Norton to Open DC Black Pride Festival, Recognizes Festival in Congressional Record
WASHINGTON, DC – To kick off the 24th annual DC Black Pride Festival, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) will join members of the District of Columbia's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community this evening, Friday, May 23, 2014, at 7:15 p.m., at the Grand Hyatt Hotel (1000 H St NW). A longtime advocate for LGBT rights, Norton will deliver remarks to LGBT people from around the country and the world who participate in the festival each Memorial Day weekend. Norton also recognized the DC Black Pride celebration in the Congressional Record yesterday.
"DC Black Pride 2014 is a multi-day festival featuring: an opening reception; community town hall meetings; educational workshops; a poetry slam; a film festival; a church service; and performances by musicians, dancers, and other artists at the Cultural Arts/Health and Wellness Expo, the culminating event of DC Black Pride," Norton stated in the Congressional Record. "DC Black Pride is widely considered to be one of the world's preeminent Black Pride celebrations, drawing more than 30,000 people to the nation's capital from across the United States as well as from Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, Great Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands."
The celebration's organizing body has chosen "I Am Black Pride" as the theme. This theme reflects the connectedness of the Black LGBT community and its commitment to fulfilling the mission of DC Black Pride, which is to increase awareness of and pride in the diversity of the Black LGBT community.
Norton's full Congressional Record statement follows.
STATEMENT OF HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIAIN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
THURSDAY, MAY 22, 2014
Ms. Norton. Mr. Speaker,
Once again, I am proud to join DC Black Pride, as I have since its beginnings on Banneker Field. This Memorial Day weekend, May 23th – 25th, marks the 24th annual DC Black Pride celebration in Washington, D.C.
DC Black Pride 2014 is a multi-day festival featuring: an opening reception; community town hall meetings; educational workshops; a poetry slam; a film festival; a church service; and performances by musicians, dancers, and other artists at the Cultural Arts/Health and Wellness Expo, the culminating event of DC Black Pride. DC Black Pride is widely considered to be one of the world's preeminent Black Pride celebrations, drawing more than 30,000 people to the nation's capital from across the United States as well as from Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, Great Britain, France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
As the very first Black Pride festival, DC Black Pride fostered the beginning of the Center for Black Equity (formerly known as the International Federation of Black Prides, Inc. and the "Black Pride Movement," which now consists of 40 Black Prides on four continents.
Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, Inc., the celebration's organizing body, chose "I AM Pride" as the theme for this year's celebration. This theme reflects the connectedness of the Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community and its commitment to fulfilling the mission of DC Black Pride, which is to increase awareness of and pride in the diversity of LGBT Blacks. Moreover, the theme expresses the resolve of the African-American LGBT community and its allies to come together to: fight for LGBT equality; celebrate its heritage and culture as members of both the Black and LGBT communities; and promote health and wellness for the community.
DC Black Pride is a project of the Center for Black Equity and is coordinated by Earl D. Fowlkes, Jr. and Kenya Anthony Hutton with assistance from Andrea Woody-Macko, Robert "Harold" Dinkins and dozens of volunteers.
I ask the House to join me in welcoming all attending the 24th annual DC Black Pride celebration in Washington, D.C., and I take this opportunity to remind the celebrants that United States citizens who reside in Washington, D.C. are taxed without full voting representation in Congress.
Published: May 23, 2014