Arts & Entertainment

Cox to headline Baltimore Pride

Next weekend has bounty of events slated

Published

15 years ago

June 9, 2011

Juliette Ebner

Baltimore Pride last year. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Baltimore Pride starts June 17 with a weekend of events including a performance by Deborah Cox.

First is Twilight on the Terrace at 7 p.m. June 17 at Gertrude’s Restaurant at the Baltimore Museum of Art (10 Art Museum Drive). Attendees will be able to enjoy hors d’oeuvres, cocktails, music and art. Tickets for this event are $85 and can be purchased online. Attendees must be 21 or older.

Then there’s the King and Queen of Pride pageant at The Hippo (1 W. Eager St.) at 10 p.m. that same night.

The annual high heel race begins at 3:30 p.m. on Charles and Eager streets. Racers can bring their own heels or borrow a pair and no pre-registration is required.

The Pride Parade will follow the race at 4 p.m. up Charles Street. The parade’s Grand Marshall is Sandy Rawls, Trans-United founder and director. Rawls is also the host of “The B-More Trans Show,” a 30-minute public awareness program educating the community about transgender issues.

Del. Mary Washington, who represents the 43rd Legislative District (Baltimore City) is the honorary grand marshall. Washington is the first out African American elected to a state office in Maryland.

After the parade is the Block Party from 6 to 10 p.m. featuring the main stage performances with headliner R&B and pop singer, Deborah Cox. There will be more than 75 vendors lining the streets and the Stoli Dance Tent at Cathedral and Eager streets.

New this year is stage-front VIP lounge access for 100 guests. Tickets are $50 and include seating 5 p.m. to close, VIP bar access, complimentary gift bags and battled water and an open bar sponsored by Svedka Vodka from 7 to 8 p.m.

Closing Baltimore Pride is the festival from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Druid Hill Park, located off of the I-83.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit baltimorepride.org.

Related Topics:Baltimore Pride Deborah Cox Out & About

Up Next

Newseum gets Pride party makeover tonight

Don't Miss

Deep in Tennessee

FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM

Online Culture

Clavicular charged in alleged rape of teenage influencer

Online personality’s real name is Braden Peters

Published

18 hours ago

September 23, 2026

Joe Reberkenny

Braden Peters a.k.a. "Clavicular" (Screen capture via NBC News/YouTube)

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.