District of Columbia
How will Trump impact D.C.’s plans for World Pride?
Organizers say events moving ahead as planned
Organizers of World Pride 2025, the international LGBTQ celebration scheduled to take place in Washington, D.C. May 17-June 8, 2025, say plans for the many events associated with World Pride are moving ahead without any signs of problems caused by the outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
Although many LGBTQ activists saw President-elect Donald Trump’s positions on LGBTQ rights as far less supportive than losing Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, LGBTQ Republicans point out that Trump did not take steps to oppose Pride events in the nation’s capital during his first term as president. As president-elect, Trump recently nominated Scott Bessent, who’s gay, as Treasury Secretary. If confirmed, Bessent would become the “highest-ranking openly gay U.S. government official in American history,” according to the Equality Forum, since the Treasury Secretary is fifth in the line of presidential succession.
Officials with the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes most of D.C.’s annual Pride events and that is playing a lead role in organizing World Pride 2025, note that World Pride is expected to draw more than two million visitors to D.C. and the events are being embraced by local businesses.
Theresa Belpulsi, senior vice president for Tourism and Visitor Services for Destination D.C., an organization that promotes tourism and business-related events in D.C. and that is working with Capital Pride Alliance to support World Pride, said the outcome of the presidential and congressional elections has so far not had a negative impact on World Pride.
“People are very excited about coming to D.C.,” she told the Washington Blade. “We’re looking at anywhere from two and three million people coming in over World Pride over the course of those three weekends that will be generating over $780 million in economic impact,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Trump presidential transition team couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether the president-elect has taken a position on World Pride 2025.
Charles Moran, president of the national LGBTQ organization Log Cabin Republicans, said he expects the incoming Trump administration to be supportive of World Pride.
“Donald Trump has consistently reinforced a policy platform bolstered by economic opportunity for people to improve their quality of life, and travel/tourism is one of America’s leading economic generators,” Moran told the Blade in a statement.
“Anyone who adheres to Donald Trump’s America First agenda would clearly welcome people from around the world – and even those who don’t support him – to visit America to celebrate World Pride, bolster our regional economy, and celebrate freedom with us in the most free place in the world to be gay,” Moran said.
Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance, said the organization fully agrees with reports by local business advocates that World Pride will have a positive economic impact on the D.C. area.
Among other things, Bos said his organization has submitted applications for permits with the U.S. National Park Service for use of the National Mall for World Pride events.
“With the event about six months away, we are fully moving ahead with planning the celebration that is expected to attract 2 million overnight visitors and an estimated $787 million in spending,” he told the Blade. “It is expected to take place on the National Mall but also throughout D.C. and its neighborhoods,” Bos said in referring to World Pride events.
Mike Litterst, a spokesperson for the National Park Service’s National Mall and Memorial Parks division, said the Park Service has received at least one permit application from Capital Pride Alliance for World Pride events.
He said that under longstanding Park Service policy, permits are approved based on the applicant’s ability to ensure “the preservation of park resources and the safety of all participants, park visitors, and community members.” According to Litterst, “It is a deliberate process that does not consider the content of the message presented.”
In the week following the U.S. presidential election, a few people, including some from Europe, posted messages on a World Pride 2025 Facebook page saying they would not come to D.C. for World Pride because of Trump’s election as president. Those messages were no longer on the World Pride Facebook page as of early in the week of Nov. 24.
LGBTQ rights advocates from D.C. are expected to point out that the locally elected D.C. government, including the mayor and City Council, have for many years and continue to be highly supportive of the LGBTQ community and are supportive of World Pride.
A full list of the World Pride 2025 events can be accessed at worldpridedc.org.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Mayor Bowser expected to attend March 20 event
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, and local and national Democratic Party officials are expected to join more than 150 LGBTQ advocates and supporters on March 20 for the 50th anniversary celebration of the city’s Capital Stonewall Democrats.
A statement released by the organization says the event is scheduled to be held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building at 702 8th St., N.W. in D.C.
“The evening will honor the people who built Capital Stonewall Democrats across five decades – activists who fought for rights when the odds were against them, public servants who opened doors and refused to let them close, and a new generation of leaders ready to carry the work forward,” the statement says.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to the Capital Stonewall Democrats.
Among those planning to attend the anniversary event is longtime D.C. gay Democratic activist Paul Kuntzler, 84, who is one of the two co-founders of the then-Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kuntzler told the Washington Blade that he and co-founder Richard Maulsby were joined by about a dozen others in the living room of his Southwest D.C. home at the group’s founding meeting in January 1976.
He said that among the reasons for forming a local LGBTQ Democratic group at the time was to arrange for a then “gay” presence at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, at which Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination for U.S. president and later won election as president.
Maulsby, who served as the Stein Club president for its first three years and who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., said he would not be attending the March 20 anniversary event, but he fully supports the organization’s continuing work as an LGBTQ organization associated with the Democratic Party.
Steven McCarty, Capital Stonewall Democrats’ current president, said in the statement that the anniversary celebration will highlight the organization’s work since the time of its founding.
“Capital Stonewall Democrats has been fighting for LGBTQ+ political power in this city for 50 years, electing people, training organizers, holding this community together through some really hard moments,” he said. “And right now, with everything going on, that work has never mattered more. This gala is the first moment of our next chapter, and I want the community to be a part of it.”
The statement says among the special guests attending the event will be Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, who became the first openly gay LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.
Other guests of honor, according to the statement, include Mayor Bowser; D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5, the Council’s only gay member; D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as Deputy Director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; Rayceen Pendarvis, longtime D.C. LGBTQ civic activist; and Phillip Pannell, longtime D.C. LGBTQ Democratic activist and Ward 8 civic activist.
Information about ticket availability for the Capital Stonewall Democrats anniversary gala can be accessed here: capitalstonewalldemocrats.com/50th
District of Columbia
Owner of D.C. gay bar Green Lantern John Colameco dies at 79
Beloved businessman preferred to stay ‘behind the scenes’
John Colameco, owner of the popular D.C. gay bar Green Lantern, has died, according to a March 7 announcement posted on the bar’s website and Instagram account. The announcement didn’t provide a date of his passing or a cause of death.
Green Lantern manager Howard Hicks said Colameco was 79 at the time of his passing.
“It is with great sadness that Green Lantern announces the death of our beloved owner, John Colameco,” the announcement says. “Most of our patrons might have heard John’s name, but might not have known his face,” it says.
“He was a ‘behind-the-scenes’ kind of guy who avoided the limelight,” the announcement continues. “He preferred to stay in the back of the house with staff and team ensuring everything was running smoothly so that everyone out front was having a good time.”
The announcement adds, “As a veteran and businessman, John wasn’t a member of the LGBTQ + community, but he was one of the best damn allies our community has ever had.”
It says he “long provided spaces for the queer community to come together” since the 1990s when he owned and operated a popular restaurant on 17th Street, N.W. called Peppers.
According to the announcement, Colameco and his then business partner Greg Zehnacker opened the Green Lantern in 2001 in an alley off of 14th Street, N.W., between Thomas Circle and L Street, N.W.
The announcement points out that the Green Lantern first opened in the same location in the early 1990s before it later closed when the original owners decided to purchase and open other bars, one of which was the gay bar Fireplace near Dupont Circle. Colameco and Zehnacker were able to reopen the bar with the Green Lantern name.
“When Greg died unexpectedly in February 2014, John remained steadfastly committed to carrying on their vision and ensuring that Green Lantern remained part of the fabric of D.C.’s queer community,” the announcement says.
“Over the years, through Green Lantern, John has provided support to many community organizations, most notably Stonewall Sports, the Gay Men’s chorus of Washington, and ONYX Mid-Atlantic with Green Lantern serving as a gathering hub for their activities,” it states.
The announcement adds that Colameco’s family was planning a memorial for him in his hometown of Philadelphia.
“His Green Lantern family will celebrate his life by operating the bar as usual and we encourage you to stop by and join us,” it says. “Community coming together and having a good time – it’s exactly what John would want.”
District of Columbia
D.C. Black Pride theme, performers announced at ‘Speakeasy’
Durand Bernarr to headline 2026 programming
The Center for Black Equity held its 2026 DC Black Pride Theme Reveal event at Union Stage on Monday. The evening, a “Speakeasy Happy Hour,” was hosted by Anthony Oakes and featured performances by Lolita Leopard and Keith Angelo. The Center for Black Equity organizes DC Black Pride.
Kenya Hutton, Center for Black Equity president and CEO, spoke following the performances by Leopard and Angelo. Hutton announced this year’s theme for DC Black Pride: “New Black Renaissance.”
Performers for 2026 DC Black Pride were announced to be Bang Garcon, Be Steadwell, Jay Columbus, Bennu Byrd, Rue Pratt and Akeem Woods.
Singer-songwriter Durand Bernarr was announced as the headliner for the 2026 festivities. Bernerr gave brief remarks through a video played on the screen at the stage.
DC Black Pride is scheduled for May 22-25. For more information on DC Black Pride, visit dcblackpride.org.
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