Pride: Durham, NC
This year's theme is meant to center ourselves as the ones we have been waiting for. We are the ones who have the solutions to the problems we face, who have got what it takes to not just survive but succeed, overcoming the storms of life to see brighter days ahead. From this dignified posture, we are coming TOGETHER to offer and receive support for:
OUR COALITIONS
Every partnership, every collaboration, every solidarity, all of them matter. We continue to pour into one another, building people power that improves our collective capacity to take care of one another and to meet the material & non-material needs we all have. Let's lean into our intersectional partnerships in accessibility, arts, advocacy, public health, and more.
OUR ENVIRONMENTS
This acknowledges our relationships to the land, the water, the air, and all living things in creation. We must care for our creeks & rivers and our parks & trails. Let's move in solidarity with our champions of Durham's natural resources: the stewards of the Eno, the Beaver Queens, and more. This also includes the human-made environments, such as our neighborhoods, schools, and other community spaces where all LGBTQIA+ people deserve to exist within and belong to as whole human beings.
OUR FUTURES
Investing in the wellbeing of young people is always a worthwhile labor of love because they represent what's to come. We welcome and celebrate our children, centering and nurturing their development as essential. We also stand with parents and caregivers, working with them so that their families have what they need to participate fully. Let's make it easier for Durham's queer kids to be who they are and to grow up proud of who they are.
Weekend Schedule
Friday, Sept. 26
Justice Concert & Rally | 5PM–9PM
CCB Plaza - 201 Corcoran Street
Saturday, Sept. 27
Community Parade & March | 12PM–2PM
Health & Wellness Kickback | 2PM–5PM
Duke East Campus - 1304 Campus Drive
Sunday, Sept. 28
Vendor & Food Truck Market | 12PM–4PM
Durham Central Park - 501 Foster Street
Stay Tuned
Now that we've closed event registrations, we're working diligently to prepare and support all the different groups that plan to march in the Parade, table at the Kickback, sell at the Market, and more. We're also working on orientation maps and guides for each day so that you'll be able to find parking, low sensory spaces, and other special features at each event. Don't hesitate to email us if there's a particular accessibility inquiry you have! Otherwise, please check back here later in the month for more details, TBD!
2025 Talent
It’s time to announce and celebrate our talent for the entire weekend of Pride: Durham, NC 2025!
Day 1
We will kick off with our Justice Concert & Rally, showcasing the amazing voices and talent of several local community members. Hosted by the beautiful Miss B Haven, we are grateful to bring to our stage so many incredible musicians, poets, storytellers, drag artists and more: Alexis Pauline Gumbs & Sangodare, Common Woman Chorus, Debbie The Artist, Johnny Lee Chapman, Kamara Thomas, Poetry Fox, and Sex on Decks—all sharing their creative gifts, all advocating for our rights, all based right here!
Day 2
We will start with a special song selection from Durham Ceasefire Chorus and continue with our Community Parade & March, with vanguard activist Mandy Carter serving as our Parade Grand Marshal to lead the way. If you can't be there in person, no worries! You'll be able to tune in via The Indy, with our MC Desmera Gatewood guiding the livestream experience. Immediately following the Parade, our Health & Wellness Kickback will feature several FREE creative offerings and activations, brought to you by our very own: Baba McDaniel Roberts & The Harambee Collective, Gay For Play Durham, Get Embodied Soul Movement, Scrap Exchange, Stay Bloomin, Stormie Daie, Sufia Ikbal-Doucet, The Gender Gallery, and Zena Carlota—and again, there's more than we can list here!
Day 3
Finally, we will wrap up with our Vendor & Food Truck Market, featuring dozens of area LGBTQ led and owned businesses, with music provided by the wonderful DJ collective, The Conjure.
Contact Us
If you have questions, suggestions, or concerns about Pride: Durham, NC, please feel free to contact us directly via email: pride@lgbtqcenterofdurham.org. And if you're on Instagram, please follow us — @pridedurhamnc
Thanks to our sponsors for Pride: Durham, NC 2025!
2024 Portraits & Quotes
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!
Our History
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.
“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
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