Celebrate Pride with Us at Gays & Graves: A Big Gay Festival!
Sunday, June 14th at Historic Congressional Cemetery 11 am – 4 pm.
Gays & Graves: A Big Gay Festival returns for a 2nd time to Historic Congressional Cemetery for a Pride celebration rooted in history, remembrance, and community.
As a National Historic Landmark and the final resting place of numerous LGBTQ+ activists and pioneers, Congressional Cemetery offers a one-of-a-kind meaningful setting to reflect on the struggles and achievements that have shaped LGBTQ+ life in Washington and across the nation. Today, it is not only a place of memory, but an active civic landscape where people gather to learn, connect, and celebrate.
Throughout the day, visitors can explore an outdoor market featuring LGBTQ+ and allied artists, makers, and small businesses, as well as programming in the historic chapel and the grounds focused on LGBTQ+ history and lived experience. This year’s festival will include a special commemorative wreath-laying with activist Randy Wicker at the grave of Leonard Matlovich, alongside the unveiling of new interpretive signage for the Cemetery’s LGBTQ+ section.
Whether you’re here to shop, learn or reflect, Gays & Graves is a celebration you don’t want to miss.
Mark your calendars and be part of this unforgettable day of Pride where LGBTQ+ history and legacy lives.
Dogs Allowed on Leash!
Event Schedule
11:00 am – Festival Opens
11:30 am – Opening Remarks from Miriam Julianna, the artist behind Eon’s Cranes Project
Noon – Panel discussion with Miriam and Chuck Goldfarb of the Rainbow History Project in the HCC Chapel
2:00 pm – Gay Corner Rededication Ceremony with Activist Randy Wicker
3:00 pm – Drag Story Hour with Charlemagne Chateau in HCC Chapel
4:00 pm – Festival Closes
All Day Activities (11 am – 4 pm)
Make your own buttons and tree twirlers with HCC and Merry Pin
Zine workshop led by Lillie Jay Harris
Make your own charm bracelet with Merry Pin (fee charged)
Community Wishing Tree project with Diane D’Costa
About Our Speaker:
Randy Wicker will be our keynote speaker for a special ceremony to dedicate new signage at our beloved Gay Corner.
Photo by Stas Ginzburg
He has fought for civil rights and equality for all since 1958. He was one of the youngest members of the Mattachine Society of New York, advocating to educate the public about homosexuality more than a decade before Stonewall. He was one of the first open homosexuals to speak on radio and television, and the first organizer of a gay picket in the United States. He ran a counterculture button shop, and later an antique lamp shop in the Village—which employed and supported countless artists, street people, and queer folks from 1974 to 2003.
Wicker (in front) participated in the first organized gay protest in front of the White House on May 29, 1965.
From that lamp shop, Wicker campaigned for an investigation into the death of his late roommate Marsha P. Johnson, who is a transgender activist icon, Stonewall veteran, and the house mother of Wicker’s extended gay family. He is also the world’s first activist for
the right to human cloning. Wicker has continued to march for Marsha, Sylvia Rivera, and for all transgender people whose names have gone unrecognized, and for queer liberation worldwide!
