Arlington’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee is in full organizing mode for a June block party in Crystal City honoring Pride Month.
Organizers are hoping for upwards of 500 attendees at next month’s first Arlington Pride 23rd Street Block Party. Sponsored by Equality Arlington in collaboration with several other community organizations, the event is slated for Saturday, June 6 from 3-7 p.m. in the Restaurant Row area of 23rd Street S.
Two LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are calling on Arlington Public Schools to address the disproportionate mental health and safety outcomes negatively affecting its LGBTQ+ student population.
In a new joint letter to APS leaders, the groups, Equality Arlington and the Arlington Gender Identity Alliance (AGIA), are asking the school system to implement a more targeted response to the mental health challenges, violence, discrimination and bullying that its LGBTQ+ students experience at elevated rates when compared to fellow students.
Freddie’s Beach Bar, the long-running LGBTQ+ bar on Crystal City’s 23rd Street S. restaurant row, is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a party this Sunday.
The March 1 celebration at 555 23rd Street S. is set for 7-9 p.m. and will include music, food, drinks and giveaways, according to a press release.
The county manager’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee is ready to move beyond the planning stage and start impacting policy decisions.
“We have a really good base” to build on, committee chair Samantha Perez said at the organization’s first meeting of 2026.
Arlington County staff and an advisory panel are seeking ways to become more active in Pride Month celebrations next June.
And the clock is ticking, one leader in that effort said.
SALEM, Va. (AP) — René Harvey and her wife arrived at a Roanoke Valley pride celebration in October carrying deep-seated worries about all that could go wrong.
The couple had been to the region’s annual pride festival before, but this year felt different. Harvey keeps up with the news, and the headlines describing political violence and LGBTQ+ hate linger with her. She’s been following Virginia’s statewide elections, including a race for governor that has heavily focused on trans youth.
Members of an advisory panel are seeking ways to get Arlington County more directly involved in future Pride events.
“We’ve spent a lot of years in the past saying ‘we’re so close to DC, let’s just let Capital Pride take over most of Pride Month,'” said SC Nealy, a member of the county manager’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee.
An Arlington School Board member is cautioning Democrats against arguing with voters about the school system’s policies on transgender students this election season.
“Please don’t engage — you don’t need to get into a debate,” School Board member Zuraya Tapia-Hadley told attendees at an Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting on Wednesday.
Arlington Public Schools leaders are playing their cards close to their chests following the end of a federal investigation into the school system’s anti-discrimination policy.
In response to demands from the U.S. Department of Education, which targeted policies allowing transgender students to use facilities corresponding with their gender identities, Superintendent Francisco Durán said only that APS has received the findings and is formulating a response.
Two LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are calling for Arlington Public Schools to defy federal attempts to dismantle the school system’s anti-discrimination policy for transgender students.
Both Equality Arlington and the Arlington Gender Identity Alliance (AGIA) issued statements this week on the results of a U.S. Department of Education investigation into five Northern Virginia school districts.
An advocacy group is calling on Arlington school officials to push back on a new state policy on reporting students as either male or female.
On May 12, the Virginia Department of Education’s policy on records collection removed an option to designate some students as “other” rather than male or female.
The founder of a beloved LGBTQ+ bar in Crystal City is getting married to his longtime partner on a float at D.C.’s WorldPride Parade this Saturday.
Freddie’s Beach Bar owner Freddie Lutz and his partner of 28 years, Johnny Cervantes, plan to tie the knot in bride-and-groom-inspired tuxedos atop a special Freddie’s display featuring a chapel.
