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(Blade file photo by Henry Linser)
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: AMY CAVANAUGH and KATHERINE VOLIN COMMENTS
 
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are not tremendously involved in electoral politics for various reasons, but I’m seeing more involvement because of Obama’s candidacy. More people are actually coming out and volunteering to do things, phone banking, canvassing.
I actually have two. My first was the last D.C. Black Pride event held on Banneker Field in 1999. It was a beautiful and hot day. I was there with two of my closet friends, Steve and Jeff, who are no longer with us. We had a ball watching Cece Peniston and Crystal Waters perform. The day was perfect. My second was last year’s event. I was president and the volunteer board and I worked hard to put together a great event to represent the African-American LBGTQ community. Also [I] know that my mother was smiling down from heaven on the accomplishment of her son.
Well, there are three small words that offer the foundation for the event: liberty, unity and strength. It’s strength to continue to do the work that our forefathers did making it possible for us as African Americans to live an openly gay lifestyle. Unity brings everyone together to realize we are one family — that we want the same basic rights that any heterosexual individual would have. Liberty ties back into the ability to live your life in an open and positive way.’’
Well personally, I am still holding out hope for President Hillary Clinton.
I have so many fond memories of D.C. Black Pride, but my fondest would have to be from my very first. I remember walking into the host hotel and seeing all of these beautiful, confident and out black LGBT people, and thinking to myself, “I am not alone.” It really was quite the revelation. Although a native Washingtonian, I came out in when I was a student a Beloit College in Beloit, Wisc., and was the only out black lesbian on campus. For a long time, I wasn’t sure if others like me existed and seeing them at DCBP made me feel more secure in my decision to live out and proud.
Our name really says it all: D.C. Black Pride: Liberty, Unity, Strength. The purpose of D.C. Black Pride is to instill pride in our community while creating an empowering, educational and fun environment for black LGBT people and their allies to come together. Additionally, the organization was founded to raise money for local HIV/AIDS organizations, a
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