Local
D.C. Black Pride Award recipients to be honored July 21
Racine among local, national honorees
The Center for Black Equity, a D.C.-based LGBTQ advocacy organization, announced on Monday it has named 11 individuals, one organization and one business as recipients of its 2021 D.C. Black Pride Awards.
The organization said in a statement that the awards recognize “exemplary members and allies of the Black LGBTQ community who have demonstrated true dedication to uplifting and advancing the community.”
The awards were scheduled to be presented at a 6 p.m. reception on Wednesday, July 21, at The Park at 14th nightclub located at 920 14th St., N.W. in D.C. The group’s statement says $10 admission tickets for the event could be purchased at dcblackpride.org/Reception.
The Center for Black Equity describes itself as a “global network of LGBTQ individuals, allies, community-based organizations and Pride organizations dedicated to achieving equality and social justice for the Black LGBTQ community through health equity, economic equity and social equity.”
The organization evolved from the group that founded D.C.’s first Black Pride event in 1990, which has led to the founding of annual Black LGBTQ Pride events throughout the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Brazil, Africa, and the Caribbean, according to the group’s July 19 statement announcing the 2021 Black Pride Awards recipients, who are listed here:
• DeMarc Hickson, Ph.D., Executive Director of the D.C.-based LGBTQ organization Us Helping Us; Welmore Cook Award
• Angela Brown, Casa Ruby official; Welmore Cook Award
• Ernest Hopkins, longtime LGBTQ rights advocate and Director of Legislative Affairs, San Francisco AIDS Foundation; Ernest Hopkins Award
• Stephaun Wallace, Ph.D., nationally recognized research epidemiologist, public health, business consultant and social justice advocate; President’s Award
• J. Channing Wickham, Executive Director, Washington AIDS Partnership and longtime advocate for HIV/AIDS advocacy program; Curtis L. Etherly Jr. Ally Award
• TAG: The Alliance Group at the University of the District of Columbia; D.C. Black Pride Leadership Award
• Greg Evans Real Estate Group; D.C. Black Pride Small Business Award
• Charmaine Eccles, longtime D.C. area transgender rights advocate who serves on the staff of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; Earline Budd Award
• D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine; Eleanor Holmes Norton Award
• Courtney Baker-Oliver III, Artistic Director of Restoration State, Inc., an independent theater production company; Alan Sharpe Award
• Bishop Kwabena Rainey Cheeks, founder of D.C.’s Inner Light Unity Fellowship Church and current Bishop and Spiritual Director at the D.C. National Spiritual Science Center; Bishop Kwabena Rainey Cheeks Award
• Jaye Wynn; Charlotte Smallwood Volunteer of the Year Award
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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