District of Columbia
D.C. selected to host WorldPride 2025
Global event to coincide with Capital Pride’s 50th anniversary
InterPride, a global organization representing more than 400 Pride organizations in at least 70 countries, announced on Thursday it has selected D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance to host WorldPride 2025 in D.C.
The international Pride event, which is usually held every two years, draws thousands of participants from throughout the world to the host city.
Capital Pride Alliance submitted a bid to host WorldPride 2025 in September 2021 but lost the bid to an LGBTQ organization in Taiwan that proposed holding the event in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohsiung.
But in a surprise development, the Taiwanese group Kaohsiung Pride announced in August of this year that it withdrew its bid and abruptly cancelled its plans for hosting the event in Taiwan.
That immediately raised the question of whether InterPride would reopen the bidding process or select D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, which was the runner up group in the 2021 bidding.
In its Thursday announcement, InterPride said the question of what to do about WorldPride 2025 was discussed at great length at its Annual General Meeting and World Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, held Oct. 27-30.
“The membership was asked to decide whether the event should not take place in 2025, or if it should be awarded to the first runner-up, the Capital Pride Alliance (CPA) from Washington, D.C., U.S.A.,” the InterPride announcement says.
“Seventy-four percent (74 percent) of the membership voted to award WorldPride 2025 to CPA, while 19 percent voted not to hold World Pride in 2025 and 7 percent abstained,” according to the announcement.
“The Capital Pride Alliance is thrilled and honored to have been awarded the privilege of hosting World Pride 2025,” Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said in a statement. “We thank InterPride for this wonderful opportunity to share the best of the Washington region with our friends from around the globe and to have them participate with us on the 50th anniversary of Pride in D.C.,” Bos said.
In a separate statement, InterPride Co-Presidents Linda DeMarco and Hadi Damien congratulated Capital Pride Alliance for being named host of WorldPride 2025.
“We are glad the Capital Pride Alliance was still willing to host WorldPride 2025, and we welcome the vote of confidence the membership put in them,” the two said. “We all trust the Capital Pride Alliance has what it takes to deliver a robust WorldPride.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who expressed strong support for the Capital Pride Alliance’s 2021 bid to host WorldPride, told the Washington Blade in a statement on Thursday that she looks forward to WorldPride being held in D.C.
“Pride in D.C. is a manifestation of our DC values — an opportunity for people to celebrate themselves & the diversity of our community,” the mayor said. “What better way to celebrate 50 years of Pride in D.C. than with the largest LGBTQ+ event in the world. See you at the pride of our lifetime in 2025.”
In its statement announcing D.C. had been selected to host WorldPride 2025, InterPride also announced a WorldPride would be held in 2026 and its members voted by a margin of 59 percent to 37 percent to select Amsterdam in the Netherlands over Orlando, Fla., to be the host city. The announcement says the two competing groups were Pride Amsterdam and Come Out with Pride of Orlando.
An official with Pride Amsterdam says in the statement that, among its activities planned for WorldPride 2026, will be a commemoration honoring the victims of the 2016 Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, in which 49 mostly LGBTQ people were shot and killed by a lone gunman who targeted the gay nightclub.
Police shot and killed the gunman.
Bos has said that among the events planned for WorldPride 2025 will be a celebration of the 50th anniversary of D.C.’s first LGBTQ Pride event in 1975, which began as a block party near Dupont Circle.
In a statement released on Friday, Capital Pride Alliance says the proposed dates for WorldPride 2025 are May 22 through June 8.
“WorldPride DC 2025 will feature a vibrant and innovative slate of cultural programs that highlight the best that Washington, D.C. has to offer,” the statement says. “It will include a human rights conference, in partnership with the 34th annual D.C. Black Pride,” it says.
“We would like to thank the members of our team who put in countless hours to advocate on behalf of Washington, D.C., in addition to our many local and national LGBTQ+ organizations, local businesses, government agencies, and our corporate advocates who provided support for the bid,” said Ashley Smith, president of the Capital Pride Alliance board of directors.
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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