Arts & Entertainment
Saturday Pride parties
Events abound across the DMV to celebrate with the LGBTQ community

It’s Pride! This Saturday is packed with events across the District and beyond. Want to party with friends before, after or during the Capital Pride Parade? Here are some of our picks for things to do on Saturday to celebrate LGBTQ Pride.
Pride on the Pier & Fireworks Show

2-9 p.m.
9PM Fireworks Show presented by Leonard-Litz Foundation
The Wharf
Southwest Waterfront
General admission free! / VIP tickets for air-conditioned lounge available
Facebook | Eventbrite
The popular Pride Fireworks Show returns this year to The Wharf for the Pride on the Pier event hosted by the Ladies of LURe and the Washington Blade.
ReMIX: Capital Pride Official Saturday Party

9 p.m.-3 a.m.
City Winery
1350 Okie Street, N.E.
$45
Facebook | Tickets
The Capital Pride Alliance hosts its official mega party at City Winery on Saturday. Four parties are mashed into one huge event with Flashy, Cake, Pop Culture and Eagle’s Nest. Seven DJs including Chord, Farrah Flosscett, Mike Babbitt, Rosie Hicks, Sean McClafferty, Sean Morris TWiN and Cake the Drag Queen will provide entertainment. Tickets are almost sold out, with only the $45 tickets remaining as of this moment: so get them while you can!
Lambda Sci-Fi Pride Tabletop Gaming Party and Parade Viewing

2-11 p.m.
1425 S Street, N.W.
vaccination required
Facebook
Bring your favorite board games to the Lambda Sci-Fi party to join in on a night of gaming and fun. The group will pause to watch the Capital Pride Parade around 3 p.m. Bring $10 in exact change for pizza if you are hungry.
WERQ: DC Pride Party & Drag Show

3-6 p.m.
DC Brau Brewing Co.
3178 Bladensburg Road, N.E.
Suite B
$15-$150
Facebook | Eventbrite
Join the queens Crimsyn, Druex Sidora and Crystal Edge for a party at DC Brau. Admission includes one Pride Pilsner (with a portion of the proceeds going to SMYAL and the Blade Foundation).
Pride or Die Party

8 p.m.
Provision No. 14
2100 14th Street, N.W.
$30.80
21+
Facebook | Tickets
Join QROWD Events for a Pride or Die Party at Provision No. 14. “Be there with all your rainbow flair and dance the night away with your QROWD community.”
The Bear Cave

9 p.m. (Saturday) – 3 a.m. (Sunday)
Green Lantern
1335 Green Court, N.W.
No cover
Facebook
Join dancers Bruiser, Archie and Lumious and DJ Popperz for a night in The Bear Cave celebrating Pride at the Green Lantern.
Candela! Pride

8 p.m. (Saturday) – 3 a.m. (Sunday)
UPROAR Lounge & Restaurant
639 Florida Avenue, N.W.
No cover
21+
Facebook
Join Gaga L’Draga, Milenna Saint Cartier and Charlie Vega Sinclair for a Latinx and international party complete with drag and DJ Milko.
MIXTAPE Pride

9 p.m.
9:30 Club
815 V Street, N.W.
$20
21+
Facebook | Ticketmaster
Join DJs Matt Bailer, Keenan Orr, Tezrah, and LEMZ for an inclusive LGBTQ dance party.
Distrkt C Pride 2022

10 p.m. (Saturday) – 3:30 a.m. (Sunday)
Karma Live Music Venue
2221 Adams Place, N.E.
$40-$80
Facebook | Tickets
Inernational DJs Ana Paula and Ed Wood are joined by entertainers Rikk York, Killian Knox, Rob Montana, Jessie, Seth Santoro, Eddie Danger as well as surprise performers in this indoor/outdoor event. Tickets are selling out quickly, and the only tickets left are tier 2 and VIP tickets, so if you want to go, you should get your tickets now!
KINETIC: Pride DC Main Event

10 p.m. (Saturday) – 4 a.m. (Sunday)
Echostage
2135 Queens Chapel Road, N.E.
$40-$60
Facebook | Ticketmaster
RuPaul’s Drag Race alums Shangela and Jorgeous lead the festivities with DJs Joe Pacheco, Dan Slater and Ben Bakson providing the music to dance into the wee hours of the morning.
Flashy Afterhours Pride Edition

(Sunday) 3:30 a.m. – 9 a.m.
Flash
645 Florida Avenue, N.W.
$50-$60
Facebook | Eventbrite
Have the other parties ended, but you are still ready to dance? Go to Flashy Afters: Pride Weekend with Isaac Escalante and Nina Flowers!

Friday, July 11
“Center Aging Friday tea Time” will be at 2 p.m. in person at the DC Center for the LGBT Community’s new location at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more details, email [email protected].
Women in Their Twenties and Thirties will be at 8 p.m. on Zoom. This is a social discussion group for queer women in the Washington, D.C. area and a great way to make new friends and meet other queer women in a fun and friendly setting. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.
Go Gay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Happy Hour” at 7 p.m. at Firefly. This event is ideal for making new friends, professional networking, idea-sharing, and community building. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
Saturday, July 12
Go Gay DC will host “Family Fun Story Time” at 12 p.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. Join award-winning drag queen Tara Hoot for songs, stories, bubbles, puppets and dancing. It’s the feel-good event you didn’t know you needed. This event is perfect for kids and kids at heart. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
Miss Capital Pride will host “DC Drag brunch on Rooftop – Penthouse” at 12 p.m. at MXDC Cocina Mexicana. Guests will experience a Mexican brunch infused with Baby Shank’s signature dishes, complemented by delicious margaritas and mimosas, all within the beautiful and spacious atmosphere of MXDC. There will also be outstanding performances by glamorous drag queens and celebrated celebrity impersonators, featuring Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Nicki Minaj, Ariana Grande, Whitney Houston, Cher, and many more. Tickets cost $30.65 and are available on Eventbrite.
Sunday, July 13
The National Portrait Gallery will host “Stormé at Stonewall” at 1:30 p.m. This is a gallery talk with LJ Roberts and Charlotte Ickes. This exhibition is a light-box portrait of activist Stormé DeLarverie, who is said to have thrown the first brick at Stonewall—the uprising credited with launching the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in 1969. Roberts created this unconventional portrait in response to DeLarverie’s absence in mainstream narratives about the history of the Stonewall rebellion. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
Monday, July 14
“Center Aging Monday Coffee Klatch” will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more details, email [email protected].
Genderqueer DC will be at 7 p.m. in person at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This is a support group for people who identify outside of the gender binary, whether you’re bigender, agender, genderfluid, or just know that you’re not 100% cis. For more details, visit genderqueerdc.org or Facebook.
Tuesday, July 15
Center Bi+ Roundtable will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is an opportunity for people to gather in order to discuss issues related to bisexuality or as bi individuals in a private setting.Visit Facebook or Meetup for more information.
Wednesday, July 16
Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more information, email [email protected] or visit thedccenter.org/careers.
Thursday, July 17
The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5 p.m. if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email [email protected] or call 202-682-2245.
Virtual Yoga with Charles M. will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a free weekly class focusing on yoga, breath work, and meditation. For more details, visit the DC Center for the LGBT Community’s website.
Lit Lovers: Book Club for Seniors will be at 2 p.m. on Zoom. The book selection for July is “Rubyfruit Jungle” by Rita Mae Brown. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.
Poly Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is an inclusive, welcoming, virtual safer space to talk about all things polyamorous — the rapturous, the confused, the pure YIKES, we want to hear them all. For more details, email [email protected].
Television
ICYMI: ‘Overcompensating’ a surprisingly sweet queer treat
A sweet, savvy show about breaking free to embrace your true self

Pride month 2025 is now behind us, and while it’s safe to say that this year’s celebrations had a darker edge than usual, it’s also true that they came with a particularly rich bounty of new queer movies and shows to entertain us – so many, in fact, that even if we are facing a lull until the fall for another harvest of fresh content, there are still plenty of titles – which, for whatever reason, were off your radar – for you to catch up on in the meantime.
One of the most notable of these – the bingeworthy series “Overcompensating” (now streaming on Amazon Prime) – will most definitely have been on the radar for the plentiful fans of creator and star Benito Skinner, the actor/comedian who rose to viral fame through his content on platforms like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok; for anyone else, it might have easily slipped through the cracks.
Created and written by Skinner as a loosely autobiographical collegiate comedy, it aims for the kind of raucous, explicitly sexed-up tone one expects from that genre as it centers on Benny (Skinner), newly arrived as a freshman at prestigious Yates University. A former football jock and “golden boy” at his midwestern high school, he’s the picture of idealized youthful masculinity; he’s also deep in the closet, struggling to keep his sexuality hidden and maintain his macho “bro” image under the intense scrutiny of the college’s social scene – and under the resentful eye of his older sister Grace (Mary Beth Barone), who has already secured her own place at the top of the pecking order.
In the first episode, Benny’s difficulties are eased when he meets Carmen (Wally Baram), another freshman trying to navigate the politics of college life; a gamer from a home disrupted by tragedy, she’s an outsider who feels like she’s putting on an act, too, and they click – giving him the convenient cover of female companionship while providing them both with much-needed support and encouragement. He’s also befriended by a handsome film major from England (Rish Shah), who has already caught his eye, stirring up other kinds of feelings faster than you can say “no homo.” Meanwhile, he’s being courted by the school’s “exclusive secret society” – headed by his sister’s aggressively “alpha” boyfriend Pete (Adam DiMarco) – and trying to stay interested in his studies, despite a growing realization that a career in business doesn’t actually appeal to him all that much.
That’s a lot to juggle for anybody, even an overachiever like Benny – whose “lucky” life so far has largely been the result of playing a role he is finding increasingly hard to maintain; but as the series goes on through its eight-episode arc, it becomes clear that he’s not the only one who is “keeping up appearances,” and he is just one of many confused and damaged young people in his orbit, all facing the painful (but often hilarious) process of evolution that is required in order to become truly oneself.
Tailored for appeal to a youthful demographic, “Overcompensating” is the kind of show that requires a few episodes worth of invested time to make an impression that feels like substance. Full of the bawdy farcical antics that go hand in hand with stories about hormonally charged college kids, it’s not above leaning into the formulas and tropes that have always driven these kinds of comedies. At first, while its broadly comedic strokes and frequently explicit sexual hijinks might elicit plenty of chuckles, the show might easily feel tiresome for more mature audiences; there’s a nostalgic fun to it, made even more appealing, somehow, by the “political incorrectness” of its frequently sexist and homophobic humor, but for a while things may feel like an unnecessary attempt to reinvent “Animal House” for the Gen Z crowd.
By the time the season reaches its halfway point, however, things have started to get real. The antics of these horny almost-adults take on a more pointed absurdity, informed by the increasingly tangled web of defensive deceit they weave among themselves – and, as things draw toward a cliffhanger climax, the consequences of maintaining it – until it achieves a sense of empathy toward them all. There’s a wisdom that smacks of lived authenticity underlying the whole affair, transforming it from the “sexploitative” teen comedy of its surface into something deeper. Sure, things stay expectedly wacky, and the soap-operatic melodrama of its twists and reversals continue to maintain the show’s “mature YA” appeal; but beneath those trappings, by the end of the season a truer identity has begun to emerge, just as its characters have begun to find their own levels of self-actualization for themselves.
As creator, primary writer, and star, it’s obviously Skinner who deserves much of the credit. While it might be tempting, early on, to dismiss the show as an “ego project,” the internet-spawned sensation proves his talents quickly enough to get past such judgy skepticism, delivering a pitch-perfect blend of sauciness and sensitivity that extends its appeal toward both ends of the taste spectrum; just as crucially, he brings the same aforementioned “lived authenticity” to his winning performance – after all, he’s essentially playing himself in a fictionalized version of his own life – while also making sure that equal time (and compassion) is afforded all the other characters around him, each of whom are pushing at the boundaries of their own respective “closets,” too. It’s unavoidable to notice that – like most of his co-stars – he’s plainly a decade too old to be playing a college student; but by the time we reach that crucial halfway turning point, we’ve become too engaged by him to care.
The show is full of excellent performances, in fact. Relative newcomers Baram and Barone offer layers of complex nuance, while the more familiar DiMarco (“White Lotus”) is close to heartbreaking as the toxic BMOC clinging to the illusion of power as his life begins to unravel around him. Other standouts include the mononymic Holmes as Carmen’s “wild girl” roommate, solidly likable turns as Benny’s parents from mature veterans Connie Britten and Kyle MacLachlan (whose presence, along with stylish elements in several key scenes, hints at an homage-ish nod to the late David Lynch), and podcaster Owen Thiele as an openly gay fellow student who has Benny “clocked” from the moment they meet. Finally, Lukas Gage makes a deep and tender impression as a former high school teammate at the heart of Benny’s most haunting memory.
There’s no official word yet on whether “Overcompensating” will be renewed for a second season, despite the multiple loose ends left dangling at the end of its first; it has proven to be popular, and Skinner’s large fanbase makes it likely that the story will continue. Even if it doesn’t, the place of uncertainty in which it has left its characters rings true enough to serve as a satisfying endpoint.
As for us, we hope that won’t happen. For all its sophomoric humor, generic plot twists, and purposefully gratuitous sexual titillation, it’s one of the sweetest, kindest, and most savvy shows we’ve seen about breaking free from conformity to embrace your true self – and that’s a message that applies whether you’re queer, straight, or anywhere in between.
Photos
PHOTOS: Independence Day Weekend in Rehoboth
Wicked Green Pool Party, fireworks among festivities

Vacationers and residents alike enjoyed Independence Day Weekend activities in Rehoboth Beach, Del. The Wicked Green Pool Party drew hundreds to the CAMP Rehoboth fundraiser on Saturday. That evening, revelers went to the rooftops to watch the fireworks display.
(Washington Blade photos by Daniel Truitt)













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