[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 17, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         RECOGNIZING THE 23RD ANNUAL DC BLACK PRIDE CELEBRATION

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 17, 2013

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, as the Supreme Court considers two historic 
marriage equality cases, I rise today to ask the House of 
Representatives to join me in recognizing the 23rd annual DC Black 
Pride celebration, to be held in Washington, DC on May 24-26, 2013.
  The DC Black Pride celebration is a multi-day festival featuring a 
reception, films, a poetry slam, a church service, educational 
workshops, community town hall meetings, a basketball tournament, and a 
health and wellness expo, among other events. We in the District of 
Columbia are pleased and proud that the DC Black Pride celebration 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.
  We are particularly proud that the DC Black Pride was the very first 
Black Pride celebration and fostered the beginning of the Center for 
Black Equity (formerly known as the International Federation of Black 
Prides, Inc. (IFBP)) 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, has chosen ``Step Up and Be Heard'' 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 the Black LGBT 
community. 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.
  We congratulate the DC Black Pride board of directors, coordinator of 
the annual event and smaller events throughout the year: Andrea Woody-
Macko; Derrick Dunning; Earl Fowlkes, Jr; June Spence; Kenneth Hopson; 
Kenya Hutton; Lauren Morris; Leandrea Gilliam; Marc Morgan; and Robert 
``Harold'' Dinkins.
  I ask the House of Representatives to join me in welcoming all 
attending the 23rd annual DC Black Pride celebration in Washington, 
D.C., and I take this opportunity to remind the celebrants that the 
American citizens who reside in Washington, D.C. are taxed without full 
voting representation in Congress.

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