Photo by Lauren PMIn addition to Memorial Day’s veterans, motorcycles and the inaugural summer barbecue parties, many people in the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community are also celebrating Black Pride.
Held a few weeks before the larger Capital Pride, this four-day festival raises awareness of HIV/AIDS in the African American community and LGBT diversity.
Black Pride originated from the days of The Club House, a now-shuttered, members-only nightclub popular among the African American gay community. Opened in 1975, it reportedly had 3,600 members from all over the world, according to The Post on June 19, 1990. The Club House, once located on 1294-1296 Upshur Street, NW, was also known for hosting an all-night soiree during the Memorial Day weekend that attracted many people from the LGBT community all over the country.
AIDS, however, took a toll on the club. By 1985, membership dwindled when many of its members started dying of AIDS.
“By May, we had close to 300 names [of members] that we had lost,” The Club House founder Audrea Scott told The Post in 1990. “For a community that was in denial [about AIDS], the sudden realization that this was happening in the black community began to slap people in the face.”
The Club House closed its doors on May 1990. A year later, DC Black Pride was started not only to continue the legacy of the popular club, but also shed more light on how the HIV/AIDS epidemic was affecting the African American community. The organization was also the first of its kind in the world when it was established, according to Earl Fowlkes, president/CEO of the International Federation of Black Pride.
“There are 38 Black Prides in the world and D.C. started it,” said Fowlkes, who’s also a board member of DCBP.
