District of Columbia
Catching up with the asexuals and aromantics of D.C.
Exploring identity and finding community
There was enough commotion in the sky at the Blossom Kite Festival that bees might have been pollinating the Washington Monument. I despaired of quickly finding the Asexuals and Aromantics of the Mid-Atlantic—I couldn’t make out a single asexual flag among the kites up above. I thought to myself that if it had been the Homosexuals of the Mid-Atlantic I would’ve had my gaydar to rely on. Was there even such a thing as ace-dar?
As it turned out, the asexual kite the group had meant to fly was a little too pesky to pilot. “Have you ever used a stunt kite?” Bonnie, the event organizer asked me. “I bought one. It looked really cool. But I can’t make it work.” She sighed. “I can’t get the thing six feet off the ground.” The group hardly seemed to care. There was caramel popcorn and cookies, board games and head massages, a game of charades with more than its fair share of Pokémon. The kites up above might as well have been a coincidental sideshow. Nearly two dozen folks filtered in and out of the picnic throughout the course of the day.
But I counted myself lucky that Bonnie picked me out of the crowd. If there’s such a thing as ace-dar, it eludes asexuals too. The online forum for all matters asexual, AVEN, or the Asexual Visibility and Education Network, is filled with laments: “I don’t think it’s possible.” “Dude, I wish I had an ace-dar.” “If it exists, I don’t have it.” “I think this is just like a broken clock is right twice a day type thing.” What seems to be a more common experience is meeting someone you just click with—only to find out later that they’re asexual. A few of the folks I met described how close childhood friends of theirs likewise came out in adulthood, a phenomenon that will be familiar to many queer people. But it is all the more astounding for asexuals to find each other this way, given that asexual people constitute 1.7% of sexual minorities in America, and so merely .1% of the population at large.
To help other asexuals identify you out in the world, some folks wear a black ring on their middle finger, much as an earring on the right ear used to signify homosexuality in a less welcoming era. The only problem? The swinger community—with its definite non-asexuality—has also adopted the signal. “It’s still a thing,” said Emily Karp. “So some people wear their ace rings just to the ace meet-ups.” Karp has been the primary coordinator for the Asexuals and Aromantics of the Mid-Atlantic (AAMA) since 2021, and a member of the meet-up for a decade. She clicked with the group immediately. After showing up for a Fourth of July potluck in the mid-afternoon, she ended up staying past midnight. “We played Cards against Humanity, which was a very, very fun thing to do. It’s funny in a way that’s different than if we were playing with people that weren’t ace. Some of the cards are implying, like, the person would be motivated by sex in a way that’s absurd, because we know they aren’t.”
Where so many social organizations withered during the pandemic, the AAMA flourished. Today, it boasts almost 2,000 members on meetup.com. Karp hypothesized that all the social isolation gave people copious time to reflect on themselves, and that the ease of meeting up online made it convenient as a way for people to explore their sexual identity and find community. Online events continue to make up about a third of the group’s meet-ups. The format allows people to participate who live farther out from D.C. And it allows people to participate at their preferred level of comfort: while many people participate much as they would at an in-person event, some prefer to watch anonymously, video feed off. Others prefer to participate in the chat box, though not in spoken conversation.
A recent online event was organized for a discussion of Rhaina Cohen’s book, “The Other Significant Others,” published in February. Cohen’s book discusses friendship as an alternative model for “significant others,” apart from the romantic model that is presupposed to be both the center and goal of people’s lives. The AAMA group received the book with enthusiasm. “It literally re-wired my brain,” as one person put it. People discussed the importance of friendship to their lives, and their difficulties in a world that de-prioritized friendship. “I can break up with a friend over text, and we don’t owe each other a conversation,” one said. But there was some disagreement when it came to the book’s discussion of romantic relationships. “It relegates ace relationships to the ‘friend’ or ‘platonic’ category, to the normie-reader,” one person wrote in the chat. “Our whole ace point is that we can have equivalent life relationships to allo people, simply without sex.” (“Allo” is shorthand for allosexual or alloromantic, people who do experience sexual or romantic attraction.)
The folks of the AAMA do not share a consensus on the importance of romantic relationships to their lives. Some asexuals identify as aromantic, some don’t. And some aromantics don’t identify as asexual, either. The “Aromantic” in the title of the group is a relatively recent addition. In 2017, the group underwent a number of big changes. The group was marching for the first time in D.C. Pride, participating in the LGBTQ Creating Change conference, and developing a separate advocacy and activism arm. Moreover, the group had become large enough that discussions were opened up into forming separate chapters for D.C., Central Virginia, and Baltimore. During those discussions, the group leadership realized that aromantic people who also identified as allosexual didn’t really have a space to call their own. “We were thinking it would be good to probably change the name of the Meetup group,” Emily said. “But we were not 100% sure. Because [there were] like 1,000 people in the group, and they’re all aces, and it’s like, ‘Do you really want to add a non-ace person?’” The group leadership decided to err on the side of inclusion. “You know, being less gatekeep-y was better. It gave them a place to go — because there was nowhere else to go.”
The DC LGBT Center now sponsors a support group for both asexuals and aromantics, but it was formed just a short while ago, in 2022. The founder of the group originally sought out the center’s bisexual support group, since they didn’t have any resources for ace folks. “The organizer said, you know what, why don’t we just start an ace/aro group? Like, why don’t we just do it?” He laughed. “I was impressed with the turnout, the first call. It’s almost like we tapped into, like, a dam. You poke a hole in the dam, and the water just rushes out.” The group has a great deal of overlap with the AAMA, but it is often a person’s first point of contact with the asexual and aromantic community in D.C., especially since the group focuses on exploring what it means to be asexual. Someone new shows up at almost every meeting. “And I’m so grateful that I did,” one member said. “I kind of showed up and just trauma dumped, and everyone was really supportive.”
Since the ace and aro community is so small, even within the broader queer community, ace and aro folks often go unrecognized. To the chagrin of many, the White House will write up fact sheets about the LGBTQI+ community, which is odd, given that when the “I” is added to the acronym, the “A” is usually added too. OKCupid has 22 genders and 12 orientations on its dating website, but “aromantic” is not one of them — presumably because aromantic people don’t want anything out of dating. And since asexuality and aromanticism are defined by the absence of things, it can seem to others like ace and aro people are ‘missing something.’ One member of the LGBT center support group had an interesting response. “The space is filled by… whatever else!” they said. “We’re not doing a relationship ‘without that thing.’ We’re doing a full scale relationship — as it makes sense to us.”
CJ Higgins is a postdoctoral fellow with the Alexander Grass Humanities Institute at Johns Hopkins University.
District of Columbia
Man arrested for destroying D.C. Pride decorations, spray painting hate message
Prosecutors initially did not list offense as hate crime before adding ‘bias’ designation
D.C. police this week announced they have arrested a Maryland man on charges of Destruction of Property and Defacing Private Property for allegedly pulling down and ripping apart rainbow colored cloth Pride ornaments on light poles next to Dupont Circle Park on June 2.
In a June 10 statement police said the suspect, identified as Michel Isaiah Webb, Jr., 30, also allegedly spray painted an anti-LGBTQ message on the window of a private residence in the city’s Southwest waterfront neighborhood two days later on June 4.
An affidavit in support of the arrest filed by police in D.C. Superior Court on June 9 says Web was captured on a video surveillance camera spray painting the message “Fuck the LGBT+ ABC!” and “God is Real.” The affidavit does not say what Webb intended the letters “ABC” to stand for.
“Detectives located video and photos in both offenses and worked to identify the suspect,” the police statement says. “On Sunday, June 8, 2025, First District officers familiar with these offenses observed the suspect in Navy Yard and made an arrest without incident.”
The statement continues: “As a result of the detectives investigation, 30-year-old Michael Isaiah Webb, Jr. of Landover, Md. was charged with Destruction of Property and Defacing Private Property.”
It concludes by saying, “The Metropolitan Police Department is investigating this case as potentially being motivated by hate or bias. The designation can be changed at any point as the investigation proceeds, and more information is gathered. A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
The online D.C. Superior Court docket for the case shows that prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for D.C. charged Webb with just one offense – Defacing Public or Private Property.
The charging document first filed by prosecutors on June 9, which says the offense was committed on June 4, declares that Webb “willfully and wantonly wrote, marked, drew, and painted a word, sign, or figure upon property, that is window(s), without the consent of Austin Mellor, the owner and the person lawfully in charge thereof.”
But the initial charging document did not designate the offense as a hate crime or bias motivated crime as suggested by D.C. police as a possible hate crime.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office on Tuesday didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for an explanation of why the office did not designate the offense as a hate crime and why it did not charge Webb in court with the second charge filed by D.C. police of destruction of Property for allegedly destroying the Pride decorations at Dupont Circle.
However, at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11, the spokesperson sent the Washington Blade a copy of an “amended” criminal charge against Webb by the U..S. Attorney’s office that designates the offense as a hate crime. Court records show the amended charge was filed in court at 10:18 a.m. on June 11.
The revised charge now states that the criminal act “demonstrated the prejudice of Michael Webb based on sexual orientation (bias-related crime): Defacing Public or Private Property” in violation of the D.C. criminal code.
The U.S. Attorney’s spokesperson, Patricia Hartman, did not provide an explanation of why the U.S. Attorney’s office is not prosecuting Webb for the Destruction of Property charge filed by D.C. police for the destruction of Pride decorations at Dupont Circle.
The online public court records show that at a June 9 court arraignment Webb pleaded not guilty and Superior Court Judge Robert J. Hildum released him while awaiting trial while issuing a stay-away order. The public court records do not include a copy of the stay-away order. The judge also ordered Webb to return to court for a June 24 status hearing, the records show.
The arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police says at the time of his arrest, Webb waived his right to remain silent. It says he claimed he knew nothing at all about the offenses he was charged with.
“However, Defendant 1 stated something to the effect of, ‘It’s not a violent crime’ several times during the interview” with detectives, according to the affidavit.
The charge filed against him by prosecutors of Defacing Public or Private Property is a misdemeanor that carries a possible maximum penalty of 180 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000.
District of Columbia
D.C. police investigating threat of shooting at WorldPride festival
Police chief says weekend was ‘success without incident’
D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith said at a June 9 press conference that police investigators are looking for a man who reportedly threatened to “shoot up” the WordPride festival on Sunday, June 8, inside the fence-enclosed festival grounds.
Smith, who joined D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser at the press conference to discuss public safety issues, said aside from the shooting threat, WorldPride events took place “without an incident’ and called WorldPride 2025 D.C. a success.
“I think last evening at the festival footprint there was an individual inside the festival who said there was an individual who was there and that they were going to shoot up the place in some terminology they used,” Smith told news media reporters.
“As you know, the event went off without incident,” she said. “We did have appropriate resources down there to address it. We did put out a photo of the individual – white male. That’s all we have right now. But our team is working very diligently to find out who that individual is.”
Smith added that D.C. police made 15 arrests during the WorldPride weekend with at least 23 violent crimes that occurred across the city but which she said were not related to WorldPride.
“There was a lot going on,” she said. “But I’m so grateful we were able to have a WorldPride 2025 in this city that was very successful.”
In response to reporters’ questions, Bowser said she regretted that an incident of violence took place in Dupont Circle Park shortly after she persuaded the U.S. Park Service to reverse its earlier decision to close Dupont Circle Park during WorldPride weekend.
The mayor was referring to an incident early Saturday evening, June 7, in which two juveniles were stabbed inside the park following a fight, according to D.C. police. Police said the injuries were nonfatal.
Bowser noted that she agreed with community activists and nearby residents that Dupont Circle Park, which has been associated with LGBTQ events for many years, should not be closed during WorldPride.
Park Service officials have said their reason for closing the park was that acts of vandalism and violence had occurred there during past LGBTQ Pride weekends, even though LGBTQ Pride organizers have said the vandalism and violent acts were not associated with Pride events.
“I think if I were standing here this morning and we hadn’t opened up the park you would be asking me were there any requests for not pushing hard to have a D.C. park opened that’s important to the LGBT community during Pride,” Bowser told reporters.
“So, any time that there is harm to someone, and our responsibility, we regard it as our number one responsibility to keep the city safe and keep from harm’s way, certainly I have some regrets,” she said. “But I know I was working very hard to balance what our community was calling for with our preparations. And that was the decision I made,” she said, referring to her call to reopen Dupont Circle Park.
Bowser also noted that the National Park Service would not likely have agreed to reverse its decision to reopen Dupont Circle Park if an event had not been planned to take place there over the WorldPride weekend.
She was referring to a Saturday, June 7, D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation “DISCO” party in Dupont Circle Park, which took place after the decision to reopen the park.
“Step Outside, Feel The Beat, And Shine With Pride,” a flyer announcing the event states.
District of Columbia
WorldPride wraps up after epic weekend of events
Historic LGBTQ celebration brings color, music, activism to nation’s capital
After more than two years of preparation, thousands of volunteers, countless LGBTQ community members and allies, queer celebrities, and hundreds of events across the District, WorldPride in Washington has come to a close.
“It has been an extremely powerful three weeks,” Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, told the Blade on Sunday at the International March on Washington for Freedom. “This weekend has been well above expectations in relation to the energy and the crowds.”
WorldPride celebrations were set to kick off on May 31 with Shakira’s “Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour,” but following reports of stage issues, the Colombian superstar canceled her D.C. show — and her Boston stop the day prior.
The festivities got into full swing on June 4 with the 2025 Human Rights Conference. Held at the J.W. Marriott, the three-day gathering brought together more than 800 attendees, including Jessica Stern, Spanish Sen. Carla Antonelli, Peruvian Congresswoman Susel Paredes, and Mariann Edgar Budde of the Washington National Cathedral.
Following the conference, Capital Pride hosted the annual Capital Pride Honors and Gala, recognizing outstanding figures in LGBTQ advocacy. Honorees included Cathy Renna, Jerry St. Louis, Ernest Hopkins, Lamar Braithwaite, Rev. Dr. Donna Claycomb Sokol, Kriston Pumphrey, Gia Martinez, Kraig Williams, and SMYAL.
As the week went on, the tone shifted from formal to festive. Venues across the city filled with partygoers draped in glitter and rainbows, dancing and celebrating love in all forms. From the 17th Street Block Party and Full Bloom celebration to Kinetic’s dance events and the Pride on the Pier boat parade and fireworks (presented by the Washington Blade), nearly every corner of D.C. turned into a dancefloor. The Wharf was transformed into a Pride dance party on both Friday and Saturday nights for the Blade’s annual Pride on the Pier and culminated in the city’s only Pride fireworks display.
The annual Pride Parade was a standout. The nearly six-hour-long march drew hundreds of thousands to 14th Street, stretching toward the Capitol. A 1,000-foot rainbow flag led the way as parade grand marshals Renée Rapp and Laverne Cox waved to cheering crowds. Confetti, beads, condoms, and joy poured from elaborate floats.
The parade fed into the WorldPride Street Festival and Concert, which for the first time spanned two days. The festival featured hundreds of booths — from queer merch and leather vendors to nonprofit fundraisers — and drew thousands of LGBTQ attendees under sunny skies.
Evenings wrapped with free concerts headlined by LGBTQ talent and allies, including Cynthia Erivo and Doechii. Other crowd favorites included Khalid , David Archuleta, and Kristine W.
At the RFK Stadium grounds, the WorldPride Music Festival drew thousands for powerhouse performances by Troye Sivan, RuPaul, Kim Petras, and Renée Rapp. Under glowing rainbow lights, fans danced and sang through the night.
Despite security concerns, no major issues were reported, though a few minor incidents occurred.
One of the biggest pre-event concerns was safety for LGBTQ attendees amid rising anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and anti-trans policies from the Trump administration. Multiple countries issued travel warnings for trans and gender-nonconforming individuals visiting the U.S., but turnout — including trans folks and their allies — remained strong and visible throughout.
Another flashpoint was the temporary closure of Dupont Circle, a cornerstone of D.C.’s — and the nation’s — LGBTQ rights movement. The U.S. Park Service initially closed the park, citing the need to “secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presence” — despite the MPD chief’s request to keep it open. Strong public backlash led to a reversal, and soon the park was full of rainbow-clad LGBTQ people celebrating freely.
On Saturday night following the parade, two juveniles were stabbed in Dupont Circle. However, MPD later confirmed the incident was unrelated to WorldPride celebrations.
The weekend ended with the International Rally and March on Washington for Freedom. Hundreds of LGBTQ people and allies gathered at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to hear prominent activists speak on why Pride is still essential in 2025. Speakers called out rising hate and violence — and named Trump directly. As rain began to fall, the crowd only grew, marching from the Memorial to the Capitol, signs raised high, ending WorldPride as the first Pride began — as a protest.
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