Even though this is a much smaller city, I'm surprised how cool everyone has been," he said. He loves making connections with people, especially since he's originally from Louisiana. "They said whether I liked it or not, I was part of the family now. "Everybody came up to me and introduced themselves to me," Butcher said. Butcher knew no one when he walked into the social club. Morris-Lewis and his fiancé first met at Impulse. "I do this for my community," Morris-Lewis said. He and his fiancé Angus Butcher are co-owners of the Impulse Gay Social Club in Charlottesville, which is run by the nonprofit called Salty Dog Society. In 2013, he found a space to run a nonprofit and social club.
Morris-Lewis wanted a place for the the area's lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning community could gather safely and without judgement.Īfter the Silver Fox, a gay club in downtown Charlottesville, closed in the early 1980s there were several different organizations that took over, but it fizzled out in the mid-1990s.īy 2011, Morris-Lewis started looking for a place to open. There were some family members who didn't fully grasp the idea of him being gay, but overall his family was understanding. We'd go to the clubs and beer bottles would be slung at us, our cars would get vandalized. "I had several family members that were very much against it, but they came around," he said. Morris-Lewis grew up in an old Southern family.