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 -- A combo of 100+ food trucks and community tables! Click program title to learn more!
MON, 9/28 | Sexual Health Open House
430PM-730PM @ LGBTQ Center of Durham -- Free STI testing! Screening episodes of Heated Rivalry! Connect with partners advocating for LGBTQ+ sexual health & wellness! Come and visit the Center!
TUES, 9/29 | Queer Ecology Family Picnic
5PM-630PM @ Duke Gardens -- Enjoy the outdoors and connect with human and beyond-human queer community. Click program title to learn more!
WED, 9/30 | PRIDE Bike Ride
630PM-830PM @ Crank Arm Durham -- A large group cycling together to promote PRIDE, safety, and strength in numbers!
THURS, 10/1 | SQSN PRIDE Craft Night
630PM-830PM @ LGBTQ Center of Durham -- Commemorate PRIDE & Domestic Violence Awareness Month with the Southern Queer Survivors Network!
THURS, 10/1 | "We Belong" Multi-Faith Service
630PM-830PM @ Eno River UU Fellowship -- A one-hour, LGBTQ+ affirming worship service, followed by a brief reception with food & music!
FRI, 10/2 | Queer History of Durham Tour: Downtown Edition
3PM-7PM @ Museum of Durham History -- Co-organized with Preservation Durham, the Pauli Murray Center for History & Social Justice, and the Museum of Durham History, learn more about the history of LGBTQ+ community in Durham! Click program title to learn more -- registration is full, but there is a waitlist you can join!
SAT, 10/3 | PRIDE Community Protest & Parade
12PM-2PM @ Duke East Campus -- Join nearly 100 community groups marching, alongside thousands of community members gathered in-person and online to advocate for our rights peacefully and to celebrate our existence, love, history, and community proudly! Stay tuned for more info, coming soon!
SAT, 10/3 | Post-PRIDE Parade Pizza Party
2PM-4PM @ EK Powe Elementary School -- This Party is brought to you by the letter P! Once the Parade has officially concluded, we're gathering at the EK Powe Playgrounds for Pizza thanks to Pie Pushers, Popcorn thanks to the Principal & PTA, and more PRIDE thanks to the Power of the People! As you're able, feel free to come right over after the Parade, and bring your own chairs & blankets (but not any alcoholic beverages) to this family-friendly, DIY kickback hang.
More Community Programs & Promotions For Durham Pride
We know we're not the only ones celebrating Pride in September and October! Click the "Community 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!
ACCESSIBILITY ACCOMMODATIONS
With gratitude to of our sponsors, Beautiful Ideas CC and CANDOR, for their thought leadership and partnership, we have the following resources to support more community members and to make our programs & spaces more accessible. See below to review helpful bits of information, including our Accessibility & Parking Map for the Parade! It includes the Parade route, parking options, rest spaces, sensory relief spaces, and more.
- Click here for FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
- Click here for COMMUNITY HEALTH PRECAUTIONS
- Click here for ACCESSIBILITY FEATURES
- Click here for ACCESSIBILITY TOOLS(opens in new tab)(opens in new tab)
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 more than 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 2026!
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
Our Library
Since the Center opened in October of 2015, one of the most anticipated programs has been the LGBTQ Center of Durham Library. Our library room at the center has been designed to accommodate a diverse collection of LGBTQ focused books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, and 'zines to serve the local community. We have am extensive collection of materials that you are welcome to come peruse and hang out for a while reading. Once the library is fully up and running community members will additionally be able to check out materials from the Center by the Fall of 2026.
Our Catalog
Our volunteers have begun entering our current collection, cataloging, and setting up our future and circulation management using TinyCat.
Though it is still a work in progress you can begin to get a sneak peek at our collection here via TinyCat and LibraryThing.
LGBTQ+ People's Archive
Beginning in the spring of 2025, volunteer archive students have organized materials that have been saved by Center staff, or donated to the Center with the intention of preservation into a LGBTQ People's Archive. This archive strives to collect and preserve grassroots, community-driven, and underrepresented histories.
The archive has a small changing display in our community space at 118 Hunt Street and hosts a Community Archive Day monthly, usually the 3rd Saturday of the month from 1PM to 4PM.
You can find them on Instagram at @lgbtq.peoples.archive
LGBTQ+ Youth Center
The LGBTQ+ Youth Center within the LGBTQ Center of Durham serves youth ages 12-24 through programming, drop-in space, and events.
The Youth Center staff are available to meet with Gender and Sexuality Alliances at local middle and high schools. The Youth Center is open to conversations with like minded organizations and educational spaces seeking a deeper understanding of the intersectional needs of queer youth.
The Youth Center strives to provide intergenerational programming as capacity allows.
Contact us at youthcenter@lgbtqcenterofdurham.org.
Stay Connected with the Youth Center!
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook!
Sign up for the Youth Center newsletter - coming soon!
Write to us at youthcenter@lgbtqcenterofdurham.org
Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Gender Diverse Programs
CELEBRATING trans, intersex, gender non-conforming, gender variant, and agender people, we are creating an affirming space to build our wardrobes and community.The closet is avialable generally when the Center is open. Please call ahead - 919-827-1436 - to ensure the closet is staffed.
Transgender gender and non-conforming people of all ages are invited to shop. All of the clothing and accessories are donated and have been inspected for quality.
Current donation needs include seasonal clothing and shoes, wigs, chest binders, breast forms, packing underwear, etc.
We do carry personal care and small household items as space permits.
If you have questions or concerns, email us at info@lgbtqcenterofdurham.org
Meet fellow parents and caregivers raising transgender, non-binary and gender diverse youth in a safe, affirming space. We'll share knowledge, experiences & encouragement. Confidentiality is very important, as we are all at different stages of our journey.
Join us on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of each month from 4:30pm to 6pm for an open and honest discussion group for parents of gender creative children. We meet virtually at this time.
Contact Alix and Nan for more information at: transformingfamiliesnc@lgbtqcenterofdurham.org
Is your legal name interfering with your joy? Does the name on your State or school ID produce anxiety for you? How do you get your deadname erased from organizational memory? A court ordered name change is the first step of creating a life more fully defined by you! Join us as we share wisdom from folks who have processed this for themselves around how they were able to get it done. If you have questions we can’t answer, we’ll help by finding qualified folks who can address the circumstance. If the process is daunting, complicated, or scary to you, if transportation is a barrier, we won’t leave you hanging ... we’ll accompany you to the places which need visited. If finances are an issue, talk to us about scholarships to cover court fees and the costs associated with this change.
The before, during, and after of a Name Change is an seven-step process:
- Obtaining certified copies of birth certificates and current valid photo ID’s,
- Getting fingerprints and submitting FBI and SBI background checks,
- Completing pro se (self-help) court documents, including notarized affidavits of good character
- Taking the paperwork to the Clerk of Court,
- Picking up the order of name change from the courthouse,
- Updating the Social Security and DMV records,
- Changing all other records which have the legal name (bank accounts, utilities, credit cards, school transcripts, diplomas, etc…).
We can also share about the possibility of changing gender markers on a NC DMV ID or license.
This service is offered to all, especially to members of the transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming community. Though we will speak with everyone, folks under 18 will need parental permission to process a legal name change. We are most familiar with the process in Durham, Wake and Orange counties, though we will be happy to talk to residents of other counties, too.
We hold meetings periodically and can see you individually, too!
Regular hours: 2nd Friday of the month from 10am to 2pm, or by appointment.
Complete this intake form to get started: bit.ly/NameChangeNav
We do have scholarship funds available at this time.
Transgender Day of Visibility Zine