Washington is host to many Pride celebrations, from the countless dance parties to the Capital Pride Parade, Concert and Festival, the city offers multiple chances to celebrate your Pride.
One of the ways to celebrate Pride — and a way put a bookend to the event-packed June Pride month — is to make sure to the annual District of PRIDE Showcase hosted by Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
This year’s event will showcase a range of local LGBTQ talent that includes drag performers, storytellers, and singers in the historic Lincoln Theater on Thursday, June 29.
“It’s a showcase of local LGBTQ A-plus talent,” says Japer Bowles, the Director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. “It’s one of the last big events in the district and in the region that’s pride related and really it’s a celebration. It’s a great time.”
DJ Honey will be pumping the music throughout the night.
Bowles explained that now, in a time when drag is criminalized across the U.S., it is vital to provide a platform for drag performances.
“Throughout the entire program, we’re highlighting drag,” he says. “A party without cake is just a meeting, so we’ll be having Cake Pop! We’re celebrating Pretty Boy Pride with Pretty Boy Drag.”
The focus of the showcase, Bowles says, is to focus on Washington’s LGBTQ art scene. Nearly 90 performers submitted their applications to appear, and ten were chosen.
This talent, Bowles says, is special to Washington due to its high LGBTQ population and progressive LGBTQ policies. Washington ranks highest in the nation for an area with an LGBTQ population, currently at 9.8% according to UCLA’s Williams Institute.
“This does not happen in Oklahoma and this does not happen in Missouri and in Texas,” he says. “DC is the district of pride!”
Mayor Muriel Bowser’s fourth annual “District of Pride” is Thursday, June 29, from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U St. NW. Admission is free. To reserve a space, register by visiting Eventbrite.
Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will appear in a cameo on the finale of season 9 of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars tonight, Friday, July 26.
The episode will start with Harris, surrounded by judges and guest stars from the finale, urging viewers to vote in November's election.
Also featured in the short public service announcement are longtime Drag Race judge Michelle Visage, acclaimed choreographer Jamal Sims, singer Lance Bass, comedienne Leslie Jones, and actor Cheyenne Jackson.
The message was filmed when Harris was still the presumptive vice presidential nominee, and before incumbent President Joe Biden announced he would not seek re-election.
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“I think if anyone is familiar with my work on Drag Race -- with the character on Drag Race -- honesty is very important to me,” says Yvie Oddly. “I wanted to take charge of telling my own story, since I felt like I could do it in a very, very honest way and just to clear the air, clear the board, set the record 'queer,' and let people know how I feel,” she says.
So the Denver-based drag queen who won the crown on Season 11 of the Emmy Award-winning reality television show wrote a memoir: All About Yvie: Into The Oddity.
“I know that people seem to relate to my story on Drag Race, so I figured why not let them have the full nitty-gritty chapter by chapter?” Oddly says.
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