D.C. Pride parade returns after a year of attacks against LGBTQ rights

The annual Capital Pride Parade returned to the streets of D.C. on Saturday, during a year when LGBTQ+ rights have come under attack nationwide.

As the parade got underway on Saturday, starting from 14th and T streets NW, the mood appeared light and filled with revelry. Crowds packed sidewalks, as floats passed by blaring techno music and marching bands belted rhythms from their drum kits. The parade followed a 1.5 mile route, ending on 21st and P streets NW.

Organizers anticipated 600,000 or more people to take part in Pride activities this weekend, whether that means watching the parade or participating in other events, Ryan A. Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance said.

“Every year, it’s someone’s first Pride,” he said, adding that people often travel great distances for the event, some of whom “may not feel safe doing that in their hometown.”

Historically, Pride blends festive notes with activism and awareness, and Saturday’s events were no exception. At a news conference before the parade, invited speakers highlighted struggles facing the LGBTQ community.

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So far this year, state legislators have introduced a record wave of more than 400 bills and enacted at least 60 laws aimed at limiting transgender people’s access to bathrooms, health care and school athletics, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the ACLU and Movement Advancement Project. Several states have also passed restrictions around drag shows. And some conservative consumers have harassed employees and criticized retailers over Pride displays.

“Over the last year we’ve seen why pride is more important than ever,” Bos said. “That’s why we have to come together, stand firm against any incursion on our rights.”

Earline Budd, 64, a longtime transgender advocate, spoke about being kicked out of her home just a few blocks from where she was standing, at 14 and surviving on the streets of D.C. “That’s what made me an advocate,” she said. “I felt like l had to stand up and fight so others wouldn’t have to go down the road I had to.”

“It’s actually those bills and those demagogues that choose to advocate against us, that make us fight more,” Budd went on. “I will not give up until we have full equality for our people.”

Violence against LGBTQ people and other forms of targeting is on the rise, according to ACLED, a conflict monitoring group. In 2022, the group documented more than 240 anti-LGBTQ incidents, which include physical attacks, demonstrations and property damage. This year is on pace to meet or exceed that number, an ACLED researcher told The Post.

Jasmine ‘Star’ Mack was killed in D.C., on Jan. 7, in what advocates believe was the first homicide of a transgender person in the United States this year.

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Shane Mayson, co-owner and operator of Crazy Aunt Helen’s, a restaurant in Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, has seen threats against the LGBTQ community firsthand. In February, Mayson learned of online chatter that the Proud Boys, a far-right group whose members include Jan. 6 rioters, might target the restaurant’s Drag Storytime brunch. Instead, a throng of supporters showed up, along with police, to protect the establishment. The event proceeded without incident, but Mayson said that protesters regularly show up when the restaurant hosts events with drag performers.

“Pride is about living out loud, even in spite of those people,” Mayson told The Post this week. “And I don’t even acknowledge that anymore. They are the sad ones to me.”

Mayson, the son of a Pentecostal preacher, moved in 1984 from the conservative confines of Charleston, S.C., to Washington. “I moved here to be gay,” he said. For Mayson, being a young gay man in D.C. meant Pride parades through Dupont Circle, plenty of activism, and waiting tables at Mr. Henry’s, a gay-friendly restaurant on Capitol Hill. In the ensuing decades, Mayson has changed — less civil disobedience, and more spreading of “fairy magic” at his restaurant — as have attitudes toward the LGBTQ community.

“Pride just almost got to a place where it felt like, ‘Do we really even need to this anymore?’” Mayson said. But now “our rights are being threatened” again.

Corporate tensions

As Pride events have grown in scale, a sometimes uneasy relationship with corporate sponsors has emerged. That tension is particularly acute this year, as some companies’ appeals to LGBTQ customers have provoked backlash. In May, Target pulled from its shelves some Pride-themed merchandise, citing threats to its employees. This spring, Bud Light found itself mired in a similar controversy; a social media campaign featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney led to calls for boycotts and a sales slump.

Target is a Capital Pride sponsor this year. Organizers would not say how much money the company or any other sponsor had provided, but Target’s designation as an “ally” is the base level of sponsorship. Bos, the executive director, told The Post in an email that the group has asked Target “and other corporations to reaffirm their commitment to the LGBTQ+ community. However, we will not be goaded by right-wing activists into divisive fights with our allies who have stood with us for many years.”

A spokesperson for Target referred The Post to the company’s statement from May, which focused on “standing with” the LGBTQ community.

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Along the parade route, families were a common sight as they are every year. Daniel Greenberg, 61, felt it was important to bring his daughter, Maia, 6, to the parade to instill the importance of equality.

“I want my daughter to grow up in a world where she doesn’t have to worry about whether anyone gets included or left out,” said Greenberg.

Maia, sporting a rainbow headband, stood with her best friend Madeline, 7, who wore rainbow leis around her neck. The two girls at times hung over the railing, jumped and shouted as the floats and bands passed them by along 14th street.

Greenberg, who has attended the parade for many years, said he looks forward to it. “I think it’s the joy of it. When we walked up here Maia said, ‘Everybody’s so nice.’ You don’t always feel that at every event, but you feel it at Pride. It’s something special about it.”

Pride events, which date back to 1975 in D.C., are also a boon for local businesses. Ed Bailey, co-owner of Trade and Number Nine, two queer bars in the District, called it “a gigantically big weekend for us.”

But the celebration’s impact went beyond the bottom line for him.

“At a time when there is a kind of increased scrutiny of our community and aggression towards our community, it just becomes more clear why moments like Pride are needed,” Bailey said. “You need to have rallying points where you can all come together and show each other that there are people that care about you. We are together in this situation, and you’re not alone.”

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