[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 6]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 8086]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          HONORING THE 20TH ANNUAL DC BLACK PRIDE CELEBRATION

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 12, 2010

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the 20th Annual 
DC Black Pride celebration, which will be held in Washington, DC on May 
26-31.
  The DC Black Pride celebration is a multiple-day festival that 
features music, dance, fashion shows, films, poetry slams, church 
services, community town hall meetings, a health and wellness expo, and 
much more. 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 Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, Great Britain, 
France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
  At the very first Black Pride, the DC Black Pride celebration 
fostered the beginning of the International Federation of Black Prides 
and the ``Black Pride Movement,'' which now consist of forty Black 
Prides on three continents.
  The DC Black Pride celebration has deep roots in the DC community, 
dating back to 1975. It grew out of the Club House's annual Memorial 
Day weekend celebration, called the Children's Hour. After the Club 
House closed in 1990, local individuals and groups kept the tradition 
alive by organizing the first DC Black Pride celebration on May 25, 
1991, at Banneker Field. The celebration has grown from a few hundred 
people who attended that first festival to the thousands expected for 
the 2010 celebration.
  Fittingly, the celebration's organizing body, Black Lesbian and Gay 
Pride Day, Inc., chose ``20 Years Later, The Legacy Lives!'' as the 
theme for this year's celebration. This theme reflects the 20 years of 
DC Black Pride of fulfilling the mission, which is to increase 
awareness of and pride in the diversity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual 
and transgender in the African American community, as well as support 
for organizations that focus on health disparities, education, youth 
and families.
  DC Black Pride is led by a volunteer Board of Directors, which 
coordinates this annual event and smaller events throughout the year. 
The 2010 Board consists of: Patricia Corbett; Jimma Elliott-Stevens; 
Earl Fowlkes, Jr.; and Jhahbriel Moore, Sr.
  I ask the House to join me in welcoming all who are attending the 
20th Annual DC Black Pride celebration.

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