VISIT THE EXHIBIT

The free outdoor exhibition will also host 51 days of first amendment activities at Freedom Plaza, including:

• Daily docent-led exhibit tours,
• A celebration on Mattachine Society founder Frank Kameny’s 100th birthday,
• Black Pride,
• Latinx Pride,
• Trans Pride,
• Queer-affirming religious events,
• Community Pioneers Ribbon Cutting,
• Discussions,
• and more.

More events will be announced ahead of the exhibit opening.

Interested in program partnership?

RHP is looking for potential partnership activities to host in this 18-acre space. Send us an email at pride@rainbowhistory.org to learn more.

SIGN UP TO BE A DOCENT

We will offer daily docent-led tours from 7:00pm-8:00pm.
Our docent training curriculum consists of three parts:

Part 1 – Independent Online Study
When: Start now!
What: Learn about the 10 eras featured in the exhibit, published in the Washington Blade. (See links at the bottom of the page!)

Part 2 – Virtual Training
When: April 22 and April 29 at 7:00pm (only need to attend one session)
What: Led by the founder of a local walking tour company, this training will prepare docents on how to conduct themselves as tour guides, both in communicating and physicality.

Part 3 – Onsite Exhibition Orientation
When: May 18 at 7:00pm
What: Docents will conduct a walk-through of the exhibit with the Senior Curator and Exhibit Team members.

DEVELOPING THE EXHIBIT

Since 2023, RHP’s research team – led by Board Member & Senior Curator, Vincent Slatt, and Assistant Curator and Image Coordinator Colette Combs – has been working diligently on this Project. This Project began by revisiting RHP’s online exhibition PRIDE: Party or Protest?, digging into the concept that Pride is over 30 years old yet the LGBTQ+ community is still working to write the story of Pride. This exhibition is the culmination of 25 years of RHP’s work and is the largest in RHP’s history. 

Slatt, Combs, and volunteers worked for the past two years, exploring RHP’s physical collection of documents, manuscripts and photographs has its home at the DC History Center as well as archives from across the United States, reaching out to Community Pioneers, and forging connections within the community.

RHP has shared every step of the research and exhibit development process, receiving community feedback throughout the two year process. By providing public updates and community listening sessions we have be enabled to telling a more complete story and recruit volunteers.

“This project started as a celebration and recognition of DC and nationwide gay rights pioneers. In the current environment, as the progress we’ve made and the very existence of some of our community members is under attack, it is also a protest–we’re still here, and we’re not going anywhere.” – Monika F. (she/her), Volunteer

“Research for this exhibit has been beyond inspiring to me. To see the ways our community has resisted and celebrated our existence despite the many hardships and attempts to silence us is a reminder that we are one moment in a long, shared history of queer joy and queer liberation.” – Karen (she/her), Volunteer