Local
The big 4-0
Capital Pride to celebrate with Color Guard, dignitaries and more
Thousands flock to Pennsylvania Avenue each year for Capital Pride. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
The 40th annual Capital Pride Parade and Festival this weekend culminate a month of events that included Black Pride, Latino Pride and Trans Pride.
According to Capital Pride organizers, an estimated 250,000 attendees are expected to come to the milestone Capital Pride Parade and Capital Pride Festival making it the largest LGBT-focused event of the year in the District. (Complete coverage of Capital Pride begins on page 40.)
“We’ve tried to make sure that this is as special a Pride celebration as we could possibly make it to acknowledge the fact that we have had 40 years of Pride celebrations in the nation’s capital,” said Bernie Delia, Capital Pride’s board president.
Four decades ago, the event was called Gay Day. It was a one-day event that was part street festival and part block party. Since then, Capital Pride has transformed from a one-day event to a week-plus series of events culminating with this weekend’s two-day affair with the theme of “Flashback.”
On Saturday, the Capital Pride Parade will be held from 4:30-7:30 p.m. The parade begins at 22nd and P streets, N.W. and continues through the Dupont Circle and Logan Circle neighborhoods, ending at the 14th Street corridor at S Street.
For the second year in a row, an Armed Forces Color Guard will march in the parade. Following them will be Scouts for Equality, comprised of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, who will be marching for the first time ever in the Capital Pride Parade.
Actor and LGBT activist Wilson Cruz and Deacon Maccubbin, founder of D.C. Pride, will serve as grand marshals. Actor Daniel Franzese will also be a judge at the parade review stand and Internet star Max Emerson will march in the parade. Capital Pride Heroes and Engendered Spirit awardees will also be present along with various politicians and community leaders.
In addition to the typical parade festivities, this year E! Network’s Ross Matthews will officiate a wedding between George Carrancho and Sean Franklin. Carrancho and Franklin won a contest held by Marriott to have their dream wedding at the Pride parade. The couple, originally from Texas, and their families will travel to D.C. for the nuptials at the parade.
This year’s Capital Pride Festival on Sunday starts at a slightly later time and will be held from noon-7 p.m. on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 3rd and 7th streets. There will be 300 exhibitors and vendors that include local businesses, national sponsors and local and community groups. The Washington Blade will be giving away pairs of tickets to see Madonna in concert at its festival booth every 15 minutes from 3-5 p.m. in partnership with 107.3 radio.
A Pride concert will take place on three stages from 1-9 p.m. This year’s performers include Carly Rae Jepsen, En Vogue, Katy Tiz, Wilson Phillips and Amber.
The festival will also have three beverage gardens including Capitol Beverage Garden, Monument Beverage Garden and Dupont Beverage Garden. The gardens will have DJs, entertainment and drinks. There will also be a family and educational activity area and fun zone with a 30-foot inflatable water slide, face painters, food vendors and mist tents.
For more information on Capital Pride weekend, visit capitalpride.org.
Maryland
Parents sue Anne Arundel schools, allege officials hid child’s gender transition
America First legal Foundation filed lawsuit on July 8
By CODY BOTELER | Two parents, backed by a conservative nonprofit group, are suing Anne Arundel County Public Schools over the school system’s policies related to transgender children.
The suit, filed Wednesday in Maryland’s U.S. District Court, accuses staff at an unidentified county high school of lying to the parents, identified as John Doe and Jane Doe, about their child, identified as Mary Doe.
The Does allege the school “socially transitioned” their child without notice or their consent by using a masculine name and masculine pronouns for Mary Doe.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
District of Columbia
Campaign launched to elect more LGBTQ candidates to ANC seats
Capital Stonewall Democrats behind Queering ANCs effort
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, announced on July 7 it has launched a campaign to help elect large numbers of LGBTQ candidates to the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single-member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and D.C.’s annual budget, according to the ANC website.
Although the ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or proposals, such as applications for liquor licenses, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
Kent Boese, a gay former ANC commissioner, currently serves as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.
“We are launching the most ambitious hyperlocal LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline initiative in the country,” said Stevie McCarty, the Capital Stonewall Democrats president, in a July 7 statement that announced the Queering ANCs campaign.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty says in the statement. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which was created by LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website that there are currently 38 caucus members consisting of elected LGBTQ ANC commissioners serving in the current 2025-2026 two-year term.
The website shows there are LGBTQ commissioners who are caucus members in each of the city’s eight wards, with six in Ward 1, eight in Ward 2, one in Ward 3, six in Ward 4, five in Ward 5, three in Ward 6, eight in Ward 7, and one in Ward 8.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine how many of them will be running for re-election in D.C.’s general election in November. But McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats hopes to recruit many more LGBTQ candidates to run for ANC seats.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows the deadline for filing 25 required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot is Aug. 5.
A Queering ANCs website launched this week by Capital Stonewall Democrats provides details on how to run for an ANC seat and offers help for those interested in running.
“Think of someone in your building, neighborhood, friend group, community organization, or professional network who cares deeply about D.C. and would make a strong leader,” McCarty says in his statement. “Send them QueeringANCs.org and personally ask them to consider running,” he said.
The website can be accessed at QueeringANCs.org.
Baltimore
Ron Singer, owner of popular Mount Vernon gay bar Leon’s, dies
66-year-old’s funeral to take place Friday
By CAYLA HARRIS | Ron Singer, the owner of Baltimore’s popular gay bar Leon’s Backroom, died Tuesday, the venue announced in a social media post. He was 66.
“For more than 20 years, Ron made Leon’s a place so many people were proud to call home,” the post reads. “He will be deeply missed.”
The Mount Vernon bar, typically open from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. daily, is still open Thursday, but doors will close at midnight so staff can attend his funeral Friday morning. Services are scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. at Sol Levinson’s Chapel.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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