By 1984, it had expanded to a week-long event and by 1987 an estimated 28,000 attendees came to the street festival and parade. The event drew 2,000 people its first year and grew to 10,000 people covering 3 blocks in 1979. But the healthcare organization came under significant financial pressures, and in 2008 turned over producing duties to a new organization, Capital Pride Alliance. Whitman-Walker became the sole sponsor in 2000. Whitman-Walker Clinic (WWC) joined One In Ten as co-sponsor of the event in 1997, at which time the event's name was changed to Capital Pride. Financial difficulties led a new organization, One In Ten, to take over planning of the festival. In 1991, the event moved to the week prior to Father's Day. It changed its name to Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in 1981. In 1980 the P Street Festival Committee formed to take over planning.
It was founded as Gay Pride Day, a one-day block party and street festival, in 1975. Marchers hold the Capital Pride banner during the 37th Capital Pride parade on June 9, 2012.Ĭapital Pride is an annual LGBT pride festival held in early June each year in Washington, D.C.
