Several branches of the District of Columbia Public Libraries held a “Children’s Pride Parade” and festival Saturday to celebrate Pride Month in June.
Attendees — which largely included families, teenagers, children and infants — gathered at Montrose Park around a half-hour before the parade’s planned 11:00 a.m. start time. Parade staff passed out paraphernalia, including LGBT pride flags, LGBT stickers, rainbow lanyards and boom sticks. The parade staff also passed around makeshift pro-LGBT signs they said were made by children. Some of the signs featured messages such as “Pride not prejudice” and “Proud to be me.” The event also featured a color guard, donning and twirling rainbow flags in a synchronized fashion. The parade route featured a very heavy police presence, with a significant number of police cars and numerous officers patrolling the area.
Many people brought their small children. Parade organizers passed out makeshift pro-LGBT signs they said were made by children themselves pic.twitter.com/WpzuNoYheT
— Corey Walker (@CoreyWriting) June 3, 2023
The march towards Georgetown Public Library started around 11:00 a.m. and stretched 0.3 miles, according to documents acquired by the Daily Signal. Presumed students from Duke Ellington School of the Arts’ Gender & Sexuality Alliance marched at the front of the parade with an “Art is pride” banner. Other participants marching alongside presumed Duke Ellington students waved the 2013 iteration of LGBT flags which include the symbol for intersex pride. The parade ended at the library parking lot, where participants entered through a rainbow-colored arch made of balloons. (RELATED: Biden Admin Flies Pride Flag At US Embassy In The Vatican)
Duke Ellington School of the Arts Gender and Sexuality Alliance was in attendance as well. pic.twitter.com/gLqFXMzo83
— Corey Walker (@CoreyWriting) June 3, 2023
The festival featured a large variety of pro-LGBT content aimed towards children. One table donned rainbow-colored paper glasses with messages including, “Love is love” and “Pride.” The table also featured small paper signs reading “Come out party” and “Can’t hide our pride.” Another table carried a variety of LGBT-themed cards and bookmarks with an adjacent coloring table for children to mark them with. One bookmark featured famous transvestite RuPaul with a quote reading, “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag.”
The festival after the parade featured paper cards and bookmarks for children to color on. One bookmark featured transvestite RuPaul with the quote “We are all born naked the rest is drag pic.twitter.com/qWvbVHrioS
— Corey Walker (@CoreyWriting) June 3, 2023
The event offered a table of booklets produced by Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). The literature included titles such as “Be Yourself: Questions and Answers For Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, and Questioning Youth,” “Our Children: Questions and Answers for Loved Ones of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual+, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning People,” “Our Trans Loved Ones: Questions and Answers for Loved Ones of People Who are Transgender or Nonbinary” and “Guide To Being A Trans Ally.”
PFLAG’s website says “Be Yourself” offers a supportive and understanding approach to today’s most common questions and concerns from youth regarding sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.”
Be Yourself disputes the existence of the gender binary in favor of a gender “continuum,” saying, “gender expression can change over time as we have new experiences and aware of new ideas.”
There was a table with booklets provided by PFLAG. The books guided youth and their parents on gender identity and sexual identity issues. Some titles include “Our Children” and “Our Trans Loved Ones” pic.twitter.com/oS6gF60CMX
— Corey Walker (@CoreyWriting) June 3, 2023
The festival featured a poster titled “Fly The Flag” which listed dozens of pride flag variants with labels and definitions. These flags include “Queer People of Color,” which purportedly gained popularity during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and claims to represent the “frequent intersection of the struggle for both racial and queer equality.” also included was the “Two Spirit,” which the poster says represents a “Native American identity for someone with both a male and female essence or spirit.”
This display says that gender and sexual identities can change over time. pic.twitter.com/qXb957RF8y
— Corey Walker (@CoreyWriting) June 3, 2023
Other pride flags featured on the poster include: nonbinary, demigender, agender, genderfluid, genderqueer, demisexual, pansexual and transgender
The poster claims to be a “brief” introduction into the various pride flags, referring to the “LGBTQ Who?” brochure for more identities. The poster claims the brochure does not describe every existing LGBTQ+ identity.
“If yours isn’t listed, it is still valid!” the poster reads.
“And if your labels change over time, that’s perfectly fine, too.”