Arts & Entertainment
Black Pride schedule and more
Everything from workshops to parties to R&B legend Brandy packed into this weekend
So much to do this weekend during D.C.’s annual Black Pride festival. (Washington Blade file photo by Pete Exis)
There are several events occurring this Memorial Day. D.C. Black Pride is the official planning organizing agency but several other groups also have parties and activities planned for black LGBT people and allies.
D.C. Black Pride Official Events
Host hotel: Hyatt Regency Washington
(400 New Jersey Ave., NW)
FRIDAY
Whitman-Walker Health (1701 14th St., NW) hosts the Washington, DC HIPAA launch event “Information is Powerful Medicine” beginning at 10 a.m.
The opening reception and community awards presentation at the Hyatt Regency Washington (400 New Jersey Ave., NW) starts at 6 p.m.
At the same time, D.C. Concerned Providers host an LGBT Prom at Metropolitan Community Church (474 Ridge St., NW). This event is for ages 16-21 and it is free. The evening will include food, HIV testing, raffles, photographer, vogue and a runway competition and a Prom King and Queen.
RainbowConnects hosts speed dating at the host hotel, Hyatt Regency Washington (400 New Jersey Ave., NW) at 7:30 p.m. Donations will be collected to support the D.C. Center.
SATURDAY
A community town hall meeting on the topic “Are We Prepared to Address Homophobia in the Black Church,” begins at 11 a.m. at the host hotel in Congressional A room. The town hall will be facilitated by Rev. Larry Burks and will discuss the impact of homophobia on LGBT attendees at black churches.
There will be several workshops held in the host hotel in different rooms starting at noon, including “Transgender Awareness 101: Like Sands Through the Hourglass, the Days of the Trans Life,” “PReParing for an End: A Prevention Plan to End New HIV infections in Black Gay Communities,” “Old School vs. New School: An Intergenerational Discussion,” “Protected and Served: The LGBT Communities’ Attitudes & Experiences with Police,” “TransENDing Boudaries,” “ManDate: The Construction of Black Manhood and Masculinity” and “Women’s Inter-Generational Salon.” To see the full description of these events and locations, visit dcblackpride.org.
The D.C. Black Pride Film Festival begins at 1 p.m. at the host hotel. The films featured include “Friend of Essex,” “Pariah,” “Noah’s Arc: Jumping the Broom,” “God Loves Uganda” and “You Are Not Alone.”
A Post Happy Hour sponsored by Barefoot Bubbly Wines starts at 5 p.m. at the Thurgood Marshall Center (1816 12th St., NW).
The D.C. Black Pride Poetry Slam hosted by ButtaflySoul begins at 7 p.m. at the host hotel and admission is $10. Performers will enter a contest that has three different cash prizes, with first place also receiving an appearance on stage at the Health & Wellness Festival.
SUNDAY
An interfaith service is provided at the host hotel at 9 a.m.
The Health & Wellness Festival begins at noon at the Francis-Stevens Educational Campus (2425 N St., NW).
For more information on official D.C. Black Pride events, visit dcblackpride.org.
Events from other groups include:
FRIDAY
MOVA Lounge (2204 14th St., NW) hosts the Genesis III Happy Hour as a pre 5000 Men Pride Mega Party at 5 p.m.. This is open to the public with a live DJ and a light buffet with two complimentary drinks per pass holder. Cover is $35.
The annual 5000 Men Pride Mega Party starts at 9 p.m. at the Ibiza Nightclub (1222 1st St., NE). This is a favorite Friday celebration and costs $40.
SATURDAY
The Tropical Heat Beach Mega Party starts at 2 p.m. at the Heron Shelter at Sandy Point Beach of Sandy Point State Park (1100 East College Parkway, Annapolis). The day includes a $300 hot body contest, music, free food, an open bar from 2-4 p.m. for pass holders and sexy dancers. Cover charge is $40.
The main event of Pride starts at 9 p.m. featuring R&B singer Brandy at Love (1350 Okie St., NE). There are expected to be 10,000 men in attendance. VIP cover is $60.
R&B singer Brandy plays Love on Saturday
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmOvILJAYK8
SUNDAY
When the party ends at 5 a.m., Pride will host a Red Eye Breakfast Club at a venue that will be announced. Cost will be $20.
Pride hosts the Annual Wet & Sexy Unity Mega Pool Party Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Accokeek Mansion. The day includes a live DJ, free food, a ticket bar, sexy dancers and rated X entertainment. Cost is $35.
Fur Nightclub (33 Patterson St., NE) hosts the Men In White event which features a surprise celebrity performance. Cover is $30.
Muse (717 6th St., NW) hosts a “sizzling hot Sunday party” featuring multiple levels and 2 DJs at 11 a.m. This is a promotional partner’s event, so it is not covered by event passes.
MONDAY
The annual Us Helping Us Picnic at Fort Dupont Park (3600 F St., SE) starts at noon. There will be free food and beverages for pass holders at the Omega tent.
The Layla Lounge (501 Morse St., NE) hosts Apocalypse Chapter III starting at 9 p.m. Cover is $15.
Participants can pay for these events individually or they can pay $99 for an event pass that has the value of $330. For more information, visit omegapartydc.com.
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
Drag artists perform for crowds in towns across Virginia. The photographer follows Gerryatrick, Shenandoah, Climaxx, Emerald Envy among others over eight months as they perform at venues in the Virginia towns of Staunton, Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Books
New book explores homosexuality in ancient cultures
‘Queer Thing About Sin’ explains impact of religious credo in Greece, Rome
‘The Queer Thing About Sin’
By Harry Tanner
c.2025, Bloomsbury
$28/259 pages
Nobody likes you very much.
That’s how it seems sometimes, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to see you around, they don’t want to hear your voice, they can’t stand the thought of your existence and they’d really rather you just go away. It’s infuriating, and in the new book “The Queer Thing About Sin” by Harry Tanner, you’ll see how we got to this point.
When he was a teenager, Harry Tanner says that he thought he “was going to hell.”
For years, he’d been attracted to men and he prayed that it would stop. He asked for help from a lay minister who offered Tanner websites meant to repress his urges, but they weren’t the panacea Tanner hoped for. It wasn’t until he went to college that he found the answers he needed and “stopped fearing God’s retribution.”
Being gay wasn’t a sin. Not ever, but he “still wanted to know why Western culture believed it was for so long.”
Historically, many believe that older men were sexual “mentors” for teenage boys, but Tanner says that in ancient Greece and Rome, same-sex relationships were common between male partners of equal age and between differently-aged pairs, alike. Clarity comes by understanding relationships between husbands and wives then, and careful translation of the word “boy,” to show that age wasn’t a factor, but superiority and inferiority were.
In ancient Athens, queer love was considered to be “noble” but after the Persians sacked Athens, sex between men instead became an acceptable act of aggression aimed at conquered enemies. Raping a male prisoner was encouraged but, “Gay men became symbols of a depraved lack of self-control and abstinence.”
Later Greeks believed that men could turn into women “if they weren’t sufficiently virile.” Biblical interpretations point to more conflict; Leviticus specifically bans queer sex but “the Sumerians actively encouraged it.” The Egyptians hated it, but “there are sporadic clues that same-sex partners lived together in ancient Egypt.”
Says Tanner, “all is not what it seems.”
So you say you’re not really into ancient history. If it’s not your thing, then “The Queer Thing About Sin” won’t be, either.
Just know that if you skip this book, you’re missing out on the kind of excitement you get from reading mythology, but what’s here is true, and a much wider view than mere folklore. Author Harry Tanner invites readers to go deep inside philosophy, religion, and ancient culture, but the information he brings is not dry. No, there are major battles brought to life here, vanquished enemies and death – but also love, acceptance, even encouragement that the citizens of yore in many societies embraced and enjoyed. Tanner explains carefully how religious credo tied in with homosexuality (or didn’t) and he brings readers up to speed through recent times.
While this is not a breezy vacation read or a curl-up-with-a-blanket kind of book, “The Queer Thing About Sin” is absolutely worth spending time with. If you’re a thinking person and can give yourself a chance to ponder, you’ll like it very much.
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