Local
D.C. Pride street fair, block party set for Oct. 17
Live entertainment planned; proof of vaccination required
Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride Parade and street festival, has announced it will hold the city’s first annual “Colorful Fest” LGBTQ Pride events on Oct. 17 that will include a Street Fair and Block Party.
The announcement, posted on the Capital Pride Alliance website, says the Street Fair will take place from 12-6 p.m. on 15th Street, N.W. between P and Q Streets.
The Block Party, according to the announcement, will take place from 12-8 p.m. at the Northwest corner of 15th and P streets, N.W. next to the site of the street fair.
“The Street Fair will feature small independent businesses, community groups, artisans, and food along 15th Street,” the Capital Pride announcement says. “The lively Block Party will include entertainment, an As You Are Bar pop-up, and dancing throughout the day for guests 21 and over,” says the announcement.
It says part of the Block Party will take place in the parking lot of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, which is acting as a host for the event.
“Join us as we once again celebrate our vibrant and colorful LGBTQ+ community!” the announcement says.
Facemasks will not be required during the outdoor events, the announcement adds. But it says, “only individuals with proof of vaccination may enter the Colorful Fest Block Party.” And according to the announcement, “Capital Pride Alliance staff, volunteers, performers, and vendors are required to show proof of vaccination to participate in the event.”
Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said the organization would issue a press release later this week officially announcing the Oct. 17 Colorful Fest events.
“This is the start of what we hope will become a new annual fall event,” Bos told the Washington Blade.
The announcement on the Capital Pride Alliance website says Nissan and Xfinity have signed on as the Colorful Fest’s lead sponsors. Other sponsors include Amazon, Booz Allen Hamilton, the Human Rights Campaign, CareFirst, Tito’s, Heineken, and Wegman’s.
The Oct. 17 events will follow by four months a June 12 Capital Pride Walk from Dupont Circle to Freedom Plaza in downtown D.C. in which Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, joined in an unannounced appearance. Harris became the first U.S. vice president to participate in an LGBTQ Pride event.
In addition to the Pride Walk, Capital Pride Alliance organized on that same day a small-scale Pride celebration at Freedom Plaza and a Pridemobile Parade in which about 50 vehicles decorated with Pride related signs and banners traveled through all four of the city’s quadrants.
The Pride Walk, Pridemobile Parade, and the Freedom Plaza gathering marked the first in-person, post-COVID Pride events in D.C. following the decision by Capital Pride to cancel all large in-person events in 2020 due to the city’s COVID restrictions.
In past years, prior to COVID, the Capital Pride Parade and street festival, which was held on Pennsylvania Avenue near the U.S. Capitol, drew over 250,000 people from the D.C. area and the mid-Atlantic region.
Capital Price Alliance’s decision to put on the Oct. 17 events comes at a time when LGBTQ Pride organizations in close to a dozen U.S. cities, including Annapolis, Baltimore, and Richmond, have cancelled or postponed planned in-person Pride events for the late summer or fall of 2021 due to COVID concerns.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser lifted the city’s restrictions on large outdoor events in May of this year, as the city’s COVID-19 cases declined significantly following a large-scale vaccination campaign. However, Bowser has said she and the city’s public health officials will be monitoring the recent uptick in COVID cases due to the Delta variant strain of the coronavirus. She said additional restrictions such as a limit on large outdoor gatherings could be put in place if the caseload rises.
District of Columbia
Brian Footer suspends campaign for Ward 1 D.C. Council seat
Race’s third LGBTQ candidate cites family reasons for ‘stepping back’
Gay Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Brian Footer, who was one of three out LGBTQ candidates running for the open Ward 1 D.C. Council seat in the city’s June 16, 2026, Democratic primary, announced on Dec. 17 he has decided to “suspend” his campaign to focus on his family.
“After deep reflection and honest conversations with my family, I have decided to suspend my campaign for the D.C. Council,” he said in a statement. “This moment in my life requires me to be present with the people I love most and honor the responsibilities I carry both at home and in the community,” he states. “This was not an easy decision, but it is the right one for me and my family at this time.”
Footer, a longtime Ward 1 community activist and LGBTQ rights advocate, announced his candidacy for the Ward 1 Council seat in July, one month before bisexual Ward 1 community activist Aparna Raj announced her candidacy for the Council seat on Aug. 12.
Gay Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Miguel Trindade Deramo announced his candidacy for the Ward 1 Council seat on Nov. 18, becoming the third out LGBTQ candidate in what appeared to be an unprecedented development for a race for a single D.C. Council seat.
At least three other candidates who are not LGBTQ are running for the Ward 1 Council seat. They include Ward 1 ANC member Rashida Brown, longtime Ward 1 community activist Terry Lynch, and Jackie Reyes-Yanes, the former director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs.
In his statement announcing the suspension of his candidacy, Footer said he would continue to be involved in community affairs and advocate for the issues he discussed during his campaign.
“I want to be clear: I am stepping back from the race, not the work,” he says in his statement. “Public service has always been my calling. I will continue advocating for affordability, for safer streets, for stability for small businesses, and for a government that responds to people with urgency and respect,” he wrote. “And I will continue showing up as a partner in the work of building a stronger Ward 1.”
Footer concluded by thanking and praising his campaign supporters and calling his campaign suspension a “transition,” suggesting he is not likely to resume his candidacy.
His campaign press spokesperson did not immediately respond to a question from the Washington Blade asking if Footer might later resume his campaign or if his latest action was in effect an end to his candidacy.
“To everyone who knocked on doors, hosted conversations, donated, shared encouragement, and believed in this campaign, thank you,” he says in his statement. “I am deeply grateful for every person who helped this campaign take root,” he added. “This isn’t an ending, it’s a transition. And I’m excited for the work ahead, both in Ward 1 and at home with my family.”
Longtime gay D.C. Democratic Party activist Peter Rosenstein said in a statement to the Blade, “I respect Brian Footer’s decision to end his campaign for Council. It is not easy to run a campaign in D.C. and there are many others running in Ward 1.” He added, “While not living in Ward 1, I thank Brian for all he has done and clearly will continue to do for the people in the ward.”
Local
LGBTQ, LGBTQ-friendly congregations to hold holiday services
Bet Mishpachah’s Hanukkah service to take place on Friday
LGBTQ and LGBTQ-friendly congregations in D.C. will hold services and other events throughout the holiday season.
Bet Mishpachah on Friday will hold its Sparks in the Dark Happy Hour at Spark Social on 14th Street from 5:30-7:30 p.m. It’s Chanuka Shabbat Service will begin at the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center (1529 16th St., N.W.) at 8 p.m.
Hanukkah began on Sunday and will end on Dec. 22.
Two gunmen on Sunday killed 15 people and injured more than two dozen others when they opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
Jake Singer-Beilin, Bet Mishpachah’s chief rabbi, in a Facebook post mourned the victims.
“We grieve for the victims and send heartfelt prayers of healing for those who were wounded,” he wrote.
“This Chanuka, our lights will shine brightly in the darkness, but our hearts will be heavy with mourning for those who were murdered on Bondi Beach while observing what should have been a joyous day,” added Singer-Beilin. “We will still celebrate our Festival of Lights and we will commit ourselves to illuminating and repairing our broken world. Let us channel the bravery of the Maccabees who found hope where there seemed to be none, and who fought to create a better future. We must do the same.”
LGBTQ Catholic group to hold annual Christmas Day Mass
Dignity Washington’s Christmas Day Mass will take place at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church (1820 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) on Dec. 25 from 6-7 p.m. Parishioners can attend in person or watch it online via Facebook.
The Metropolitan Community Church of Washington D.C.’s Christmas Eve service will take place at the church (474 Ridge St., N.W., on Dec. 24 at 6 p.m.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church (1517 18th St., N.W.) in Dupont Circle will hold its Christmas Eve Festival Eucharist from 5-6 p.m. A Christmas Eve dinner will take place in the Parish Hall from 6-8:30 p.m. The church’s Christmas Eve Festival Eucharist will occur on Dec. 25 from 10-11 a.m.
Washington National Cathedral throughout the holiday season has a number of services and events scheduled. These include the virtual Gospel Christmas Service on Dec. 21 from 6-7:30 p.m., the Family Christmas Service on Dec. 23 from 11 a.m. to noon, the Christmas Eve Festival Holy Eucharist on Dec. 24 from 10-11:45 p.m., and the Christmas Day Festival Holy Eucharist on Dec. 25 from 11:15 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
The Foundry United Methodist Church (1500 16th St., N.W.) in Dupont Circle will hold its Christmas Eve Family Service on Dec. 24 at 4:30 p.m. Its Carols and Candlelight Service will take place at 8 p.m.
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum to celebrate Kwanzaa
The Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum (1901 Fort Place S.E.) in Anacostia will mark the first day of Kwanzaa on Dec. 26 with storytelling and drumming with Mama Ayo and Baba Ras D from noon to 2 p.m. The museum will hold a series of other events through the 6-day celebration of African American culture that ends on Jan. 1.
The Creative Suitland Arts Center (4719 Silver Hill Road) in Suitland, Md., on Friday will hold their Almost Kwanzaa: A Creative Kind of Holiday event from 6-8:30 p.m.
Maryland
Joseline Peña-Melnyk elected Md. House speaker
Family immigrated to New York City from the Dominican Republic
By PAMELA WOOD | Moments after being elected speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Tuesday, state Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk stood before the chamber and contemplated her unlikely journey to that moment.
Born in the Dominican Republic, the Peña family lived in a small wooden house with a leaky tin roof and no indoor plumbing. Some days, she said, there was no food to eat.
When she was 8 years old, the family immigrated to New York City, where Peña-Melnyk was dubbed “abogadito” or “little lawyer” for helping her mother and others by translating at social services offices.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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