Capital Pride Alliance Announces Grand Marshals for 2019 Pride Parade

Cast Members of FX’s POSE, Advocates Earline Budd and Brandon Wolf, Brigham Young Valedictorian Matt Easton selected to represent the past, present, and future of the LGBTQ+ community

 

WASHINGTON DC, May 12, 2019 — Capital Pride Alliance (CPA) announces the Grand Marshals of the Capital Pride 2019 Parade presented by Marriott International, taking place on Saturday, June 8, 2019. Earline Budd, Brandon Wolf, Matt Easton, and members of the cast of FX’s Pose will lead the Parade in accordance with this year’s theme, shhhOUT: Past, Present & Proud. To commemorate 50 years since the uprisings at Stonewall, the theme turns to the past to inform the present and inspire the future of Pride.

“These Grand Marshals perfectly exemplify our theme of Past, Present & Proud,” says Ryan Bos, Executive Director of Capital Pride Alliance. “It is a momentous year for Pride and we are honored to have such diverse, dedicated and valued advocates in the LGBTQ+ community serving as Grand Marshals,” continued Bos. “To recognize how far we have come in the 50 years since Stonewall, we must remember our history and work towards imagining our futures. These Grand Marshals epitomize what it means to be engaged with the struggles, needs, and hopes of the growing and changing LGBTQ+ community.”

“The impact POSE has on me is overwhelmingly beautiful,” said Hailie Sahar. “It has allowed me to be in a position of visibility as a representation for our LGBTQ+ community. I feel so empowered to be a voice for so many voiceless people. Many of our youth have personally  expressed their excitement and gratitude for a show like POSE. Many youth have said my character, Lulu, has given them hope to survive and strive for their dreams. I’m humbled to be a part of a show that is changing history and giving others the opportunity to see someone  on the screen who reflects them and speaks for them,” concluded Sahar.

“I am so honored in being selected as a Grand Marshal for Capital Pride 2019, and I am thankful to be able accept this honor,” said Earline Budd on what it means to be selected as a Grand Marshal.

“”I am so humbled and excited to be a Grand Marshal for Capital Pride 2019. As I stated in my graduation speech, I am proud to be a gay son of God–I believe that every part of who I am and who we are as a community is exactly as intended. We each have a purpose and place in this world, and that alone is worth celebrating. I am excited to be together with all of you,” said Matt Easton. “When I came out just a few weeks ago, I had no idea the impact it would have. I am excited to be a Grand Marshal in this year’s parade and to show the power and positivity that comes from living authentically. I am thankful for my community–both at home and here in DC–and am honored to be a part of something as magnificent as Capital Pride,” concluded Easton.

“Joining Capital Pride as the Grand Marshal is an incredibly humbling honor.  The origins of Pride are rooted in activism, advocacy, and a stubborn, relentless fight for our rights.  As inclusion and equality come under attack from those in power, I am proud to see our community tapping into our activist roots. May we honor the victims of Stonewall & Pulse with action,” says Grand Marshal Brandon Wolf.

The Capital Pride Parade will begin at 4:30 p.m. at 21st and P Streets and will continue along the 1.5 mile route to finish at 14th and R Streets. It will feature more than 200 organizations dedicated to expressing their pride through commemorating the history of LGBTQ+ community.

 

For more info, see below:

 

Earline Budd is a 60-year-old transgender activist, social worker, and advocate for the betterment of the daily lives of LGBTQ+ people. She co-founded and served as the Executive Director at Transgender Health Empowerment, Inc., and is the current Executive Director of Empowering the Transgender Community ETC, a new non-profit organization working to provide vital services and a safe space to the transgender community in the DC area. As a Non-Medical Case Manager at Helping Individual People Survive (HIPS), Earline dedicates herself to what she describes as her everyday hobby of just “wanting to help somebody.”

 

Brandon Wolf is the Media Relations Manager at Equality Florida and the Vice President and co-founder of The Dru Project, a nonprofit organization founded in the aftermath of the Pulse Nightclub tragedy. After losing his two best friends to this act of violence, Brandon founded The Dru Project as a way to honor the victims’ legacies and empower the future leaders of the LGBTQ+ community by providing comprehensive queer-friendly curricula and grants for gay-straight alliances and college scholarships for LGBTQ+ youth.

 

Matt Easton is a 2019 graduate and the Political Science Valedictorian for Brigham Young University. Matt’s decision to come out during his Valedictorian speech garnered national media attention, and he has since made appearances on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and Tosh.0 been a guest speaker at both Utah Pride Center’s Spectacular! and the Out Foundation’s 2019

Pride Gala. He has previously served as an intern with the United Nations Human Rights Council, and is currently researching politics and dating behavior.

 

Hailie Sahar has been performing since childhood, when she began her career as a SparKids dancer for the WNBA Sparks. She currently stars as Lulu Abundance on FX’s Pose and has previously had roles in Amazon’s Transparent, USA’s Mr. Robot, and the Off-Broadway production of Charm. Sahar has been involved in the Los Angeles Ball scene since the age of 18, and in 2015 she won the Queen USA Pageant.

 

Dominique Jackson currently stars as Elektra Abundance on FX’s critically acclaimed ballroom drama, Pose, which premiered in 2018. Before Pose, she starred in Oxygen’s 2016 docu-series, Strut, which garnered her a GLAAD Media Award nomination. Born in Tobago, Jackson moved to the US to escape traumatic situations. Since then, she has modeled for Brooklyn Fashion Week and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, and competed in The Pageantry System of The Underground House/Ball Community, winning six crowns/titles. She is a leader in and advocate for her community, receiving numerous accolades, awards, and nominations, including the Legacy of Pride Award presented by Harlem Pride, and the first Bronx LGBT Leadership Award, both in 2017. In 2014, she authored her memoir, The Transsexual from Tobago (Revised), and serves on the Community Health Program Board at the Montefiore South Bronx Healthcare Clinic.

 

The Capital Pride Celebration, produced by the Capital Pride Alliance, will commence on May 31 and end on June 9. For more information visit https://www.capitalpride.org/celebration.

 

The Capital Pride Alliance, located in Washington, DC, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of the LGBTQ+ community and its partners through educational events, entertainment, community outreach, and celebrations of diversity. Capital Pride produces each year Trans Pride and the Pride Celebration in the nation’s capital, one of the largest Pride events in the country, plus a variety of educational and community events throughout the year.