Pride Tour Information

From the White House to the Tenderloin, the national and local fight for political, economic, and cultural inclusion and equal rights for the LGBTQIA+ community emerged across the 20th century. Join us on a Pride Highlights tour and explore Cruising, the Lavender Scare, Drag, the AIDS Crisis, Black Queer Spaces, Activism, and much more.

This tour will explore milestones in the history of the American Gay Rights Movement across the last hundred years and the deep connections generations of activists have made together. From early civil rights organizations to advocating for equal access laws to the AIDS Crisis to the Respect For Marriage Act, guests will learn about the failures and successes of past and the continuation of the fight by a new generation of young activists.

From the late 19th century to the end of WWII, Downtown DC offered a variety of opportunities for socializing among the gay, lesbian, and bisexual (common parlance at the time) communities, albeit separately. From parks to pick-ups to policing, this tour will explore numerous cruising spots and former clubs as well as the experiences of drag balls and house parties catered to the these communities.

"Going out" has been part of America's cultural and social fabric since its earliest days when men would gather in taverns and pubs during the colonial period. At the dawn of the 20th century, the LGBTQIA+ community began to establish its own safe, queer spaces to socialize and organize, and by the 1960s, Washington DC offered a variety of bars where men and women gathered. These sites not only served as places to drink and dance but also as social clubs for the LGBTQIA+ community. On this tour, we will explore the history queer social spaces in the 20th century and the ways in which they served the community both socially and politically.

There have been gay men and lesbian women in the United States government from its earliest days, yet only in the 20th century did the fear of homosexuality begin to haunt Washington, DC. In the midst of the Cold War, being homosexual became closely intertwined with international communism with McCarthyism, resulting in personal attacks on gay men and lesbian women in the government. This Lavender Scare sparked political and cultural anxiety, leading to a half century witch hunt affecting the FBI, the CIA, the Civil Rights Movement, and the rise of the Christian Right. This tour will explore this narrative of fear in the government across the decades of the 20th century and the changes it imparted in the 21st century.

Today, the LGBTQIA+ community enjoys far more acceptance and visibility in the military than even a decade ago, yet the fight for equal recognition in the armed forces continues. On this tour, we will visit the war memorials on and around the National Mall and explore the experience of gay and lesbian soldiers in war from the American Revolution to the Vietnam War. We will also look at the changing nature of military policy in subsequent decades: the controversial implementation and repeal of the the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy; the modification of the Military Equal Opportunity policy to include gay and lesbian soldiers; and the continued fight for inclusion for transgender members of the military. This is a comprehensive tour of the LGBTQIA+ experience in the military from America's earliest days to present.