Local
Thousands expected at Capital Pride this weekend
Annual event began as block party outside Lambda Rising in 1975
![Capital Pride, Pride 2013, gay pride, gay news, Washington Blade](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2013/06/2012_Capital_Pride_Parade_thumb_c_Washington_Blade_by_Michael_Key.jpg)
Thousands are expected to attend Capital Prideās annual parade and festival this weekend in the nationās capital.
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Lynda Carter and Brigadier Gen. Tammy S. Smith of the U.S. Army Reserve, who became the first openly gay and lesbian flag officer to serve in the military, will serve as grand marshals of the parade that will start at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at 22nd and P Streets, N.W., in Dupont Circle. It will end on 14th and R Streets, N.W., at Whitman-Walker Health.
The 17th annual Capital Pride Street Festival will take place on Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 7th Streets, N.W., from noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday. Emeli SandƩ, Icona Pop and Cher Lloyd will headline the main stage. Tom Goss and Eric Himan will also perform during the event.
NBC4 forecasts partly cloudy skies with a high temperature of 83 degrees on Saturday and a chance of thunderstorms on Sunday with an afternoon high of 83 degrees.
Pride committee chooses superhero theme
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos highlighted this yearās theme as he discussed the annual event.
āWe wanted to have a little more fun with the theme and identified something that the community could rally around, dress up as a costume and participate,ā he told the Washington Blade. āWe thought it was really easy for folks to grab a hold of.ā
What became known as Capital Pride traces its history to a one-day community block party that then-Lambda Rising bookstore owner Deacon Maccubbin first held on 20th Street, N.W., in Dupont Circle in 1975.
The P Street Festival Committee in 1980 took over what had become known as Gay Pride Day. It relocated the festival to Francis Junior High School, and became known as Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in 1981.
Pride of Washington succeeded the P Street Festival Committee in 1990.
The festival began to suffer from financial difficulties a few years later. One In Ten, the organization that produces the Reel Affirmations film festival, took over the Pride events. The group then moved the street festival to Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Capital Pride culminates month of LGBT gatherings
The parade and festival will cap off a series of events over the last few weeks that celebrated the Pride season.
These include an immigration reform panel and a bilingual Mass that took place during the seventh annual D.C. Latino Pride on May 30 and June 2. Casa Ruby and 10 other Latino LGBT groups organized what they described as an alternative to D.C. Latino Pride with events that will take place from June 4-9.
The 23rd annual D.C. Black Pride took place from May 23-25. Capital Trans Pride took place at the National City Christian Church in Thomas Circle on May 18.
D.C. Frontrunners will hold its first annual Pride Run 5K in Congressional Cemetery in Southeast D.C. at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Brian Beary, race director for D.C. Frontrunners, said 750 participants have signed up to take part in the race. He said 50 percent of the eventās proceeds will go to Team D.C.ās scholarship fund for gay high school students who hope to attend college.
āThis is a way to kick-off your Pride weekend,ā Beary said.
Virginia
Parades, community events held to mark Pride Month in Va.
Upwards of 30,000 people attended PrideFest in Norfolk on June 22
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2024/06/20240629_Shi-Queeta_Lee_at_Arlington_Pride_insert_c_Washington_Blade_by_Michael_Key.jpg)
Activists across Virginia last month held a series of events to mark Pride Month.
Hampton Roads Pride, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1997, held 37 different Pride events throughout the region in June.
Their biggest event, PrideFest, which is part of their larger three day event, Pride Weekend, celebrated its 36th anniversary on June 22. Pride Weekend took place from June 21-23 and began with a block party at NorVa in Norfolk.
PrideFest took place at Town Point Park, and an estimated 30,000 people attended. More than 70 venders participated, while Todrick Hall and Mariah Counts are among those who performed.
Another PrideFest event with a DJ in the afternoon and live music at night took place in Virginia Beach on June 23. Congressman Bobby Scott and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are among those who attended Pride events in Suffolk on June 30.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander, along with members of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Councils, also attended the Pride events in their respective cities. Jamar Walker, the first openly gay federal judge in Virginia, also took part.
āYou know people all throughout Pride Month, at all of our various events, tell me all kinds of stories about their own experiences and the past of this community … and some of our older folks especially, remember when we couldn’t have this,ā Hampton Roads Pride President Jeff Ryder told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview.
āIt was a great year,ā he added. “It was a big achievement for us to have unique celebrations in each of our seven communities. Each of these cities is so different from one another, but to be able to create a Pride celebration that’s unique in each of those places was really great, and I think really well received by folks who may not have felt represented previously. We’re always trying to do better, to embrace every aspect of our community, and take a big step forward there this year.ā
State Dels. Adele McClure (D-Arlington County) and Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington County) are among those who spoke at Arlington Pride that took place at Long Bridge Park on June 29. The Fredericksburg Pride march and festival took place the same day at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on June 10 hosted a Pride Month reception in Richmond.
Youngkin in previous years has hosted Pride Month receptions, even though Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups have criticized him for supporting anti-LGBTQ bills.
The Republican governor in March signed a bill that codified marriage equality in Virginia. Youngkin last month vetoed a measure that would have expanded the definition of bullying in the state.
Baltimore
Baltimore street named in honor of trans activist
Iya Dammons is founder of support groups Safe Haven in Baltimore, D.C.
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2024/07/20240629_Iya_Dammons_at_street_naming_ceremony_in_Baltimore_insert_courtesy_Iya_Dammons.jpg)
Baltimore city officials and LGBTQ activists participated in a ceremony on June 29 officially dedicating the renaming of a street in honor of transgender woman Iya Dammons, who founded and serves as executive director of the LGBTQ services organization Maryland Safe Haven.
A section of Baltimoreās 21st Street at the intersection of North Charles Street, where the Maryland Safe Haven offices are located, has been renamed Iya Dammons Way.
The ceremony took place six years after Dammons founded Maryland Safe Haven in 2018 and one year after she launched a Safe Haven operation in D.C.in 2023 located at 331 H St., N.E.
A statement on its website says Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women ānavigating survival modeā living.
āThrough compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individual agency,ā the statement says. āOur programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,ā it says.
Among those participating in the street renaming ceremony were Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, interim director of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scottās Office of LGBTQ Affairs Alexis Blackmon, and Dominique Morgan, an official with the national foundation Borealis Philanthropy, which provides financial support for transgender supportive nonprofit organizations, including Safe Haven.
āThis is a significant achievement and historic moment for our city,ā a statement by Maryland Safe Haven announcing the ceremony says. āIya Dammons has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights and has worked tirelessly to provide safe spaces and resources for transgender individuals in our city,ā it says. āThis honor is well-deserved, and we are thrilled to see her contributions recognized in such a meaningful way.ā
Baltimore
Despite record crowds, Baltimore Prideās LGBTQ critics say organizers dropped the ball
People on social media expressed concern about block party stampede
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2024/06/Screenshot-2024-06-29-at-18.01.33.png)
BY JOHN-JOHN WILLIAMS IV | This yearās Baltimore Pride Week attracted 150,000 people ā record attendance that far exceeded initial projections of 100,000.
But some see room for improvement and want organizers to address safety issues and make changes so the annual event that celebrates the LGBTQ population is better run.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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