District of Columbia
D.C. Black Pride celebration set for May 26-29
Wide range of indoor, outdoor events over Memorial Day Weekend
As many as 60,000 people from outside the D.C. area along with a large number of local participants were expected to attend D.C.’s LGBTQ Black Pride celebration and related events scheduled for May 26-29.
Like past years, most of the official D.C. Black Pride events will be held indoors at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel, according to Kenya Hutton, one of Black Pride’s lead organizers.
Hutton serves as deputy director of the Center for Black Equity, the D.C.-based national group that has organized D.C. Black Pride for the past decade or longer along with the group’s founder and CEO Earl Fowlkes.
“D.C. Black Pride is open to all, to everybody, regardless of race, age, gender, or sexual orientation,” Hutton told the Washington Blade. “Everyone is welcome.”
The official D.C. Black Pride schedule posted online includes as many as 38 events over Memorial Day Weekend, with a few unofficial events hosted by organizations in partnership with Black Pride taking place on Thursday, May 25.
The outdoor events, which are sponsored by partner venues, include Pride By the River Super Sunday at Anacostia Park on May 29 from 12-8 p.m., and Pride In The Park, at Fort Dupont Park on Monday, May 29, from 12-7 p.m.
Among the official events are nine “enrichment workshops” led by experts in a wide range of topics of interest to the black LGBTQ community as well as the LGBTQ community as a whole. Sutton said the workshops would take place on Saturday, May 27, at the Renaissance Washington D.C. Downtown, which serves as the Black Pride headquarters hotel.
Among them are an ONYX University workshop to explore “all things kink and BDSM,” a workshop called “Resources for LGBTQIA+ Veterans,” another called “Trans Town Hall,” and a “Faith In Blackness” panel discussion covering the topics of spirituality and theology.
Hutton said the workshops are free of charge and anyone is welcome to attend, although organizers would like those who are not registered in advance for Black Pride events to register at the welcome desk at the hotel where most Black Pride events will be held.
Also, like in recent past years, D.C. Black Pride is hosting what the schedule describes as its Rainbow Row of organization and vendor exhibitors. According to Hutton, the number of exhibitors hosting tables and booths at the host hotel will be greater than in previous years.
Also new this year, Hutton said, will be the presence of American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters at all the workshops as well as some of the other events, including the official Opening Reception scheduled for Friday from 6-9 p.m. at the Renaissance Hotel.
“Join us for the D.C. Black Pride Opening Reception Talent Showcase celebrating LGBTQ+ people of color and their artistic talents,” a write-up on the official schedule says. “Enjoy an evening of comedy, music and performances from talented members of our community,” it says. “This is a fantastic opportunity to connect with other LGBTQ+ people of color, celebrate diversity and support local artists.”
Hutton said D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser was scheduled to appear at the opening event to welcome those attending the 2023 D.C. Black Pride. Earlier this month, Bowser issued an official mayoral proclamation declaring May 22-29, 2023, as D.C. Black Pride Week.
As many as 60,000 people from outside the D.C. metro area were expected to attend this year’s D.C. Black Pride events based on pre-registration records, Hutton told the Blade. He said many have booked rooms at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel, and were expected to occupy most if not all of the hotel’s rooms during the weekend events associated with Black Pride.
This year’s D.C. Black Pride will mark the 32nd anniversary of the first D.C. Black Gay and Lesbian Pride event held May 25, 1991, on the grounds of Howard University’s Banneker Field.
That event was organized by veteran Black gay activists Welmore Cook, Theodore Kirkland and Ernest Hopkins, who modeled the event after a Memorial Day Weekend celebration and fundraiser for HIV/AIDS organizations providing services to the Black gay community held at the D.C. Black gay bar called The Clubhouse, which operated from 1975 to 1990.
The current D.C. Black Pride website says Cook, Kirkland, and Hopkins one year later, in 1991, organized the first D.C. Black Pride to continue the tradition started by the Clubhouse, which was known as the Children’s Hour celebration. The write-up says D.C. Black Pride expanded dramatically over the next decade and drew African-American and people of color participants from across the country and even from abroad.
“DC Black Pride was the catalyst for what is now regarded as the Black Pride movement,” the write-up says. “Since its birth, more than 50 other Black Pride celebrations now take place throughout the world, many using DC Black Pride as its model.”
One of the workshops at this year’s D.C. Black Pride called “An Homage to The Clubhouse” will celebrate the role that the iconic gay bar played in developing the “rich history and culture” that led to the founding of Black Pride celebrations in D.C. and worldwide, the Black Pride website write-up says. The workshop was scheduled to take place Saturday, May 21, from 3-6 p.m. at the Renaissance Washington hotel.
A full schedule of the weekend’s D.C. Black Pride events can be accessed at dcblackpride.org.
District of Columbia
Lewis George holds strong lead over McDuffie in D.C. mayor’s race
Gay Council member Parker wins in Ward 5; bi candidate leads in Ward 1
D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) was leading former D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie (D-At-Large) in the D.C. primary race for mayor late Tuesday night by a margin of 52.79 percent of the vote compared to 36.57 percent for McDuffie with 64 percent of the votes counted, according to information released by the D.C. Board of Elections at 11:55 p.m.
A Board of Elections spokesperson informed the media by email that the board had stopped its vote counting shortly before midnight and would resume its counting Wednesday morning, June 17.
The late-night returns showed Lewis George and McDuffie were far ahead of the other five candidates competing in the Democratic primary for mayor, with candidate Rini Sampath, who self-identifies as queer, receiving 2.93 percent of the vote.
Of the remaining Democratic mayoral candidates, former Council member Vincent Orange received 3.73 percent; businessman Gary Goodweather received 3.0 percent; and civic activists Hope Solomon, 1.09 percent; and Ernest Johnson 0.53 percent.
Election board spokesperson Sarah Graham noted in her email to the media that the initial vote percentages released Tuesday night were counted under the city’s newly implemented ranked choice voting system, which was in place for mayor, D.C. Council, D.C. congressional delegate, and D.C. attorney general. She said the follow-up “round-by-round tabulation results” when voters’ second, third, fourth and possibly fifth choices are counted under the ranked choice system, they are estimated to be released between Sunday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 24.
“The final round-by-round tabulation results will be released on or after June 26, 2026,” she stated. The ranked-choice system does not go into effect if a candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote.
Lewis George and McDuffie have strong records of support on LGBTQ issues, and Goodweather expressed strong support for LGBTQ issues during the campaign. The Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest LGBTQ political group, endorsed Lewis George for mayor.
Although the election board had yet to declare a winner in the mayor’s race, with 36 percent of the votes cast not yet counted, Lewis George delivered a rousing speech at her election-night event at the Howard Theatre that many of her supporters considered a victory speech. Among those attending the event and expressing the belief that Lewis George was the expected winner was Capital Stonewall Democrats President Stevie McCarty.
“There’s still a lot of votes to count, but I feel very confident and it looks really good,” he said in referring to Lewis George and the LGBTQ community members who supported her campaign.
Like the other races for D.C. Council, the D.C. congressional delegate seat, and D.C. attorney general, most if not all of the candidates had either expressed support for LGBTQ rights or had strong records of support, like McDuffie and Lewis George. LGBTQ activists have said that meant LGBTQ voters would be choosing a candidate based on issues other than LGBTQ rights issues.
In other races, D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member, was far ahead of two Democratic challengers, with 76.37 percent of the vote. Challengers Bernita Carmichael and Bridgete French received 15.28 percent and 7.57 percent respectively.
Political observers believe Parker is the strong favorite to win re-election in November against a Republican and a Statehood Green Party candidate.
In the Ward 1 D.C. Council race, where five LGBTQ supportive candidates were competing for the seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Brianne Nadeau, who is not running for re-election, community activist Aparna Raj, who identifies as bisexual, was leading gay candidate and LGBTQ rights activist Miguel Trindade Deramo by a margin of 46.7 percent to 20.27 percent in a five-candidate race.
The other candidates were Rashida Brown, 17,18 percent; Jackie Reyes Yanes, 9.98 percent; and Terry Lynch, 5.75 percent.
In the race for the D.C. delegate seat to the U.S. House of Representatives, which is being vacated by retiring Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At-Large) was leading in a five-candidate race with 63.16 percent of the vote. His leading opponent, D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) had 21.45 percent of the vote.
The vote count for the other candidates was 7.66 percent for Kinney Zalene; 4.55 percent of Trent Holbrook; and 2.8 percent for Greg Jaczko.
In other D.C. Council races Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and Council member Matthew Frumin (D-Ward 3) were unopposed in the Democratic primary and are considered strong favorites to win re-election in November.
Nine Democrats competed for the At-Large D.C. Council seat being vacated by Council member Anita Bonds (D), who is not seeking re-election. Community activist and local pharmacist Oye Owolewa, who was endorsed by Capital Stonewall Democrats, was leading in the Democratic primary with 33.77 percent of the vote.
The vote count percentage for the other candidates were: Lisa Raymond, 15.22; Kevin Chavous, 13.84; Greg Jackson, 10.95; Candis Nelson, 7.67; Dwight Davis, 6.02; Dyana Forester, 3.72; and Leniqua Jenkins, 3.0.
In the Ward 6 D.C. Council race, Democratic incumbent Charles Allen, a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter who received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement, was far ahead of his two Democratic challengers with 74.43 percent of the vote. Gloria Ann Nauden had 18.68 percent, and Michael Murph had 6.51 percent.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights who also received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement, had 90.34 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, with his sole opponent J.P. Szymkowicz receiving 9.15 percent.
In the special election to fill the At-Large Council seat that must go to a non-Democrat under the city’s Home Rule Charter, and which was vacated by McDuffie when he decided to run for mayor as a Democrat, former Council member Elissa Silverman was leading with 54.75 percent of the vote. Incumbent Council member Doni Crawford, who was temporarily appointed to the seat, was in second place with 34.81 percent of the vote. A third candidate, Jaque Patterson, had 19.27 percent. All three candidates ran as independents.
In the separate D.C. Republican and D.C. Statehood Green Party primaries held on June 16, all the offices for which a candidate from those two parties were on the ballot ran unopposed. No Republican candidate ran for D.C. mayor in the primary. With a large majority of D.C. voters being registered as Democrats, no Republican or Statehood Green Party candidate has won election to public office in D.C. for at least the past 10 years or longer. No known LGBTQ Republican or Statehood Green Party candidate was on the ballot in the June 16 primary.
District of Columbia
D.C. nude dance club Archibald’s to feature male strippers beginning Pride weekend
Popular downtown venue to debut new lower floor gay ‘underworld’
Archibald’s Gentlemen’s Club, which has offered adult entertainment in the nation’s capital involving nude female dancers since it first opened in 1969 at 1520 K St., N.W., will offer nude male dancers beginning Saturday night, June 20, according to co-owner Thom Naylor.
The female dancers will continue as usual on the upper two floors of Archibald’s three-story building, according to Naylor, who released a flier promoting the opening of the male dancer venue as an event “for Gay Pride.”
He told the Washington Blade he expects a dozen male dancers to perform beginning at 9 p.m. Saturday when D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride Parade will take place earlier in the day.
Following its opening night for the male dancers, Naylor said he plans to continue offering male nude dancers on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. The club is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
“I want to have an official Champagne grand opening probably in July,” he said referring to the male dance venue. “This is like a soft opening just to get going and to get everybody acclimated.”
The decision by Archibald’s to offer nude male dance entertainment for an LGBTQ clientele will mark the first time such entertainment will take place in D.C. since March 2020, when the LGBTQ nightclub Ziegfeld’s-Secrets, which featured nude male dancers, was forced to close at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The owner of the building at 1824 Half St., S.W., discontinued the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets lease a short time later to demolish the building and construct a high-rise residential condominium.
Naylor, who identifies as gay, said he has long believed nude male entertainment should be available in D.C. for a gay clientele as well as anyone else interested in that type of entertainment.
“So, we decided to go with three days in the summer and then come September go into a full swing when we’re open five days a week,” he said, referring to the male dancers.
District of Columbia
LGBTQ seniors honored at D.C. Silver Pride event
City officials, activists credit them with playing lead role in movement
About 250 people turned out on Friday, June 12, for D.C.’s annual Silver Pride celebration, which honors and recognizes LGBTQ seniors and their role in advancing LGBTQ rights.
The event was held in a large conference hall in the building of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, which was among the event’s sponsors
According to local event organizer and longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Rayceen Pendarvis, who served as host of the event, the D.C. Department of Aging and Community Living and the D.C.-based Seabury Resources for Aging, a nonprofit group that provides services and support for seniors, were the two lead organizers of this year’s Silver Pride.
In addition to presentations by several speakers, a DJ played music for dancing and two popular local drag performers — Shi-Queeta Lee and Capri Bloomingdale — performed at the event drawing loud applause.
Among the speakers were Japer Bowles, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; Jody Wright, a member of the board of the Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events; Craig McCullough, board chair of Seabury Resources for Aging; Jermaine Dillon, an official with the D.C. Department of Aging and Community Living; and Bianca Ward, an official with the ViiV Healthcare company, which was one of the sponsors of the event.
“It is a joy to be a senior in this community,” Pendarvis told the crowd in opening remarks at the event. “And every part of every Pride movement is built on the backs and the foundations of the elders,” she said.
“We have to have a day when we’re celebrated and we are honored and we are represented in our fullness,” Pendarvis told the Washington Blade. “Because sometimes unfortunately, various Prides forget about our elders. And we have to let them know that we’re here, we’re queer, and we ain’t going anywhere,” Pendarvis said.
“It is my distinct honor and privilege to be here among the elders,” Wright, the Capital Pride board member, told the gathering. “Because what we do at Capital Pride is because of what you’ve done and you continue to do, because we are standing on the shoulders of giants,” he said, in referring to LGBTQ seniors.
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