Pride Month 2024: Ways to Celebrate Across the U.S.

Parades, festivals and exhibits salute LGBTQ+ community

Cady Stanton,

AARP

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En español

Published May 30, 2024

group of Americans celebrating Pride Month

This year, Pride Month coincides with the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, which began June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. Celebrations throughout the month will include museum exhibits and traditional Pride parades.

Photo Collage: AARP (Source: Getty Images (5))

Members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies come together every June to celebrate Pride Month to showcase history, cherish diversity and find community with others.

LGBTQ+, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning, plus other sexual and gender minorities, is a term that includes anyone with a gender identity or sexual orientation other than cisgender or straight.

Pride Month has been celebrated in the United States and around the world for decades and was first recognized by President Bill Clinton in 1999 as Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. President Barack Obama changed the designation to LGBT Pride Month in 2009, and President Joe Biden amended it to LGBTQ Pride Month in 2021.

According to a Gallup poll conducted in 2023, 7.6 percent of U.S. adults identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. This includes 4.5 percent of Generation X, 2.3 percent of boomers and 1.1 percent of the silent generation. The percentage of U.S. adults who identify as something other than heterosexual has more than doubled since the poll was first conducted in 2012.

This year, Pride coincides with the 55th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, which began June 28, 1969, in New York City. Early that morning, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular club in Greenwich Village. But unlike in previous raids, patrons did not leave and clashed with police in a confrontation that included hundreds of demonstrators. The riots continued into the following week. This Pride Month marks a larger reason for a celebration of the resilience of the LGBTQ+ community through decades of discrimination. In fact, the Stonewall National Monument Visitor Center is opening June 28 with a private event. AARP is a founding sponsor of the visitor center.

“Pride Month in particular is an opportunity to elevate that shared history of the community banding together to raise their voices to make sure again that they refuse to be invisible, they’re heard,” says Christina Da Costa, chief experience officer at SAGE, an advocacy group for LGBTQ+ older adults.

Pride Month celebrations will occur throughout the country in many forms, from virtual education events and museum exhibits to traditional Pride parades. Anyone is welcome to participate in Pride events, whether they’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community, have a loved one who is or just want to show support as an ally.

Spectators line T Street NW during the Capital Pride Parade in Washington D.C., on Saturday, June 10, 2023.

“Totally Radical” is the theme for the annual Pride parade in Washington, D.C.

Credit: Tom Williams/Getty Images

Parades and festivals

Parades, concerts and festivals are trademark events of Pride every June, and there are plenty of ways to participate.

Capital Pride in Washington, D.C., is hosting its annual Pride Parade on June 8 from 3 to 7:30 p.m. Its theme will be “Totally Radical.,” “to capture the themes from the 1980s and ’90s in terms of how the community reacted to the growing acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, and also how we reacted to the AIDS crisis,” says Bernie Delia, a board member of Capital Pride.

Dallas Pride is hosting a music festival with a “Unity in the Community” theme on June 1 ($10 for 13 and older; $8 for 65-plus). The city’s Pride Parade will be held June 2 from 2 to 4:30 p.m. in Fair Park. The event will include a festival and vendors. Admission is free.

New Orleans Pride celebrations include New Orleans PrideFest, starting at 11 a.m. on June 8. A Pride parade that loops through the French Quarter and ends on Bourbon Street follows at 6 p.m.

Capital City Pride in Des Moines, Iowa, is hosting PrideFest from June 7 through June 9. The festivities include a Capital City Pride Stride 5K at 8 a.m. on June 8 and a Pride parade at noon on June 9.

Museums and exhibits

Cultural institutions around the country are offering opportunities to learn about LGBTQ+ history during Pride Month.

In Virginia, the Fredericksburg Area Museum is opening its “Out and About” LGBTQ+ exhibit, which focuses on the history and stories of LGBTQ+ residents in the area. The museum has been collecting stories through monthly mixers and has its last mixer June 1 at 4 p.m.

The American Museum of Western Art in Denver hosts a series of “Queer Frontier” art discussions in June. The conversations will explore art with connections to the evolving history of gender and sexuality, including an event on “Conflicting Ideas of Gender and Sexuality in the Old West” on June 14 at 3 p.m.

The Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts, has a mini exhibit titled “Maximus to Aquarius: Gerrit Lansing and Set Magazine.”

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The Hammond Castle Museum in Gloucester, Massachusetts, has a Pride Month mini exhibit starting June 7 titled “Maximus to Aquarius: Gerrit Lansing and Set Magazine.” The museum has a reception on June 9 and curated readings to celebrate the city as a significant site in the history of Queer American poetry. The reception starts at 6:30 p.m., with the readings following at 7 p.m. Registration is $30.

In Brooklyn Park, Maryland, the Chesapeake Arts Center will have a Pride Month Exhibition from June 13 to July 31, including a free opening reception June 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. with complimentary drinks and light snacks.

Walking tours and social events

In Washington, D.C., the Capital Pride Alliance is hosting the “Beyond the Closet Walking Tour: Service, Persecution & Liberation in Washington DC.” The series of tours of D.C. buildings explores the perspectives of government employees who were persecuted because of their sexual orientation. The tours ($25, registration required) will be offered throughout June from 9:30 a.m. to noon.

On June 1, Pride Across the Bridge, based in the Eastside neighborhood outside Seattle, has its monthly Rainbow Elder Breakfast at Carnation Cafe in Carnation, Washington, from 10:30 a.m. to noon.

On June 6, AARP Minnesota is hosting a decades dinner from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at Create Catering & The Dining Studio in Minneapolis. Participants will be placed with individuals from different age groups for an intergenerational conversation. Registration is required.

If you’d prefer to find community online, AARP Oregon is collaborating with the Generations Project to host a monthly virtual social gathering. June’s gathering will be from noon to 1:15 p.m. on June 25 over Zoom to connect people within the LGBTQ+ community and allies using writing and discussion prompts. Registration is required.

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