Washington- Monumental Sports & Entertainment honors and supports all members of the LGBTQ+ community. The organization, its professional sports teams, and Capital One Arena are leveraging a variety of opportunities that reinforce a commitment to empowering everyone who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, doubtful, intersex, or asexual to be themselves and be proud of themselves.
In the second week of June, MSE held a takeover of Pride on its external video boards at the Capital One Arena. The colorful and inviting graphics will stay on the videoboard for a month to be seen by the hundreds of thousands of people who travel to downtown D.C. every day.
In partnership with the Capital Pride Alliance, MSE will take part in the Pride Parade on Saturday, June 11th. a mile-long route through the city with famous sites dedicated to the history of LGBTQ+ neighborhoods in the area. Teams will also activate on June 12th at the DC Pride Festival.
Everyone is invited to join the Mystics at Pride Night presented by Capital One on Sunday, June 12 at 6:00 pm at the Entertainment and Sports Arena. Fans can look forward to a special halftime show from performer Shi-Quita Lee, Pride and turn-on messages from Mystics players, fan activation in the hall, Mystics and WNBA Pride merchandise to purchase, and more. In addition, the Mystics Pride microsite has pride content and related resources for the LGBTQ+ community.
MSE teams annually celebrate pride and celebrate LGBTQ+ community game days during their regular seasons. In March 2022, Wizards and Capitals Pride featured special guests, performances, and videos celebrating members of the LGBTQ+ community in our region. In addition, there were Pride-themed signs in the Capital One Arena, and special merchandise was available in the Team Store. In partnership with the Monumental Sports and Entertainment Foundation, teams have created opportunities for fans to support SMYAL (Support and Mentor Youth Advocates and Leaders), a local LGTBQ+ youth empowerment organization, through a 50/50 giveaway (Wizards) and an autograph auction. sticks used by players, wrapped in rainbow Pride Tape (Capitals).
Fans are encouraged to donate year-round to the Monumental Sports and Entertainment Foundation to support even more local efforts that benefit DC’s LGBTQ+ community.
