Arts & Entertainment
Celebrate New Year’s Eve with Pride at the Rainbow Masquerade NYE Party 2025
Grab your glitter, don your mask, and get ready to sashay into 2025 at the Rainbow Masquerade NYE Party!
Grab your glitter, don your mask, and get ready to sashay into 2025 at the Rainbow Masquerade NYE Party! This isn’t your average New Year’s Eve celebration—it’s the ultimate queer bash brought to you by Capital Pride, serving glamour, inclusivity, and fierce vibes as DC counts down to World Pride 2025.
Party with Purpose
This isn’t just a party—it’s a movement. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Capital Pride, ensuring that every drink you sip and every move you make on the dance floor supports advocacy, education, and programs for the LGBTQ+ community. As the world prepares to turn its eyes to DC for World Pride 2025, this event is your chance to show your pride and kick off the new year with purpose and panache.
Pick Your Experience
Whether you’re strutting solo, vibing with your chosen family, or ready to splurge on an epic NYE, we’ve got the perfect ticket for you:
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- General Admission: Your ticket to the most fabulous party in town includes a standard open bar, live entertainment, and access to a night filled with laughter, love, and legendary vibes.
- Pride Privilege Pass: Go big or go home with premium open bar access, exclusive lounge area, and elevated spaces perfect for taking a breather (or snapping the perfect selfie).
- Queer Royale: For groups ready to slay together, reserve a private table and enjoy VIP seating, dedicated service, and all the perks that make you and your crew the stars of the night.
- Bubble Hideaway: Ready to turn up the heat? This exclusive hot tub cabana includes private seating, premium service, and a whole lot of bubbles—perfect for ringing in 2025 in true queer luxury. Only 1 available!
The Night’s Highlights
From jaw-dropping performances to a midnight champagne toast, the Rainbow Masquerade has it all:
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- Electrifying Entertainment: Live drag acts and aerial performers will keep you gagged and gooped all night long.
- Immersive Decor: A photo-ready wonderland that’s as bold, beautiful, and diverse as our community.
- Endless Cocktails: Enjoy unlimited drinks tailored to your ticket tier—it’s time to toast, darling!
- Midnight Moment: Raise your glass as we countdown to midnight and step into a fabulous new year.
Why You Can’t Miss This
The Rainbow Masquerade isn’t just a party; it’s a celebration of everything that makes our community shine. As we look ahead to World Pride 2025, this event is your chance to start the year surrounded by love, pride, and unapologetic joy.
Whether you’re here for the performances, the community, or just a reason to celebrate, the Rainbow Masquerade NYE Party is the place to be.
Plan Your Night
- Date and Time: Tuesday, December 31, 2024 | 10 PM – 2 AM
- Location: 3400 Georgia Ave NW, Washington, DC
- Tickets: Snag yours now HERE
Cheers to a Fabulous Future
Ready to strut into 2025? Let’s make it one for the history books—full of pride, purpose, and a whole lot of glitter. Grab your ticket, bring your crew, and let’s start the countdown.
See you under the disco ball!
Online Culture
Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer
Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters
Online personality Clavicular, whose real name is Braden Peters, has been accused of rape.
According to NBC, Aleksandra Vasilevna Mendoza, an 18-year-old influencer known online as Alorah or Alorah Ziva, accused Peters of sexual assault, and the case is making its way through the court system.
The alleged incident occurred on May 23, 2025, when Mendoza was 17.
According to a criminal complaint from the Chatham (Mass.) Police Department, Peters called her an Uber to his family’s home. Once there, he allegedly got her drunk on vodka while they livestreamed on Twitch and then raped her. His mother and grandmother were allegedly in the house.
The documents allege Clavicular committed rape, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, and procuring and providing liquor to a person under 21.
According to court documents acquired by NPR, Mendoza began communicating with Peters on Instagram, where he paid her to appear on his livestreams to help her “make her name known on social media.”
According to those documents, Peters arranged for the minor to come to Cape Cod home to participate in a videostream for his 437,000 followers on Kick, 1.2 million followers on TikTok, and more than 1 million followers on Instagram.
At his home, Peters allegedly instructed Mendoza to say she was 18 on his videostream and to claim the alcohol on camera was water instead of vodka. Mendoza said she felt peer-pressured to drink the spirit and that she became noticeably intoxicated after a couple of drinks.
The allegations go on to state that after stopping the stream, Peters and Mendoza kissed on a couch and then had sex in his bed without her consent. Mendoza said she did not receive a sexual assault forensic exam after the incident. NPR does not name alleged victims of sexual assault.
The charges come months after Mendoza sued Peters in Miami, accusing him of sexual battery in connection with the events of May 2025. The civil lawsuit also separately alleges that he injected her face with a non-FDA-approved fat-dissolving substance during a November livestream in Florida.
Peters is known for his “looksmaxxing” concept of vanity, which is at the core of his online presence. The “looksmaxxing” culture he has helped cultivate combines elements of incel culture and heterosexuality, with the stated goal of attracting the opposite sex. He has gone as far as to say he has undergone “bonesmashing,” or hitting his own face with a hammer; taken anabolic steroids to more rapidly grow muscle; and used crystal meth as an appetite suppressant.
At the same time, looksmaxxing has been described as having elements of homoeroticism, with “looksmaxxers” appearing more concerned with impressing other men than women. Peters has multiple times pointed to openly gay actor Matt Bomer as the gold standard for male facial aesthetics.
Peters’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 14.
Photos
PHOTOS: Shenandoah Valley Pride
LGBTQ celebration held at Turner Pavilion in Harrisonburg, Va.
The 2026 Shenandoah Valley Pride Festival was held at Turner Pavilion in Harrisonburg, Va. on Sunday, Sept. 20.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
















Whitman-Walker Health held the 40th annual Walk and 5K to End HIV at Anacostia Park on Saturday, Sept. 19.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)



















