Every week, WTOP is celebrating a Pride Hero who has made a difference in the LGBTQ+ community in the D.C. area as part of our Pride Month coverage. Check back all throughout June as we share these stories on air and online.
A year after L. Page “Deacon” Maccubbin opened the gay bookstore Lambda Rising in 1974, he was talking to friends about going to a Pride celebration in New York City.
“Somebody said, ‘Why don’t we do something in Washington,'” said Maccubbin. “I thought ‘That’s a wonderful idea, let’s do it.'”
Maccubbin went to work instantly. He decided to hold a Gay Pride block party right in front of Lambda Rising on 1724 20th Street NW in D.C.’s Dupont Circle neighborhood.
One of the first things Maccubbin was required to do by the city was to check with his neighbors.
“We had the support of more than 51% of the people in the neighborhood to sign a petition allowing us to close the block off,” Maccubbin told WTOP.
Knowing he needed help to organize such a big event, Maccubbin hired his friend Bob Carpenter. They got the word out by putting flyers in all of the gay bars in D.C.
So, at 1 p.m. on June 22, 1975, the D.C. Gay Pride Party was set to begin. But there was a problem.
“At 10 minutes to one, there was no one on the street,” Maccubbin said.
Carpenter was nervous and, according to Maccubbin, was wringing his hands, and said, “No one is going to show up.”
“I said, ‘Don’t worry Bob, they’ll be here. They are just on ‘gay time.’ … Not long after, we had 2,000 people,” Maccubbin said.
Maccubbin shared these memories with WTOP from the steps of where his bookstore was once located, overlooking the location of D.C.’s first annual Pride event.
“We had bands playing. Politicians stopping by to say hello. All the neighbors came out,” Maccubbin said. “It was an incredible experience.”
Also showing up that day was a local TV news crew.
Maccubbin made a deal with the reporters: They were only allowed to film on one side of the street. Everyone at the block party was told if they didn’t want to be on television, they should stand on the other side of the street.
- PHOTOS: 2024 Capital Pride and Block Party in DC
- Capital Pride’s test run for World Pride
- ‘Pride Prom’ welcomes DC-area high school students
- LGBTQ+ Pride Month is starting to show its colors around the world. What to know
- Mayor Bowser kicks off DC pride celebrations with the raising of the rainbow flag
“There were some people that were concerned about their jobs or their family seeing them,” said Maccubbin.
Not everyone was pleased with the work Maccubbin was doing for the gay community. Not only did Maccubbin have to deal with a lot of harassment over the phone, the windows of his bookstore were broken and they received bomb threats.
Every time there was an incident, Maccubbin and his staff would head to the bookstore and keep going.
“We had to stand up and be counted. We weren’t going anywhere,” said Maccubbin’s husband, Jim Bennett. “More and more people stood up and said we’re not taking this crap anymore.”
The bad memories have now faded, and Maccubbin thinks more about the role he played in the creating an event that would one day bring hundreds of thousands of people to D.C. to celebrate who they are.
“There is rarely a week that goes by that I don’t hear from somebody that talks about coming out at Pride or coming out in our bookstore, Lambda Rising,” Maccubbin said. “Because it was the first place they felt welcome.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
