For two years now Amarii Harris has made it a priority to take part in the 30th Annual Red Dress Run in New Orleans and it was his mission to make a statement.
“I wanted to wear something that screamed now and what’s happening currently in the world, Beyoncé the queen herself, was my inspiration,” he says.
The center piece of his ensemble was an American flag serving as the train of the red dress. The fashion moment was an opportunity for him to show off his style and creativity and he wasn’t alone. The annual fund raising event for local charities, which calls itself, “a running club with a drinking problem” has become one of the most comparable to Pride parades with an approximate attendance of 3,000. For the last several years, the NOLA event has become a gathering spot for Black gay and queer men.
This past weekend, the sheer excitement and joy took over social media platforms. In one post—below—on X, (the site formerly known as Twitter) @Kanubyyy_ captioned “Them: So what do you do at Red Dress Run? I have never been!” embedded with a twerking video.
Do you want more?
Subscribe to Native Son’s newsletter for more news, information, and conversations about Black gay and queer everything.
The Red Dress Run has become a fun place for Black gay and queer liberation, filled with fellowship, fun, and festive circuit parties. The rise in popularity among the Black gay and queer community brought some unwanted attention to this year’s run when a former board member of the event’s organizers, the Hash House Harriers posted to Facebook an image of drag queens and referred to members of the LGBTQ+ community as “weird”—a veiled reference to the 2024 election campaign’s banter between the Democrats and GOP. Organizers promptly issued an apology, deleted the post, and the show rolled on.
Despite the name calling it didn’t dampen the spirit of the Black gay and queer men who spoke with Native Son. “I didn’t hear anything about the controversy, but it makes me even more proud of how I represented this year,” Harris said.
“I have wanted to participate in the Red Dress Run for three years now and it was really fun to see how everyone in the community showed up displaying their creativity with their red dress looks,” says Marcus Burton.
Check out some of the looks Red Dress Run that inspired our Black Boy Joy!
Kangol2
I love how Black LGBTQ folks
have made this event our own.
glowbear504
This used to be a charity event , everyone registered , paid a donation and received a tag to attach to clothing to show your participation . Notice that none of the pictures show such tags . After the homophobic meme , a separate blue dress ball run was organized and the money they raised actually went to a local lgbtq org. The subjects in this article did nothing more than put on a dress and get drunk in the streets . How brave .
Kangol2
The 2023 Red Dress Run sent $155,000 to local organizations; total proceeds have topped $2 million in donations. All the participants pictured very likely did raise money for charity; as the official charity’s photos show, participants dressed (literally) up, participated in the run/walk, and then, since it’s New Orleans, many let the good times roll.