Jun 13, 2008  |  By: AMY CAVANAUGH  | COMMENTS     

For Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, Pride is an opportunity to celebrate diversity and show other people what being gay is all about.

“The Gay Pride parade is just amazing,” he says, “I see families and kids there … it’s a very positive image we’re projecting and [Pride’s a] great opportunity to do that.”

But for Lutz and the five other community leaders who have been named this year’s Capital Pride Heroes, projecting a positive image of the gay community is something they do every day. The six honorees — Metro Weekly’s Sean Bugg, the late Noi Chudnoff of Go Mama Go!, Maryland Del. Heather Mizeur, Bob Summersgill of the Gay & Lesbian Activists’ Alliance, SaVanna Wanzer, founder of Capital Trans Pride, and Lutz — have contributed time, money and energy to support various gay issues in the D.C. area for years.

Bugg, co-publisher of Metro Weekly, was editor at the magazine from 2000-2007 and has also worked for HIV prevention programs.

He describes being named a Pride Hero as “kind of humbling … looking at people who have been honored in the past, you realize that you’re being put in the company of really accomplished people.”  Past Pride Heroes have included longtime gay activist Frank Kameny and D.C.’s delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Wanzer agrees.

“It is an honor to follow such great people and receive the same award that they have,” Wanzer says. Wanzer founded Trans Pride, which held its second annual event this year on June 7, “so that people of the same lifestyle can learn from one another and be more educated and have a gathering that was positive.”

MIZEUR WAS ELECTED to the Maryland House of Delegates in 2006 and has worked to advance the rights of blacks, Hispanics and gays in terms of access to health care. She is also a leading supporter of same-sex marriage and transgender rights.

Summersgill is an advocate for transgender rights and domestic partnerships. He’s on the Rainbow History Project’s advisory board and has been actively involved with GLAA.

Chudnoff, who owned the 14th Street store Go Mama Go!, died in November, but her legacy of support for the gay community lives on. Jeffrey Johnson, artistic director of gay arts company Ganymede Arts, was very close to Chudnoff — he worked in her store and she was the president of the Ganymede board.

“She was one of the largest supporters of GLBT rights in this community,” Johnson says, “She was our board president and a major donor to us. She also gave to Lesbian Services at Whitman-Walker, to the Victory Fund, to the Gay Men’s Chorus. She also worked to bring all of us together — she had Whitman-Walker come support us and had us support them. It was about more than giving money, she worked for community.”

Johnson says that Pride was one of Chudnoff’s favorite times, and that she would always recruit people to come to the parade.

“She would always ask if they would march in her parade,” he says, “and this year it is her parade.”

DESPITE ALL THEY’VE already done, some of the Pride Heroes are looking to the future to see what else they can accomplish.

“I believe that I have contributed an event [Trans Pride] that can be shared by all the community to enjoy one another and to learn from one another,” says Wanzer. “My future goal is to create a love buddy program, which will help pair up friends so they can learn more about HIV and AIDS, go on doctor visits, attend church and events together and become educated about the epidemic that is wiping out so many people.”

Since Freddie’s Beach Bar is located in Crystal City, Lutz says he’s been asked by people why they should trek out to a state that is notoriously anti-gay in its laws.

“I say you should come here since we’re a gay bar in Virginia, and that’s how we’re going to make progress,” says Lutz. “[Equality in Virginia] is not going to happen overnight, but we are making great strides.”

Ultimately, the Pride Heroes see this week as a chance to come together and celebrate.

“We all have many reasons to be proud and active throughout the year, and we come from different backgrounds and have different experiences that inform ...