Arts & Entertainment
DC Black Pride to return in-person this year
‘Bigger. Bolder. The original is back.’
Since 1991, Black LGBTQ people and their allies have flocked to the streets of D.C. during Memorial Day Weekend to celebrate the beauty of the Black LGBTQ community and to raise awareness and funding to combat HIV/AIDS. Now, after a two-year hiatus triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s Black Pride has returned with a focus on creating community.
“This is really the place to be if you’re Black and queer in D.C.,” said Kenya Hutton, deputy director for the Center for Black Equity, an LGBTQ advocacy organization that plans the event. Hutton has been involved in planning DC Black Pride for the past 13 years.
“There is a heavy buzz early on about Black Pride [this year],” he said.
This year’s events will run for four days, and will attract both a local and international audience including LGBTQ advocates from England, France, and Ghana.
“We have two members from the House of Garcon coming in from Paris,” said Hutton. “A lot of international people are coming to D.C., and after a two-year hiatus, the hunger to be back [is there].”
The weekend will commence with an opening reception on Friday, May 27 at 5 p.m. at the Renaissance Washington D.C. The event, also presented by Impulse DC and Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc., will feature live performances by Queen Diva Big Freedia and Atlantic Recording artist Tai’aysha. There will also be special appearances by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and other guests who will be announced at the event. The event is free — registration is available on Eventbrite— and also includes two drink tickets.
Other events to look out for during DC Black Pride include kickoff events such as the Unity Ball on Thursday, May 25 at 9 p.m. at Karma DC hosted by commentator Kirk “Boom” Balenciaga, with music performances by DJ Tony Play, and the official Saturday night main event— “The White Party”— which will feature a performance by rapper and social media star Saucy Santana on Saturday, May 28 at 10 p.m. at Echostage.
In addition to the celebratory events, there will also be workshops focusing on a myriad of topics such as LGBTQ health, diversity, body positivity, and a writer’s forum.
The Black Pride Wellness Suite Open will be on Friday, May 27 at 2 p.m. at Renaissance Washington DC. The event, sponsored by DC Health, will provide HIV and full panel STD testing, safer sex kits and harm reduction supplies, and same-day PrEP initiation and PEP to those eligible.
“Becoming You: The Body Positivity Workshop” will be on Saturday, May 28 at 11 a.m. at Renaissance Washington DC. The workshop will be hosted by Tonka Garcon, from the HBO hit show “Legendary,” who will guide attendees on how to build self-confidence, love, and appreciation “without feeling left out.”
The writer’s forum will be on Saturday, May 28 at 2 p.m. and will be hosted by author James Earl Hardy who has written books such as “Men of the House” and “B-Boy Blues.”
Given that DC Black Pride will take place with the backdrop of the May 14 Buffalo, N.Y., shooting and other recent incidents in D.C. as well, the Center for Black Equity has boosted its security measures to ensure that attendees are safe.
“We are working closely with the Maryland Police Department [and] one of their officers will walk through an active shooter training [with our staff],” said Hutton.
Hutton added that because the pandemic took away the Black LGBTQ community’s ability to gather for two years, it is essential that guests leave the event feeling a sense of belonging.
“This is home. This is where it starts. This is our culture,” he said. “DC Black Pride is always home for queer people.”
Studies report that the pandemic disproportionately affected LGBTQ individuals’ mental health.
LGBTQ people faced mental health and substance abuse problems at higher rates than their non-LGBTQ peers due to lower incomes, fewer work opportunities and a lack of access to adequate healthcare, according to 2021 health analyses by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Other studies also show that 16% of Black people reported having a mental illness, and 26% of people who reported a severe mental illness over the past year are men, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
To bring to light the importance of mental health and wellness in the LGBTQ community, other organizations such as D.C. nonprofit group Us Helping Us will host events “to understand the complex issues of intersectionality that Black, gay, transgender, and bisexual men face.”
Us Helping Us will host “Pride Festival in Park” on Monday, May 30 at 12 p.m. at Ford Dupont Park. The organization works to improve the health and well-being of Black men with HIV and AIDS, and will partner with Amerigroup DC for Monday’s event.
“Every day, we see the impact our mental health services have on our clients, whether it be through individual appointments with our therapists or counselors or our support groups,” said DeMarc A. Hickson, the nonprofit’s executive director in a press release. “Mental health is critical to keeping our clients healthy physically.”
Sports
New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
New regulation to be in effect at 2028 summer games in Los Angeles
The International Olympic Committee on Thursday announced it will not allow transgender women from competing in female events at the Olympics.
“For all disciplines on the Sports Program of an IOC event, including individual and team sports, eligibility for any Female Category is limited to biological females,” reads the new policy.
The policy states “eligibility for the Female Category is to be determined in the first instance by SRY Gene screening to detect the absence or presence of the SRY Gene.”
“On the basis of the scientific evidence, the IOC considers that the SRY (sex-determining Region Y) Gene is fixed throughout life and represents highly accurate evidence that an athlete has experienced or will experience male sex development,” it reads. “Furthermore, the IOC considers that SRY Gene screening via saliva, cheek swab or blood sample is unintrusive compared to other possible methods. Athletes who screen negative for the SRY gene permanently satisfy this policy’s eligibility criteria for competition in the Female Category.”
The policy states the test “will be a once-in-a-lifetime test” unless “there is reason to believe a negative reading is in error.”
The new regulation will be in place for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I understand that this a very sensitive topic,” said IOC President Kirsty Coventry on Thursday in a video. “As a former athlete, I passionately believe in the rights of all Olympians to take part in fair competition.”
“The policy that we have announced is based on science and it has been led by medical experts with the best interests of athletes at its heart. The scientific evidence is very clear: male chromosomes give performance advances in sport that rely on strength, power, or endurance,” she added. “At the Olympic Games, even the smallest margins can be the difference between victory and defeat. So, it is absolutely clear that it would not be fair for biological males to compete in the female category. In addition, in some sports it would simply not be safe.”
(Video courtesy of the IOC)
Laurel Hubbard, a weightlifter from New Zealand, in 2021 became the first trans woman to compete at the Olympics.
Imane Khelif, an Algerian boxer, won a gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. Khelif later sued JK Rowling and Elon Musk for cyberstalking after they questioned her gender identity.
Ellis Lundholm, a mogul skier from Sweden, this year became the first openly trans athlete to compete in any Winter Olympics when he participated in Milan Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.
President Donald Trump in February 2025 issued an executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams in the U.S.
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee last July banned trans women from competing in female sporting events. Republican lawmakers have demanded the IOC ban trans athletes from women’s athletic competitions.
“I’m grateful the Olympics finally embraced the common sense policy that women’s sports are for women, not for men,” said U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on X.
An IOC spokesperson on Thursday referred the Washington Blade to the press release that announced the new policy.
a&e features
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition—they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation.
This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
Torchbearers Awards Advisory Board: Aditi Hardikar, Lesley Bryant, Jasmine Wilson-Bryant, Stephen Rutgers
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
- Representative Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives - Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream - Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent - Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC - Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency - Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker/ Former Executive Director of Just Vision - Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry - Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine - Queen Adesuyi (she/they)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice - Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives) - Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Jenny Nguyen (she/her)
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra - Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer - Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital - Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space - Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Co-Founder & President, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Diana Rodriques (she/her)
— Co-Founder & CEO, Pride Live (Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center) - Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women - Toya Matthews (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas - Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader - Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader - Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation - Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle - Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
- Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau - Cassandra Cantave Burton (she/her)
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP - leigh h. mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography - Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University - Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation - AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Deputy Executive Director, ACLU - RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart - Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign - Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group - Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame - Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction) - Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Formerly of Voto Latino - Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade - Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer - Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures - Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association - Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Coalition - Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted - Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies - Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter - Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington - Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit - Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio - Erika Lorshbough (any/they/she)
— Executive Director, interACT - J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
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D.C. goes gaga for Gaga
Bisexual icon brought ‘The Mayhem Ball’ tour to Washington this week
Lady Gaga this week took D.C. by storm.
The bisexual icon and LGBTQ rights champion brought “The Mayhem Ball” tour to Capital One Arena on Monday and Tuesday.
“Abracadabra,” “Paparazzi,” “Applause,” and “Bad Romance” are among the songs Lady Gaga performed during the 2 1/2-hour long concert. Lady Gaga also celebrated her many queer fans.
“You are precious to us,” she said on Tuesday night before she performed “Born This Way.”
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New IOC policy bans trans women from Olympics
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