Pride: Durham, NC
Pride: Durham, NC 2026
Always Forward, Never Straight
This year's Pride theme "Always Forward, Never Straight: Preserving History, Coming Home" emphasizes our collective commitment to moving our justice work Forward in dignity, love, and perseverance. Of course, there's not one "normal" or "straight" way to do that, and we celebrate the authentic, expansive, and liberated ways many of us show up in Durham. And as we continue advocating for LGBTQ+ people, families, groups, and causes, there are two particular strategies we highlight for 2026:
Preserving History
We remember who we are and from where we've come. We derive strength from all of our roots of revolutionary love and activism. 2026 marks several historical milestones worth noting, including 45 years since "Our Day Out," North Carolina's first LGBTQ+ march on June 27, 1981! For some important context, this particular social demonstration took place in response to the anti-gay assault and murder of Ronald "Sonny" Antonevitch at Little River, with more details available here. We're grateful to be collaborating with multiple partners who are diligently preserving some of our most important stories, traditions, life lessons, and cultural customs.
Coming Home
Not only are we back home downtown at our original Hunt Street location (come visit us!), but we are also coming home to ourselves and to our roots as a community organization that is for us and by us. We affirm that our bodies, our very beings, comprise a home, a sacred site of belonging & dignity to dwell in, ground from, and return to, again and again. And under the shared leadership of our Co-Executive Directors, Raye Dooley and Vanity Reid Deterville, we intend to strengthen our connections with the people, places, and practices that have made and are making our Center possible. To our neighbors who also call Durham home (and to our guests who visit from near & far), join us as we uplift our home and our LGBTQ+ communities with PRIDE.
DURHAM PRIDE WEEK 2026
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2026 - SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2026
OUR OFFICIAL EVENTS
SUN, 9/27 | Pride Vendor & Food Truck Rodeo
12PM-4PM @ Durham Central Park
MON, 9/28 | Sexual Health Open House
4PM-7PM @ LGBTQ Center of Durham
TUES, 9/29 | Queer Ecology Family Picnic
5PM-630PM @ Duke Gardens
WED, 9/30 | Pride Bike Ride
6PM-8PM @ Crank Arm Durham
THURS, 10/1 | Queer Survivors DVAM Craft Night
5:30PM-7:30PM @ LGBTQ Center of Durham
THURS, 10/1 | "We Belong" Multi-Faith Service
6:30PM-8:30PM @ Eno River UU Fellowship
FRI 10/2 | Queer History of Durham Tour: Downtown Edition
3PM-7PM @ Museum of Durham History
SAT, 10/3 | Pride Community Protest & Parade
12PM-2PM @ Duke East Campus
More Community Programs & Promotions For Durham Pride
We know we're not the only ones celebrating Pride! Click the "Other Pride Programs & Promotions" button below to see more of the various ways Durham is coming together, and get in where you fit in!
And if you're in Durham and you've got a special plan for Pride, click the "Tell Us Your Pride Plans" button below in order to register your programs & promotions happening throughout September and October, especially those during Durham Pride Week! We'll do our best to announce and promote all of the plans that we learn about through you!
celebrate Pride 24/7/365!
We started with "OUR DAY OUT," and we move forward with "QUEER ALL YEAR!" Let's be honest -- Durham needs more than just 24 hours!
Spread the news! Durham is celebrating Pride officially throughout June (National Pride Month) and throughout September into the start of Fall w/ DURHAM PRIDE WEEK! We do this because Pride is more than just a parade but a gateway into community. We do this because it is consistent with our history and it keeps us coming together & moving our justice work forward.
Photos from National Pride Month 2026
Pride Campaign For $50K in 2026
We're halfway there! Help us reach our goal!
We started this year's community campaign in June, recognizing that our power starts and ends with individual community members showing PRIDE consistently and courageously, doing what they can each day to show love, care, and support.
While money isn't the only means to show support, we know these unrestricted dollars make a world of difference for us, especially when more public institutions and large corporations aren't giving like they used to...
If you don't have it to donate, that is okay -- if you have it though, PLEASE DONATE! Not only will these funds help us organize a more authentic and accessible Pride but these funds help us operate the Center's work year round.
Thanks to our sponsors for Pride: Durham, NC 2025!
About Pride: Durham, NC
Our Purpose
Creating and Facilitating Community
Pride: Durham, NC is the annual series of special programs for celebrating community, history, activism, & PRIDE of LGBTQ+ people in Durham and across the state of North Carolina.
Upholding the legacy of NC Pride, Pride: Durham, NC preserves our shared cultural heritage, shaped by expansive imaginations, progressive values, & radical acts of organized collaboration. With a clear aspiration to keep love in its many forms at the forefront and the center, Pride: Durham, NC creates protected & liberated spaces that affirm publicly all LGBTQ+ identities, families, and communities, facilitating quality connections with care and fueling generative impact that resists a tumultuous political climate of violent legislation.
All people with love for LGBTQ+ folks are welcome at Pride: Durham, NC. Join us in the celebratory political act of demonstrating our pride for our community!
Nuestro Objetivo
Creando y Facilitando Comunidad
Pride: Durham, NC es la serie anual de programas especiales para celebrar la comunidad, la historia, el activismo y el ORGULLO (PRIDE) de las personas LGBTQ+ en Durham y en todo el estado de Carolina del Norte.
Manteniendo el legado de NC Pride, Pride: Durham, NC preserva nuestro patrimonio cultural compartido, moldeado por imaginaciones expansivas, valores progresistas y actos radicales de colaboración organizada. Con la clara aspiración de mantener al amor en sus muchas formas al frente y en el centro, Pride: Durham, NC crea espacios protegidos y liberados que afirman públicamente todas las identidades, familias y comunidades LGBTQ+, facilitando conexiones de calidad con cuidado y generando un impacto positivo que resiste un clima político tumultuoso de legislación violenta.
Todas las personas que sienten amor por la comunidad LGBTQ+ son bienvenidas Pride: Durham, NC. ¡Únete a nosotros en el acto político celebratorio de demostrar nuestro orgullo por nuestra comunidad!
Our History
Building on Legacy
With more community input and intergenerational guidance, Pride: Durham, NC is the location for members of the LGBTQ community in Durham and beyond to celebrate and rejuvenate their spirits. Please read more about the history of NC Pride (from the NC Pride Archives) and Pride: Durham, NC.
Contact Us
If you have questions, suggestions, or concerns about Pride: Durham, NC, please feel free to contact us via email at Pride@LGBTQCenterOfDurham.org. If you're on Instagram, please follow us on Instagram @PrideDurhamNC!
“Somebody, your father or mine, should have told us that not many people have ever died of love. But multitudes have perished, and are perishing every hour—and in the oddest places!—for the lack of it.”
James Baldwin
Photo Gallery
