For the first time, Capital Pride Alliance, Washington, D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride organization, will host a brunch instead of an evening reception to honor local leaders and organizations that have made significant contributions to the region’s LGBTQ community.
The event, titled “The Audacity Brunch: In Full Fuchsia,” will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel on Sunday, June 7 from noon to 3 p.m. Guests are encouraged to wear fuchsia to “symbolize empowerment and unapologetic self-expression.”
The event begins with a pre-program cocktail social at 11:30 a.m., followed by the official program at noon. At brunch, chef-selected Mediterranean, Latin American, Asian, American and Washington, D.C.-inspired dishes will be served at a variety of stations, as well as desserts, cocktails and mocktails. Entertainment includes drag and burlesque performances.
At the brunch, Capital Pride Alliance will present several awards to local changemakers and community leaders.
This year’s Heroes Award winners are:
- Media personality and digital strategist Benjamin Coy is co-host of the podcast “Cocktails and Culture” and host of the National LGBTQ Task Force’s Instagram Live series “X Is a Queer Issue.”
- Charity Blackwell is an award-winning spoken word artist, poet, educator, and cultural curator.
- Darryl Hamilton is a community advocate and social worker focused on creating spaces for the Black queer community.
- Thea Cano, artistic director of the Rock Creek Singers and Potomac Fever, a gay men’s choir and ensemble in Washington, D.C.;
- Kendall Martinez-Wright is a community organizer who works on public health issues as a government official and policy director for the Treatment Action Group.
- Lee Livingston Perine is a Washington, DC-based curator, creative producer, community historian, and founder of Black in Space, an LGBTQ+ arts collective dedicated to Black joy, creativity, and liberation through storytelling, archival work, and public programming.
This year’s Paving the Way Award will be presented to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, a longtime civil rights activist who has demonstrated decades of leadership in advancing voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, worker rights, and equal access.
Mayor Muriel Bowser will receive the Key to Capital Pride Award for her consistent support of LGBTQ equality, visibility and community initiatives in the District. Among other accomplishments, Mayor Bowser helped the Capital Pride Alliance earn the honor of hosting WorldPride Washington, DC in 2025.
Capital Pride Alliance will also recognize those who have made significant contributions to the transgender and non-binary community with the Savannah Wanzer Visibility Award, named after transgender activist Savannah Wanzer, who passed away in April. The honorees are Dylan Drobish, co-executive director of TransUSA National Pageantry, who previously served as Mr. TransUSA 202 and operations manager for the Gay United States Pageantry System, and Tyler Huck, founder and executive director of the transgender advocacy organization Christopher Street Project.
The recipients of the Larry Stansberry Award for “exemplary contributions” to Pride were CheerDC, a volunteer-led nonprofit that raises energy, awareness, and resources for Washington, D.C.’s LGBTQ community, and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, a Washington, D.C. government agency that advocates for and supports LGBTQ people and businesses.
The Bill Miles Award for Outstanding Volunteerism, given to an individual who has made an “exemplary contribution” to the Capital Pride Alliance and its programs, will be presented to Judy Schloss, a photographer who volunteers at Capital Pride events and is a member of the organization’s media team, and Patrick McGee, a volunteer photographer and member of the Capital Pride Alliance’s media team.
The Breaking Barriers Award is presented to Darrell Wood, a Norfolk, Virginia-based nonprofit leader, artist, and engineer whose work focuses on creative healing, community advocacy, and LGBTQ empowerment. As founder and executive director of Cues For Cancer, Wood has been an advocate for LGBTQ people fighting cancer. Also recognized is Tyler Cargill, a gender fluid educator, anthropologist, and DEI advocate who uses activism, art, and fashion to promote cultural understanding and elevate marginalized voices.
The Bernie Delia Award, named after the late Capital Pride Alliance co-founder Bernie Delia, who passed away in 2024, will be presented to Dai Nguyen, a public sector leader, advocate, Capital Pride Alliance board member, and longtime volunteer.
“The Audacity Brunch: In Full Fuchsia” will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel, 2800 Pennsylvania Ave. NW on Sunday, June 7th from 11:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. visit tickets.capitalpride.org.
Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
