WASHINGTON − In 1975, Deacon Maccubbin was chatting with buddies at a party in the nation’s capital about attending New York City’s Pride Day when a friend tossed out a novel idea: “Why don’t we just do one here?”
Maccubbin had taken a “gamble” a year earlier, founding the LGBTQ+ bookstore Lambda Rising in the city’s Dupont Circle neighborhood, determined to find a home for “stories that needed to be told.” Business roared, and the bookstore soon become a haven for the city’s gay community.
So with similar gusto − and a little trepidation − Maccubbin took another revolutionary step: launching the District of Columbia’s first Pride celebration.
“We didn’t know whether anyone would show up or not. It was something that had never been done before,” he told USA TODAY.
When start time ticked closer that inaugural Pride Day, only a handful of people milled around the bookstore. Maccubbin fretted.
