I am really looking forward to the Carolinas first-ever Black Gay Pride Celebration in Charlotte July 14-17. It’s going to be a history making event.

I have attended Black Pride Celebrations in Atlanta, Houston, New York, Philly and Jacksonville. This trip to D.C. would mark my third DCBGP experience. I first grossly over packed for DCBGP on Memorial Day Weekend of 2000.

It would mark my very first gay Pride and my introduction to black gay culture and community. Before the year 2000, I had resolved to live a very discreet gay existence. No clubs. No flamboyant acquaintances. No public affection. No gay marches or protests and certainly no Pride celebrations.

It didn’t take long for me to realize that “living discreetly” was really my sugar coated way of masking self-hate and internalized homophobia. Something about the turn of the century and the now fictitious Y2K scare forced me to re-evaluate my life. I decided that I wanted to live a full, abundant existence with no ridiculous limitations.

Devin and I arrived at the Wyndham City Center Hotel (the official DCBGP host hotel) bouncing with energy despite our vigorous six-hour drive. One of our first visual impressions was something seldom viewed openly in cities and towns in the Carolinas. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of color just being: holding hands, wearing apparel adorned with gay symbols and slogans, laughing, flirting, debating, reacquainting and sashaying. Some were limp wristed, strutting and vogueing, but all were being fabulous and full of pride.

We found a convenient parking space (which is nearly impossible in Metro D.C.), refreshed our faces in the car mirrors, readjusted our slightly wrinkled garbs and headed toward all the action. DCBGP offered a host of activities to entertain, inform and delight its attendees. We made our way to the Town Hall Meeting, the Film series, the Poetry Slam and the can’t-miss DCBGP festival at the Washington Convention Center that attracts over 6,000 visitors and over 100 vendors from across the country. Fifteen years after the very first DCBGP in 1991, more than 100,000 LGBT individuals of African descent and their allies have come to celebrate the beauty of shared community and raise funds for HIV/AIDS outreach.

After the Town Hall Meeting event that hosted a panel of the nation’s most influential black gay leaders, Devin and I sparked a conversation with a spunky, handsome gentleman name Toby.

He insisted we call him “Mr.T.” Mr. T. was 74-years-old, of Caribbean descent, outspoken and openly gay. He had lost his partner, Marcus, of 40 years only eight months prior.

This widower, who with cane in hand, who made his way to the microphone to address the panelists several times, was somewhat of a historian. He shared what would become the highlight of our D.C. trip, the origins of D.C. Black Gay Pride.

Mr. T. explained that in the mid-1970’s, the D.C. black gay community found great pleasure in the weekend social activities held at the renowned Club House. The Club House became an institution of black gay life in the district. From 1975 until 1990, the Club House was a premiere community gathering space most notable for its annual Memorial Day weekend celebration called “The Children’s Hour.” “The Children’s Hour” quickly became an institution in black LGBT society. Word of mouth about this event spread up and down the east coast and eventually the country. What began as a local highlight soon began drawing “children” from all over the nation.

When the Club House closed its doors in 1990, many feared that the Memorial Day tradition would cease as well. Three pioneering men, Welmore Cook, Theodore Kirkland and Ernest Hopkins, grew increasingly concerned with having no place for the community to gather during the holiday weekend and with the growing HIV/AIDS infection rate. They envisioned an event that would both continue the tradition and raise desperately-needed funds for HIV/AIDS organizations that served blacks in the Metro D.C. area.

From that idea, the first black gay and lesbian Pride was born. Initially, it was a collaboration by the D.C. Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gay Men, Inner City AIDS network and the D.C. Black Pride pioneers.

On May 25, 1991, that first D.C. Black Pride festival was held on the grounds of Banneker Field on Georgia Ave. in northwest D.C. It raised over $3,000 for HIV/AIDS outreach. The following years, DCBGP would become a weekend long festival and the numbers of those attending skyrocketed. In the mid-nineties, organizers decided to make things more official by creating a board of directors, filing for incorporation and becoming a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

DCBGP was the nation’s very first black Pride and the catalyst for what is now referred to as the black Pride movement. Since the birth of DCBGP, nearly 30 other black Pride celebrations now take place throughout the world, many using DCBGP as a model.

Fifteen years later, D.C.’s event is considered the mother of all black gay Pride celebrations and people are still zealous about convening in D.C. for Memorial Day weekend. I believe that the empowerment, affirmation and sense of community fostered at DCBGP events are irresistible — especially since that energy is rarely found in most American cities.

For that, the DCBGP founders, past and current board members and volunteers who have maintained the great legacy of black Gay pride are to be honored. Their vision, passion and dedication have inspired LGBT people of African descent all across the globe.

info:
D.C. Black Gay Pride –
www.dcblackpride.org

International Federation of Black Gay Prides —
www.ifbprides.org

Charlotte North Carolina Black Gay Pride –
www.charlottencblackgaypride.com
www.ifbprides.org