This year's theme 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.

The first is 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.

The second is 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.