Pride Prom, Paint For Pride: Pride Month Celebrations In Alexandria

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Pride Month continues through June, with several ways in Alexandria to participate in the celebration of LGBTQ culture, rights and identity.

The City of Alexandria officially kicked off Pride Month with its Alexandria Pride Month Kick Off at Market Square last Saturday. The city will also cohost the "New York State of Mind" Pride Prom with Safe Space NOVA on June 16 from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. for high school students in the DC region. It will be held at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105. N. Union St., Alexandria, VA.

The Pride Prom will include a live DJ, food, drink, dancing, photography, a blacklight body painting rave room, prom swag, local vendors, door prizes, drag shows, art activities, a live mural painting and more. High school attendees can bring one guest aged 20 or under.

Other events include:

• PRIDE Drag Brunch at King & Rye: June 10, 11 a.m.
• Washington Blade Pride on the Pier and Fireworks Show: June 10, 2 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Capital Pride Parade, June 10, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., Capital Pride festivities throughout June
• Capital Pride Block Party, June 10, 12 p.m. to 10 p.m., Capital Pride festivities throughout June
• Vice Mayor Amy Jackson's Paint for Pride at Lost Boy Cider: June 11, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
• Create Perler Bead Pride Flags at Beatley Central Library: June 21, 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• Arlington Pride Weekend: June 23-25
• Pride Celebration at Lost Boy Cider, June 23, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
• LGBTQ+ Pride Month Social at Evening Star Cafe: June 24, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.
• Pride ThrowDown at CrossFit Sand and Steel: June 24, 9 a.m.

Pride Month occurs during June in deference to the Stonewall Uprising, a tipping point in the struggle for equality among people who identify as LGBTQ. New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Such raids were common, but patrons fought back, resulting in days of violent clashes across Greenwich village.

The observance started as Gay Pride Day on the last Sunday in June, but soon grew to the point that June calendars are packed with pride parades, parties, workshops, symposiums and concerts across the nation and around the world.

In Virginia, about 3.9 percent of the adult population — or 308,000 people 13 and older — identify as LGBTQ, according to the Movement Advance Project, which tracks legislation targets. They represent 4 percent of Virginia's workforce, or 197,000 people.

The organization gives Virginia 25.5 points out of a possible 43.5 points. Our state received 11 points out of a possible 20 for sexual orientation policy and 14.5 points out of a possible 23 for gender policy. The overall ranking was graded “medium.”

Pride Month 2023 occurs amid a historic surge in bills targeting LGBTQ rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Nearly 500 pieces of legislation nationwide have been filed in state legislatures this year, according to the ACLU tracking.

As reported by the Washington Blade, there were 12 bills affecting LGBTQ rights, including those impacting transgender youth, proposed during the 2023 Virginia General Assembly session. All of those were rejected by the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate.

However, a committee in the Republican-controlled Virginia House did not advance legislation that would eliminate the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed by Virginia voters to define marriage as between a man and woman. While that amendment remains in the Virginia constitution, same-sex marriage is legal due to a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision.

“LGBTQ people are under fire, unlike possibly ever before and across virtually every aspect of our lives,” Logan S. Casey, a senior researcher at Movement Advancement Project, told The Washington Post in April. “This is part of a very clear and identifiable national effort in state legislatures that is and has been going on for years — and it’s really culminating this year.”