After gun scare at Pride Parade, officials look ahead to celebrate event’s 45th year

Officials with Capital Pride Alliance are considering what to do at next year’s Capital Pride Parade as attendees at this year’s event said they experienced sadness and shock after a gun scare.

Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance, said he plans to work with the community and district leaders to make sure next year’s parade–the 45th anniversary one–is safe.

“We will take this opportunity to learn from our experiences this past year,” Bos said in a phone interview. “And, think about those organizations that were not able to participate because of the parade not being able to finish.”

The Capital Pride Parade has a long-standing tradition of celebrating the district’s LGBTQ community every June.

At 7:20 p.m. on June 8, police officers responded to a report of a “man with a gun,” according to a Metropolitan Police Department briefing posted on Twitter.

Although police said there was no evidence of gun shots, they did recover a gun at the scene and one man was arrested. Spotting the gun led a crowd of people to run in panic, and seven people were transported by D.C. Fire and EMS, the officer said. 

A crowd celebrates Washington, D.C.’s Pride parade June 8. (Photo by Dylan Wooters via Creative Commons)_

Bos emphasizes the importance of acknowledging everyone’s voice in the LGBTQ community, noting he hopes to help those who experienced fear and want to march again while also taking this opportunity to recognize the spirit of the Parade.

“Nothing discounts the fact that the situation at the parade was unfortunate,” Bos said. “It is not something that we want anyone to experience again.”

Olyvia Mugweh, 20, a rising junior at American University, attended this year’s parade. Mugweh recalled walking towards the crowd, looking for her friend and then all of a sudden, everyone was running in a panic. She remembers thinking that no one really knew what was going on.

“Somebody said ‘They’re shooting, they’re shooting!’ It was chaos,” Mugweh said. “It was supposed to be a celebration of love. The atmosphere changed from love to hate.”

The gun scare lead attendees like Mugweh and Roman Habibzai to wonder how long it is going to take for society to accept LGBTQ people, even though LGBTQ people were not targeted by the man, according to news sources.

Research from Pew Research shows that Americans are becoming more accepting of LGBTQ Americans. According to a 2013 Pew Research study, 92% of adults identifying as LGBTQ said society had become more accepting of them in the past decade.

Jane Palmer, 40, has been going to Pride since 1997. She did not go to the district’s Pride parade this month, but she did go to the one in New Orleans, which she said felt “more like a party.”

Palmer said her wife attended the Pride Parade in Washington, D.C. with the couple’s 2-year-old son.

“She said it was terrifying,” Palmer said.

Pride means different things to different people.

Habibzai, 19, an American University student, said, “Pride, to me, means the ability to just set everything aside for once and have it be okay to be a normal human being.”

Habibzai went with some friends from American University. He left before the gun scare. He notes how a huge chain of fearful events can affect a whole community.

 “It is really scary to think that anyone could become a victim,” Habibzai said. “Attacking one person is like attacking a community.”

 Bos has a similar definition of Pride.

“Our goal for Pride is to be seen and to be heard,” Bos said. “It shows the importance of us coming together, making sure that we aren’t just doing this in June, but that we are speaking out and supporting each other every day of the year.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Internships offer real-world experience in D.C.

American University provides many opportunities for students to obtain internships in the school year and in the summer.

Linda Golden, customer service and resource coordinator at the Career Center, said that an online tool called Handshake is one of the most common ways that students find internships.

“We work with employers that we think students are interested in,” Golden said. “Students get advice on networking with people who have interesting jobs.”

According to American University’s Career Center website, the Handshake tool allows students to apply for full-time and part-time jobs and internships, apply for positions through the on-campus recruiting program and schedule on-campus interviews, register for recruitment events, including job and internship fairs, employer information sessions, and networking receptions, and receive automatic alerts when new positions are posted.

“Students can find many resources through Handshake, the Career Resource Library, and networking,” Golden said. “We also have a job and internship fair every year so that students can potentially make connections.”

Arielle Nadler, 21, has interned at two places. She has interned at the American Council of Young Political Leaders and  in the summer at the World Jewish Congress. She said there are many strengths to going to college in the district, and one of the most important is internships.

“Having someone on the inside to vouch for you is important,” Nadler said. “At AU, you can make connections.”

Not all students use the resources for internships at AU, but they are always available.

Dominic Gaddi, 20, has interned on both the House and Senate sides of Congress. He always knew he was interested in politics, but was able to use family connections rather than campus ones.

“I know that the resources exist at AU,” Gaddi said. “I haven’t needed them yet.”

Hannah Byrne, 25, graduated from AU with a bachelor’s degree in history. She is now in its public history master’s program. She enjoys how many different ways there are to understand history.

She noted that the most interesting was the first internship she did, at the Birmingham public library in its archives department.

“I did six internships in my undergraduate years,” Byrne said. “It was a helpful experience related to what I wanted to pursue in grad school.”