District of Columbia
Thousands turn out for D.C. Pride parade
Contingents reflect full diversity of LGBTQ community and allies
At the intersection of 17th and P streets, N.W., the sidewalks were jam-packed with people – adults and many children – on Saturday waving small rainbow flags and cheering as a large contingent of LGBTQ parents and their children walked past the crowd.
They were members of the group Rainbow Families who were among the more than 200 contingents that joined D.C.’s Capital Pride Parade on June 11. Some of the children in the contingent jumped up and down waving small, hand-held rainbow flags under the watchful eyes of their moms and dads.
The Rainbow Families contingent and the PFLAG DC LGBTQ parents contingent marched past the bustling 17th and P intersection, turning onto P Street en route to Dupont Circle about an hour after about a dozen women on motorcycles rode by as part of the LGBTQ Outriders Women’s Motorcycle Club contingent.
The Outriders were the first of the parade contingents to arrive at the 17th and P location. Historically, lesbian motorcyclists, including the famous Dykes on Bikes in past years, have been given the honor of being the very first contingent in D.C.’s Capital Pride Parade as well as in Pride parades in other cities.
Immediately after the Outriders group came a contingent of gay leather clad men riding on their own motorcycles, drawing cheers from the crowd of onlookers.
In the more than three hours that followed, a wide range of other contingents marched, rode in small vehicles, or rode on large floats along the parade route that began at 14th and T Streets, N.W., traveled south along 14th Street to Road Island and Massachusetts Avenues to the 17th and P location before traveling around Dupont Circle to the parade’s end point at 22nd and P Street, N.W.
Among the varied contingents were employees and directors of several D.C. government agencies and departments, including the Department of Health, the Department of Human Services, and the D.C. Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services, one of whose employees drove by in a large, bright red fire truck.
Many of the contingents represented some of the nation’s most prominent corporations providing both business and customer services. Among them was Marriott International, Inc., the mega hotel chain that acted as the Capital Pride Parade’s lead sponsor.
Others included Amazon, Macy’s, MGM National Harbor, Mastercard and VISA, McDonald’s Restaurants, GEICO auto insurance, Verizon, Walmart, PNC Bank, Dollar Tree & Family Dollar Stores, and United Airlines among many others.
Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s Pride events, including the parade, has come under criticism from some activists, who say Pride parades and festivals in D.C. and other cities have become dominated by corporations and other businesses. Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance executive director, has said corporate sponsors, which have been longtime supporters of LGBTQ equality, have made it possible for nonprofit groups like Capital Pride to pay for large events like parades and street festivals.
The crowds lining the streets along the Capital Pride Parade route cheered loudly as many of the corporate contingents walked and rode on floats past them. According to Bos, the corporate parade contingents consist almost entirely of LGBTQ employees and managers at the various corporations. Many of them waved rainbow flags and blew kisses at the crowd as they marched in the parade.
This year’s D.C. Pride parade had a large number of international contingents, including staff and supporters of the embassies of Canada, Great Brittan, Ireland, Switzerland, and the Scandinavian nations. Also joining the parade was a large contingent of the European Union Delegation to the United States.
Bet Mishpachah, the local D.C.-area LGBTQ synagogue, and the LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity Washington were among the faith-based groups and churches that joined the parade. Others providing parade contingents included the Washington National Cathedral, Church of the Holy Comforter, Church of the Pilgrims, United Methodist Churches of the National Capital Area, and the group Churches United in Pride.
With the parade taking place less than two weeks before D.C.’s June 21 primary election, several of the candidates running for mayor, D.C. Council, and D.C. Attorney General marched in the parade with contingents of various sizes.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), who is running for re-election to a third term, appeared to have the largest of the candidate contingents, with about 100 mostly LGBTQ supporters marching behind her wearing bright green ‘Bowser’ T-shirts behind the banner of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At-Large), who is among three candidates challenging Bowser in the June 21 Democratic primary, marched in the parade with a contingent of about 50 or more supporters. Also joining the parade with smaller contingents were the other two mayoral candidates, D.C. Council member Trayon White (D-Ward 8) and community activist James Butler.
Among the other candidates joining the parade with sizable contingents were Salah Czapary, the gay former D.C. police officer running for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat, and gay D.C. school board president Zachary Parker, who is one of seven candidates running for the Ward 5 D.C. Council seat.
Other candidates who had contingents in the parade were D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and challenger Erin Palmer, D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), At-Large Council member Anita Bonds and her primary challengers Lisa Gore and Nate Fleming, At-Large Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At-Large), and D.C. Democratic Attorney General candidate Bruce Spiva.
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, who is not running for re-election, was among the D.C. public officials who marched in the parade.
Two Republican candidates, Giuseppe Niosi, who’s running for an At-Large Council seat, and David Krucoff, who’s running for the Ward 3 Council seat, marched in the parade. Both are running unopposed in the primary.
District of Columbia
LGBT exhibition at D.C.’s Capital Jewish Museum opens May 16
‘LGBT Jews in the Federal City’ arrives for WorldPride and beyond
The D.C. Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish Museum is opening a special exhibition called “LGBT Jews in the Federal City” on Friday, May 16, that will remain at the museum at 575 3rd St., N.W. until Jan. 4, 2026.
Museum officials have said they are pleased that the LGBT exhibition will be open concurrently with WorldPride 2025 D.C., which takes place May 17-June 8. The exhibition also takes place during Jewish American Heritage Month in May and during LGBTQ Pride Month in June, the museum points out in a statement.
“This landmark exhibition explores a turbulent century of celebration, activism, and change in the nation’s capital led by D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Jewish community,” the museum statement says. “This is a local story with national resonance, turning the spotlight on Washington, D.C. to show the city’s vast impact on LGBTQ+ history and culture in the United States.”
LGBT Jews in the Federal City includes “more than 100 artifacts and photographs representing the DMV region’s Jewish LGBTQ+ celebrations, spaces, struggles, joys, and personal stories,” the stamen points out.
A pre-opening tour of the exhibition provided for the Washington Blade shows that among the displays are first-ever shown materials from Bet Mishpachah, D.C.’s LGBTQ supportive synagogue, which is the nation’s fourth-oldest LGBTQ friendly synagogue.
Also included is a prominent display about Barrett Brick, a longtime D.C. LGBT rights advocate and Jewish community leader who served as a board member and president of Bet Mishpachah in the 1980s and as executive director of the World Congress of Gay and Lesbian Jewish organizations from 1987 to 1992. Brick passed away following a 10-year battle with cancer in 2013.
Another display in the museum’s several rooms accommodating the exhibition includes the ability to listen to audio clips of local LGBTQ community members sharing in their own voices their oral histories provided by D.C.’s Rainbow History Project.
Other displays include campaign posters and photos of prominent gay rights icon Frank Kameny, who led efforts to end discrimination against LGBTQ people from the federal government; and a panel from the AIDS Memorial Quilt that includes the name of a prominent Jewish Washingtonian who died during the AIDS epidemic.
“Through prompts, questions, and thoughtful design throughout the exhibition, visitors will be encouraged to ponder new ways to understand Jewish teachings and values as they relate to gender and sexuality,” the museum’s statement says.
“After leaving the exhibition, visitors can contribute to the Museum’s collecting and storytelling by sharing photographs, personal archives, or by recording stories,” it says.
The museum is open for visitors to see the LGBT exhibition and other museum exhibits 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission to LGBT Jews in the Federal City is $12.
District of Columbia
Rainbow History Project WorldPride exhibition to open May 18
‘Pickets, Protests and Parades’ to be on display at Freedom Plaza
D.C.’s Rainbow History Project is scheduled to open its WorldPride 2025 exhibition called “Pickets, Protests, and Parades: The History of Gay Pride in Washington” on Sunday, May 18, in Freedom Plaza.
Located on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. between 13th and 14th streets less than three blocks from the White House, the exhibition will be open to the public free of charge for 24 hours through July 6.
The exhibition “will chronicle the local LGBTQ+ Pride movement and how the pickets and protests of the 1960s led to the vibrant celebrations of the 2020s,” a statement released by Rainbow History Project says.
The statement notes that the exhibition’s displays will include photos and information about a 1965 protest in front of the White House by 10 gay men and lesbians carrying picket signs in what is believed to be one of the city’s and possibly the nation’s first public demonstrations in support of the then homosexual community.
“The exhibition disrupts the popularly held belief that the LGBTQ+ rights movement began with the Stonewall Riots in 1969 in New York,” the statement points out. It says the 1965 gay protest outside the White House, which took place four years before Stonewall, represents “the start of D.C.’s rich queer history.”
“Covering 1965 to the present, the exhibition explores the history of Pride in D.C. in 10 distinct thematic eras,” according to the statement. “Large hero images around the perimeter will draw people into the exhibit to explore a timeline wall with historic quotes from Pride’s organizers. Each of the 10 eras are detailed in thematic cubes rich with history and visuals.”
The statement says Rainbow History Project is seeking community members to serve as Exhibit Monitors to assist in operating the display in four shifts each day and night to be compensated from between $80 and $100 per shift depending on the time of the shift.
Information about applying to become an exhibit monitor can be accessed at Rainbow History’s website.
District of Columbia
Jeanine Pirro has mixed record on LGBTQ rights in N.Y.
Trump pick for interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. under fire
Jeanine Pirro, the controversial Fox News host and commentator appointed by President Donald Trump on May 8 to become interim United States Attorney for the District of Columbia has a little-noticed record of partial support for gay rights while mostly opposing transgender rights.
She expressed support for gay rights during her tenure as a prosecutor and candidate for public office in New York State beginning in 2000, media reports show.
According to news media reports at that time in New York, Pirro actively supported the approval by the New York State Legislature of a hate crimes law that included sexual orientation as a protected class in 2000. Press reports show she also spoke out in support for anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people during her unsuccessful election campaign for State Attorney General in 2006.
Although she supported civil unions rather than legal marriage for same-sex couples, Pirro spoke out strongly against a proposed federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, press reports show. However, media reports also show she supported the federal Defense of Marriage Act passed by Congress, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
Reports show that in 2006 she acknowledged participating in both a Pride parade and a fundraising event organized by Log Cabin Republicans, the LGBTQ GOP group.
Other media reports show that Pirro called on the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to ban transgender women from competing in women’s sports
“Women are being condemned, disavowed, and erased by allowing transgender women to compete with biological women in sports,” she stated on one of her Fox News talk shows. “This is the ultimate elimination and subjugation of women in our society,” she stated on that show.
In his decision to appoint Pirro as Acting U.S. Attorney for D.C., which by law is a temporary position, Trump has not said whether he plans to nominate Pirro for the permanent D.C. U.S. Attorney position.
Trump’s decision to name Pirro as acting U.S. Attorney came after congressional Democrats as well as some Republicans made it clear they would not support Ed Martin, Trump’s earlier appointment as acting D.C. U.S. Attorney for the permanent U.S. Attorney position.
The Washington Post reports that congressional Democrats have raised strong concerns about Pirro’s ability to serve as D.C.’s U.S. Attorney based, among other things, on her controversial statements as a Fox News talk show host.
The Post reports that she was among the Republicans who disputed the 2020 presidential election results, noting she was named as one of the Fox News commentator defendants in a defamation lawsuit filed by a company producing voting machines that accused Pirro and others with making false statements that faulty voting machines played a role in Trump receiving fewer votes than he actually received when he lost to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.
Congressional Democrats are also raising questions about whether Pirro has sufficient experience to serve as U.S. Attorney based on her past role as three-term Westchester County, N.Y. District Attorney, the Post reports. The Democrats reportedly are claiming Pirro lacks experience as a prosecutor in federal cases, which the D.C. U.S. Attorney prosecutes as well as local D.C. cases.
Trump, in a social media post, called Pirro a “powerful crusader for victims of crime.” Several prominent Republican U.S. senators also expressed strong support for Pirro’s appointment.
“Jeanine Pirro has had a long and storied career as a prosecutor, and she is a great choice by [Trump] to serve as U.S. Attorney for D.C.,” the Post quoted Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) as saying.
Pirro served as a judge in Westchester County, which is a suburb of New York City, before being elected as the county’s district attorney in 1993. She held that position until 2005, when she announced her GOP candidacy for New York’s U.S. Senate seat held then by Democrat Hillary Clinton, which was up for election in 2006.
The Post and other media outlets report conservative Republican leaders pressured Pirro to drop out of the U.S. Senate race on grounds that her moderate positions on a number of issues, including her support for a woman’s right to choose an abortion, would alienate conservative voters.
After withdrawing her candidacy for the Senate, Pirro became a candidate for the New York State Attorney General’s position.
She won the GOP nomination for that position and emerged, according to political observers, as a true “moderate” Republican on issues including her support for LGBTQ rights protections in employment and LGBTQ-inclusive hate crimes laws. In November 2006 Pirro lost the election to Democrat Andrew Cuomo.
Among the issues that hurt her campaign, media reports show, was her former husband’s conviction in 2000 on federal conspiracy and tax evasion charges following his tenure as Trump’s real estate attorney.
He was sentenced to 29 years in prison but served just 11 years before Trump pardoned him at the end of the last year of Trump’s first term as president. According to media reports, Jeanine Pirro lobbied Trump to pardon her ex-husband.
Wikipedia reports that in 2013 Pirro interviewed on her talk show William Owens, an official with the anti-LGBTQ National Organization for Marriage, which opposed same-sex marriage. But the Wikipedia write-up doesn’t say whether Pirro expressed her own views on that subject during the interview.
However, Wikipedia reports that in 2021 Pirro attended Log Cabin Republicans’ Spirit of Lincoln Gala, the group’s largest annual fundraising event.
Andrew Minik, president of Log Cabin Republicans of D.C., said the LGBTQ GOP group strongly supports President Trump’s decision to appoint Pirro as interim U.S. Attorney for D.C.
“Judge Pirro is a longtime friend and ally of Log Cabin Republicans, a fierce advocate for law enforcement officers, and defender of the rule of law,” Minik told the Blade in a statement. “Her appointment marks a turning point in restoring order and ending the culture of leniency that has put D.C. residents at risk,” he said.
The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest national LGBTQ advocacy organization, considers Pirro’s appointment “a slap in the face of justice,” according to Brandon Wolf, the group’s national press secretary.
“Given her insulting comments about transgender people, the people of D.C. cannot count on Pirro to protect the rights of all of our residents and visitors,” Wolf said in a statement to the Blade.
“As U.S. Attorney, she would be responsible for prosecuting hate crimes and civil rights violations but based on her time as a Fox News talking head, she can be expected to advance the administration’s anti-LGBTQ+ agenda, including non-enforcement of critical civil rights protections,” Wolf said.
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Calendar: May 16-22
