To coincide with World Pride 2025, the Rainbow History Project is producing an exhibit on the evolution of Pride, “Picketing, Protesting, Parading: A History of Gay Pride in Washington.” This is the third of ten articles that share our research themes. “A Bookstore Blocks the Street” explores how, from 1975 to 1979, Lambda Rising Bookstore hosted a Gay Pride Day Block Party, sparking the annual Pride event in Washington DC.
In the years following the 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day March, many gay Washingtonians traveled to New York for the annual Pride event. But Deacon McCubbin tells us that in 1975, a friend asked him an important question: “I love going to New York for Pride events, but why do I have to go all the way there every time? Why don’t we do something here in DC?” McCubbin, a local activist, community leader, and owner of Lambda Rising bookstore, put the idea into action.
With the help of his friend Bob Carpenter, McCubbin organized the first Gay Pride Day Block Party in front of Lambda Rising (on the block of 20th Avenue NW between R and S Streets). The event was designed to educate and entertain the community. It was not a protest or just a party, but rather a community-building celebration with local gay and lesbian organizations and service providers doing outreach while participants danced in the streets. The Gay Pride Day Block Party embraced the revolutionary spirit of New York Pride events, incorporating a festive and professional atmosphere.
The day was co-hosted by the Community Building Association, an umbrella organization for the emerging gay and lesbian organizations operating in the building, including Lambda Rising, Gay Switchboard, Gay Blade, Gay Youth, and the women’s newspaper Off Our Bucks. Gay and lesbian organizations set up tables to share information, sell merchandise, and register members. This educational and active atmosphere helped build solidarity, share resources, and raise awareness of the gay civil rights movement. The incorporation of educational booths into Pride events has become a mainstay of international Pride activism, rivaling the contributions of marches and political rallies in New York and California’s vibrant parades.
Entertainment was provided by local gay bars Pier 9 and Lost & Found, who lent out their record collections and coordinated street dancing. Sound system and audio engineering was provided by Boden Sandstrom and her company, Women Sound, a pioneering local, women-founded and run audio engineering company that would come to define the sound of the women’s music movement. In 1978, popular lesbian guitarist and singer Cass Culver debuted “What are we going to do?”, a song about Anita Bryant’s nationwide attacks on gay rights.
Local politics also reared its head. City Councilman John Wilson coordinated and introduced the first Gay Pride Day resolution in support of the gay and lesbian community. Other city council members denounced the event and tried to block the resolution, speaking of the “gay shame” it would bring to their districts. Support for the Gay Pride Day resolution influenced candidate ratings and endorsements by the GLAA, the Gertrude Stein Democrats, and other political activists. Even Mayor Marion Barry showed her support for the gay community, which was a driving force in her victory in 1978.
“When something has to be done, somebody has to do it, that’s the way it is,” McKubbin said of founding Gay Pride Day. As Pride Day spread to 20th and then S Street, attendance grew from a few hundred to 8,000-10,000, so McKubbin handed over Gay Pride Day to a new community organization, P Street Festivals Inc.
Our World Pride 2025 exhibit, “Picketing, Protesting, Parading: A History of Gay Pride in Washington,” will center the voices of event organizers, as well as criticisms of Pride and its intersections with other movements for equal rights and liberation. But we need your help to do this. We’re looking for images and feedback, so search the Attic and get involved.
Vincent Surratt He volunteers as Archives Director for the Rainbow History Project. Collette Combs I work there as a volunteer.
The post Bookstore Blocks Off Street appeared first on Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News.
Source: Washington Blade: LGBTQ News, Politics, LGBTQ Rights, Gay News – www.washingtonblade.com
