Each year, thousands of spectators flock to Dupont Circle the Tuesday before Halloween for a unique D.C. tradition: The High Heel Drag Queen Race. Women, men, and transgenders in ball gowns and stilettos charge at full throttle for a quarter of a mile as a rowdy crowd lining the route goes wild.
This prideful event is about the elaborate costumes more than the runners' athletic prowess. Participants often spends month designing their outfits and accessories with feathers, sequins, and intricate beading. Some even get a little glue gun crazy by attaching the most absurd of objects to their getups; think condoms, bottles, playing cards...you name it.
While it's certainly an entertaining show, more importantly it's a symbol of free speech in our nation's capital and in the heart of a neighborhood that was integral in the gay rights movement from its inception.
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