Why is Dupont Circle important to DC's LGBTQ community? A look back

Rainbow History Project takes over Freedom Plaza

A visit to Freedom Plaza right now will take you on a walk through history. To celebrate their 25th anniversary and D.C. hosting World Pride, the Rainbow History Project has a new exhibit there. FOX 5's Gwen Tolbart is there to show us.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Park Police and DC Police confirmed on Friday that Dupont Circle would be closed for what may be the largest pride festival in the District’s history, drawing criticism from DC leaders and the LGBTQ community. But why is Dupont Circle important in DC’s Pride history? 

June 1992: Gay Pride Festival in DC

A look back at 1992's Gay Pride Parade and Festival in Washington, D.C.

D.C. Pride and Dupont Circle

The backstory:

The first Pride festival was a block party organized by LGBT bookstore Lambda Rising in 1975, then located three blocks north of Dupont Circle on 20th and S St NW. The store closed in 2010, after 35 years of business. 

1979 Gay Rights March in Washington D.C.

In 1979, a Gay Rights March brought thousands from across the country to Washington D.C.

By 1981, a parade was added as part of the annual festivities, starting at Meridian Hill Park and ending at Dupont Circle. Parade routes in the 90s traveled along P Street through Dupont Circle before traveling south to Freedom Plaza. 

1983 Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in Washington D.C.

The Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in 1983 finished with a festival at P Street Beach.

1984 Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in Washington D.C.

The Gay and Lesbian Pride Day in 1984 featured a parade and a festival in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.

Dig deeper:

The larger Dupont Circle neighborhood has long been considered one of D.C. prominent gay neighborhoods. 

Every Halloween since 1986, a High Heel Drag Queen Race takes place on 17th Street, two blocks away from Dupont Circle. 

The race made headlines in 1991 when police arrested six men at the unpermitted event, using what many called "excessive force" to break up the revelry. An investigation into the officers followed, as well as an apology from D.C.’s then Mayor Sharon Pratt. 

1991 High Heel Race: Police accused of using excessive force

On Halloween night in 1991, the now-iconic High Heel Race along 17th Street Street was not supposed to take place after permits were turned down. But members of the gay community gathered to hold the race anyway -- prompting the arrests of six men. D.C. police was accused of using excessive force in the arrests, and an investigation followed. D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt apologized following the incident.

D.C. Gay Rights in the 1960s

Big picture view:

D.C. has a deep history of gay rights activism throughout the last six decades. 

In 1965, the DC chapter of the Mattachine Society picketed for gay rights in front of the White House – four years before the Stonewall Riots in New York City. 

Dr. Frank Kameny, a federal employee who was fired from his job for suspected homosexuality in 1957, served co-founded the Mattachine Society and organized the first of many White House pickets in the summer of 1965. 

Frank Kameny talks about fighting for gay rights in the 60s in 1991 interview

From the FOX 5 DC archives, gay rights activist Frank Kameny talked about his decades of fighting for gay rights in Washington D.C., from picketing the White House in 1965 to the founding of the Gay Task Force in 1973 into the Aids crisis.

Kameny told FOX 5 DC in a 1991 interview that D.C. had a "repressive kind of atmosphere" in the early 60s. 

"The vice squad had been set up … to, in effect, hunt down gays and create occasions for arresting us so that we could be thrown out of the civil service, out of civil service jobs, because at that point simply being gay was a disqualifier for federal employment," said Kameny. 

But Kameny also described the 60s as a "wonderful time to be doing anything and exciting and stimulating."

"Nothing had been done and everything had remained to be done and we went out and did it. And we could, and we accomplished things," said Kameny. "Nowadays the road has a few more rocks. 

Watch more archival footage from D.C.'s Pride history on FOX LOCAL.