Creating Pride in DC

Washingtonians participated in New York’s Pride celebrations. In 1971, the Community Church (later Metropolitan Community Church), the Gay Activists Alliance and the Mattachine Society, an early activist organization, sponsored the first bus trips to New York. 

The first Pride event in Washington, “Gay and Proud,” took place in May 1972. Three years later, a group led by Deacon Maccubbin, co-owner of DC’s Gay book store, Lambda Rising, established DC’s first annual Pride. On June 22, 1975, Gay Pride, sponsored by Lambda Rising and the Community Building Association (home to the Gay Switchboard, Gay Youth, Off Our Backs, The Gay Blade, Lambda Rising and the Bread & Roses Music Coop) took place on 1700 block of 20th Street NW, the city’s first officially recognized annual Pride festival. Gays and Lesbians packed the block lined with booths representing community groups and celebrated with food, drinks, and music.