D.C. Pride Festival Celebrates 50 Years
WorldPride Washington, D.C. is celebrating its 50th anniversary starting in May, marking a lasting legacy of the LGBTQ community in the nation’s capital. The annual pride celebration first took place in 1975 as a small “Gay Pride Day” parade but now draws millions of people to D.C. to march in themed parades, enjoy community parties and attend star-studded concerts.
Beginning May 16 with the start of the DC Latinx Pride event series, WorldPride will wrap up June 8 with a closing ceremony and concert. The most notable festivities are the annual Street Festival + Concert and Pride Parade, which will take place on the weekend of June 7 and June 8. Headlining musicians include Shakira and Jennifer Lopez, as well as LGBTQ artists local to the DMV.
This year’s Street Festival will include a family and children’s area for the first time: Camp Pride, which will feature activities geared at kids from toddler age to 13.
“Camp Pride is meant to be that nostalgic version of summer camp that everyone loved or dreamed about as a kid,” says Sahand Miraminy, director of operations at Capital Pride Alliance. “We’ve always had a family area during the parade, but we wanted to add a safe place for kids to the Street Festival that’s part of the festivities but separate from the activities geared towards adults.”
Capital Pride Alliance has partnered with several local organizations to put Camp Pride together, including longtime partner Rainbow Families and Playtime Project, which provides play opportunities to children from unhoused and low-income families.
This year’s WorldPride is important because it’s a landmark year for the event, but it also takes place during an uncertain time for the LGBTQ community. With DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) programs being dismantled and anti-trans legislation gaining in popularity, many people see now as a time that it’s more important than ever to celebrate pride.
“Pride has been occurring in D.C. for 50 years, and many of us have been feeling that for a lot of those years we’ve been making a lot of progress and going forward as a community,” Miraminy explains. “Right now, a lot of us are worried about our rights and our future, and LGBTQ family issues ranging from trans youth to the ability to adopt children. For us, Pride isn’t just a celebration but a way for us to come together as a community and remind ourselves what’s really important and the work that we still have to do.”
Montgomery County Antisemitism Fellowship Ends First Term with Community Summit
The MoCo Teens Against Antisemitism Fellowship will be holding a community-wide summit May 4. This will be the first time that the fellowship’s inaugural cohort will be hosting a community event where locals can speak about their concerns regarding antisemitism in Montgomery County, and specifically within its school system.
The fellowship was created through a partnership between Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville and the Montgomery County Jewish Educators Alliance (MCJEA) in response to statistics of rising antisemitism across the United States.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents in the U.S. have increased by 400% over the past five years. As Montgomery County is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in Maryland, antisemitic harassment at schools in the county has also increased. The MoCo Teens Against Antisemitism Fellowship was founded to respond to this rise in harassment, educating and mobilizing high schoolers to learn about antisemitism and discuss it with their peers.
The first cohort was selected Feb. 14 and has continued to meet every Wednesday since its launch. Fellows are expected to participate in the summit, which acts as a culmination of what they have learned over the fellowship’s six-week run.
“Almost every single fellow has witnessed or personally experienced antisemitism in Montgomery County, including seeing swastikas painted or etched onto surfaces at their schools and verbal acts of antisemitism,” says Abby Newburger, the fellowship’s program director. “These students deserve the opportunity to learn about what antisemitism is, where it comes from and what they can do about it. … This program aims to teach these students that leadership comes in many formats and they each have the capacity to make a difference when combating antisemitism in our community.”
