Photo credit: Richard Pezzillo
DC was full of pride as crowds gathered for the 2014 Pride reveal—because let’s face it, you know it’s gonna be fabulous, as usual. Rest assured there were top hats, tuxes, sequins, good lighting, food drink and fun. With human rights advances like same sex marriage recently made legal in DC and numerous other states, this could be the most exciting and celebratory year yet. So what could be better than bringing a diverse group of people together for a sneak peak at what Capitol Pride will offer in the coming year?
“We decided to launch this event in 2013 as a way to get people excited about Pride at a time of year that traditionally few were thinking about the June celebrations,” said Bernie Delia, President of the Board of Directors of Capital Pride. “This also gave us an additional opportunity to work with our partners in the LGBT community and highlight their events and ours throughout the year.”
Backdrop: POV Lounge and Attitude ballroom at the W Hotel…high atop DC. The space: Awash with soft lighting in blues and pinks with red glass chandeliers to boot. The crowd: Among the finest looking ladies & gentlemen. So let’s talk 2014, the 39th Annual Pride Week, which will open with the main event June 6, 2014. The theme this year? The future. So does this mean we’ll see robots, flying cars and metallic clothing? A good bet, we say.
“We’re now in our 39th year and want to make this celebration really special,” said Mike Alexander, Development Director of Capital Pride. “We’re going to have a huge celebration this year that will take us into our 40th Anniversary.”
The current Capital Pride celebration traces its history to the first LGBT festival in Washington, D.C., which was held in 1975. That year, Deacon Maccubbin, who owned Lambda Rising bookstore, organized a one-day community block party on 20th Street N.W., the then-location of the bookstore. Maccubbin and Lambda Rising hosted the event for the first five years of its existence, until it grew to 10,000 attendees and spread over three blocks. Today, DC is among the largest LGBT communities in the country. People from all over the country attend Capital Pride–the 3rd-largest Pride event in the USA.
Capital Pride is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to serving the needs of the LGBTA community and its partners through educational events, entertainment, community outreach, and celebrations of diversity, including the annual Capital Pride Parade and the Pennsylvania Avenue Festival. Capital Pride is managed by a small staff and supported by a large cadre of volunteers. For more information on events, initiatives and the organization itself.
