Capital Pride’s 2023 Theme is “Peace, Love, Revolution”
This year's celebration will feature familiar events, even as organizers keep an eye toward hosting a massive WorldPride blowout in 2025.
On Thursday, at its annual “Reveal” party at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco, the Capital Pride Alliance announced that its theme for the 2023 celebration of Pride in the nation’s capital is “Peace, Love, Revolution.”
The 2023 celebration, while important, is being overshadowed somewhat by Washington, D.C. having been recently named host city for WorldPride 2025, a global Pride event that typically draws millions of revelers and tourists.
Presenting such a large-scale celebration also underscores the need for Washington to rapidly increase its number of public venues — including LGBTQ nightclubs and bars — over the next two years to be able to meet the demand for spaces for parties or other events.
This year’s Pride celebration will feature the annual Pride Parade, which will follow the same route as last year, starting in Logan Circle and traveling to the West End via Rhode Island and Massachusetts Avenues NW, on Saturday, June 10.
The annual Pride Festival and Concert will be held in its normal spot, along Pennsylvania Avenue NW, between 7th to 3rd Streets NW, facing the U.S. Capitol dome, on Sunday, June 11.
Additionally, a Pride Block Party will be held on June 10 along 17th Street NW, in the historic Dupont Circle neighborhood.
“We are thrilled to introduce our theme for Capital Pride 2023 as we gear up to welcome the world to D.C.
in 2025, which is also the 50th Anniversary of Pride in DC,” Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said. “This year’s theme kicks off a three-year campaign leading into the message that we want to share with the world in 2025.”
This year’s theme references how social justice issues, especially those involving the LGBTQ community, were shaped by historical moments that turned into movements, dating as far back as the 1950s.
Those moments created a revolution that led to the achievement of expanded freedoms for the LGBTQ community. Peace and love refer to the motivation that inspired many LGBTQ pioneers, and later generations who looked up to them, to fight to achieve those goals.
At a time when lawmakers throughout the country are passing bills targeting the LGBTQ community, this year’s theme also serves as a reminder of the importance of taking direct action to defend LGBTQ rights — whether by protesting in the streets or lobbying government representatives to block or repeal such bills.
Through money raised at Capital Pride events and through partnerships with various sponsors, the Capital Pride Alliance was able to raise over $200,000 for its “Pride 365” fund.
That money allowed the organization to invest in and partner with The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community to establish a new community center for Washington, D.C., support partner organizations, and provide grants to local organizations, according to a press release from the Capital Pride Alliance.
A portion of the money raised by the Pride 365 fund also went to assist former employees of the now-shuttered Casa Ruby community center and support services organization.
“We are grateful for the contributions that we have received and for the assistance that we have been able to provide through the Pride 365 Fund,” said Ashley Smith, the president of the board of the Capital Pride Alliance. “As a community, let’s be sure to show our support to the many Pride organizations that also put on amazing programming throughout the year. In addition, we look forward to our partnership with The DC Center and the future opportunities that the new community center is going to provide us.”
For more information on Capital Pride, including a calendar of upcoming events, visit www.capitalpride.org.
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