Pride Guide

By Melissa Howsam and Lauren Kruchten

Believe it or not, Raleigh’s Pride Month all started with a Videri chocolate bar. It was June 2019, and $1 for every Raleigh Pride rainbow-decorated bar sold was donated to the LGBT Center of Raleigh. From there, a sweet (had to) partnership unfurled in the form of 40 events and $35,000 raised for the center during the proud org’s first year. 

Co-founded by Roxanne Lundy, Trey Roberts and Josh Lamm (fourth member David Moore joined the team last year), Raleigh Pride—now a 501(c)(3) that fundraises for its own programming but still works closely with the LGBT Center—snowballed very quickly, according to Lundy, because “clearly the community wanted to embrace celebrating Pride in June.”

It was a trip to love-filled NYC during Pride Month that served as a springboard for Lundy to join forces with Roberts and Lamm. “The city was just explosive with Pride celebrations, color and energy—it was so overwhelming in such a positive way,” she recalls of the inspo behind recreating a similar celebration here. 

“We were all blown away by the support,” Lundy says of Raleigh Pride Month’s inaugural year. “We thought Raleigh needed a little something—and clearly everyone else did too.”

Since Raleigh’s first inclusive celebration, the “pride is for everyone” mantra has manifested via loads of loving local businesses and organizations showing up to partner with and support Raleigh Pride. Now, Pride Month has become more important than ever—especially given Raleigh’s diminishing queer spaces (see “All in the Gayborhood” sidebar) and the denary of local anti-trans bills (see “The Ups & Downs of Pride History”). 

“Raleigh is a space for us and we have the power and ability to shape what it looks like,” says Roberts. “The city’s in its adolescence right now—figuring out who we’re gonna be in the future—and having a strong Pride presence will help ensure [Raleigh is] always inclusive.”

To propel that goal, we’ve put together your go-to source on Raleigh Pride history, events and more so you can stay loud, stay proud and stay inclusive.

Got Pride?

There’s no such thing as being extra in June. Get loud and proud at these monthlong Raleigh Pride celebrations in tandem with a host of community partners. From parties and drag shows (natch) to panels and beyond, it promises to be the most out and proud year yet.

June 2
QUEER PROM
Not all heroes wear capes—but, like, wear whatever makes you happy. Wake County’s first-ever free queer prom invites all LGBTQ+ high school students and allies to strut their stuff at the North Raleigh Hilton, no dress code required. Yasss, kween!

June 2
Plaza Pride Party 
We’re coming out. Let your true colors shine through at this fam-friendly Pride First Friday kickoff to Pride Month in partnership with Downtown Raleigh Alliance at Exchange/Market Plazas feat. DJ Steven, community, a curated market of local vendors and, well, all the feels. So you can love yourself—and all the she/her, he/him, they/them, us/we. raleighpridenc.com

June 3
2023 Run for Love 5K & Day Party
Lace up for love and chase the rainbow via a new route through Dix Park starting just off Lake Wheeler Road for the annual 5K benefiting Raleigh Pride and the LGBT Center of Raleigh. And because the children are the future, to get extra loud and proud, bring the minis to pound the pavement for the kids’ out-and-back fun run. Then move from sun to (no) shade and throw down at the Trophy Maywood afterparty made all the more epic this year with drag performances, live music and lip sync contests. Mic drop. runologie.run

June 4
Height’s House First Annual Pride Party
Oh, o-gay! Parade your pride around the Parlor via drag entertainers, a live DJ, specialty sips, food trucks, photo ops and lawn games galore. And this soiree isn’t one to skip, esp. because a portion of proceeds are going to the LGBT Center of Raleigh. heightshousenc.com

June 4
Hell Yes Ma’am Pride
They, them and everyone promises to have a brewtiful time at this Raleigh Brewing Pride party pouring on the love via beer pours (obv), a beer release (!), live beats and a drag show feat. the brewery’s biggest lineup yet (think Kayla LaShay, Emory Starr, Giselle Cassidy Carter and more). Hell, YES, ma’am! raleighbrewing.com 

June 8
The Art of Queer Resistance 
Not gonna hide my pride at this Artspace panel discussion as part of the Duane Cyrus-curated exhibit Maroon, Maroon, in partnership with Raleigh Pride, featuring LGBTQIA+ visual and performing artists chatting identity, how it informs creation, and how we can support queer visual and performing artists as a community. Aw, we love love. artspacenc.org 

June 15
Spaces for Queer Joy
Thursday—but make it gay and spark joy. Pop over to CAM Raleigh for this panel discussion with local DJs and event producers to chat the cruciality of having queer nightlife spaces for the LBGTQ+ community in Raleigh. camraleigh.org

June 16
The Token Straight Friend Ally Party
There’s always that one friend… Show your support for the LGBTQIA+ community and its allies via this Green Monkey Pride party. “Isn’t it time we celebrated our ally friends?!” greenmonkeyraleigh.com

June 17
Official Pride Bar Crawl
Color the town via this crawl through some of Raleigh’s best bars and nightclubs—plus cheers with discounted rainbow-themed drinks and dance the night away to local DJs. Better shake what your mama gave ya! eventbrite.com

June 17
Pride Market and Drag Show
All are welcome at Hartwell’s Pride market benefitting the LGBT Center of Raleigh that promises to be bigger and better than last year’s event thanks to 20+ local vendors, food trucks and more. We’re def coming out! hartwellraleigh.com

June 17
Triangle Pride Band Summer Concert
We’re here, we’re queer and we’ll be swaying the night away to enchanting melodies of movie and thematic scores via this LGBTQ and ally community band program’s summer concert, “Lore, Tales from the Score.” givebutter.com

June 18
GAG Yacht Club Tea Dance
If you like big decks and you cannot lie, get down with your bad self at Johnson Street Yacht Club’s second tea dance—a long-held gay tradition originating in 1966 in New York’s Fire Island Pines at the now-famous Blue Whale bar—of the summer. Who’s got the tea? @jsyachtclub

June 22
Reimagining Blackness
One of our true colors is Black. Make yourself an ally at Artspace as part of the Duane Cyrus-curated exhibit Maroon, Maroon, in partnership with Raleigh Pride, with this guest-curated exhibition and conversation with curator/choreographer Cyrus and guest panelists from multiple art backgrounds highlighting what it means to be Black and queer—and the various ways that Blackness, and Black masculinity specifically, is being recast in a positive light through the creative arts. artspacenc.org 

June 23
GAG Presents Girls Room Pride
I’d U-Haul with you. … Post up at Junction West with the girls for this queer women nonbinary-focused party with four queer DJs droppin’ beats hosted by local queer party organizer GAG in partnership with Charlotte-based Girls Room for a party created and curated by queer women as a safe place for all. raleighpridenc.com

June 24
GAG, Queen
We’re all born naked and the rest is drag. … This one’s for the dancing queens. Post partying at Out! Raleigh Pride, werk it over to The Ritz as Raleigh Pride and Live Nation go all out for their biggest party with a GAG-hosted drag queen dance extravaganza—followed by a steady flow of Raleigh-based drag queen performances. Slay! livenation.com

June 24
Out! Raleigh Pride
We’re here, we’re queer—and we’re ready to get loud and proud and paint Raleigh rainbow-colored for the 11th installment of Out! Raleigh Pride, the inclusive fam-friendly fest that promotes acceptance and diversity via a fun-filled day on Fayetteville Street with scores of live entertainment, artists, vendors, activities, a KidsZone—and bites and brews—all to benefit the LGBT Center of Raleigh. Pride is for everyone! outraleigh.com

June 25
Let’s Have a Kiki!
Let me be perfectly queer… there’s no better way to slay Sunday Funday than for this love-out-loud dance party at Cuya feat. themed cocktails, guests from the drag community, and DJs. To boot, a portion of all proceeds from Let’s Have a Kiki! Drag Is NOT a Crime will go to the ACLU’s Drag Defense Fund. @cuyaraleigh

Pride All Year

Pride is for everyone all the time. Stay out and proud all yearlong at these weekly Purrride happenings.

• Thursdays, Trailer Park Drag Show @ Flex
• Fridays & Saturdays, Drag Shows @ Legends
• Saturdays, SaborVLatino @ 440 Club
• Sundays, Drag Brunch @ Ruby Deluxe

All in the Gayborhood

Raleigh was “born this way.” The city’s queer history resides in the Warehouse District, where—once upon a time—a punk scene blossomed in an otherwise less-desirable part of DTR (think prior to investments like The Dillon, and even long before that). “These queer spaces were able to pop up and feel safe because they were able to control a little bit more and be kind of out of sight, but still present at the same time,” says Raleigh Pride’s David Moore. But what was once a burgeoning district has lost its luster, thanks—in part—to new developments pushing out queer-friendly spaces. “The Gayborhood was an active hub with a lot of LGBTQ businesses—and it still has a couple—but the identity is no longer there as strongly,” maintains Trey Roberts. Still, spots like Flex Nightclub, Legends and Libations 317 are keeping the sparkle alive (for now…). 

The Ups & Downs of Pride History

• 1970: The first Pride marches take place in NYC, LA & Chicago.
• 1981: NC’s inaugural gay and lesbian march takes place in Durham with the slogan “Our Day Out.” 
• 1986: The Our Day Out march grows into NC’s first official annual Pride march.
• 1988: The Bull City’s annual march officially becomes North Carolina Pride.
• 1994: Triangle Community Works was founded as coalition 807—later forming the LGBT Center of Raleigh 
• 1999: Pride Month becomes official via a proclamation from then-President Bill Clinton.
• 2010: The LGBT Center of Raleigh opens its doors
• 2011: The LGBT Center of Raleigh introduces the first Out! Raleigh festival.
• 2012: NC passes Amendment One to ban civil unions and limit legal unions to marriage between a man and woman.
• 2016: Love wins in a 5–4 Supreme Court decision in favor of marriage equality.
• 2016: NC becomes the first state to pass a bill (HB 2) barring transgender people from using bathrooms consistent with their gender identity.
• 2019: Run for Love 5K laces up for its first race.
• 2019: Raleigh Pride is founded.
• 2020: Out! Raleigh is renamed to Out! Raleigh Pride and moves to June.
• 2023: 10 anti-trans bills are under consideration, including prohibition of certain hormones/surgeries for minors, limiting sports participation, the Parents Bill of Rights, and where “adult live entertainment” can take place.