[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 82 (Thursday, May 17, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1086]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE 17TH ANNUAL DC BLACK PRIDE CELEBRATION

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 17, 2007

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-27, is the 
17th Annual Black Pride celebration in Washington, DC.
  DC Black Pride is an exciting 5-day event complete with dynamic 
workshops, receptions, cultural arts activities, small and large 
nightclub events that culminates in the world's oldest, most inclusive 
Black Pride Festival in the Washington Convention Center. Many consider 
DC's festival one of the world's preeminent Black Pride celebrations. 
The festival consistently draws more than 30,000 people to the Nation's 
Capital. Attendees come from every major urban area in the United 
States as well as Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, Great Britain, 
France, Germany, and the Netherlands. The Black Pride Festival features 
activities for the entire family, including performances by national 
recording artists, 200 exhibition booths, book signings from noted 
writers, participation from national and local health organizations, 
and arts and crafts.
  Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, Inc. (BLGPD), the celebration's 
organizing body, chose the theme ``Black All Over: Liberty-Unity-
Strength'' to encourage the Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans 
gender (LGBT) community to work together towards combating homophobia, 
promoting health and wellness, strengthening their community, and 
encouraging Black LGBT people everywhere to live their lives with 
pride.
  Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day, Inc., a non-profit organization with 
a volunteer Board of Directors, coordinates this annual event. BLGPD's 
2007 Board consists of James W. Hawkins, President; Ray Daniels, Vice 
President; Janisha Gabriel, Secretary; Lisa Washington, Treasurer; and 
the following Members at Large: Donovan Anderson, Khalid Parker, 
Courtney Snowden, Sterling A. Washington, Shanika Whitehurst, DaJuan 
Xavier; and these Members Emeritus: Earl Fowlkes, Eric E. Richardson, 
Clarence J. Fluker, and Cheryl Dunn, who lead BLGPD in its mission to 
build knowledge of and to create greater pride in the Black LGBT 
community's diversity, while raising funds to ameliorate and prevent 
health problems in this community, especially HIV/AIDS.
  I ask the House to join me in welcoming all attending the 17th annual 
DC Black Pride celebration in Washington, DC, and I take this 
opportunity to remind the celebrants that United States citizens who 
reside in Washington, DC, are taxed without full voting representation 
in Congress.

                          ____________________