At the D.C. World Pride Parade this Saturday, one of the floats will double as a wedding chapel.
Grooms Freddie Lutz, the owner of Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, and Johnny Cervantes will tie the knot after 28 years atop a float during the parade.
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WATCH HERE"That’s my all-time dream, to get married to my partner on a Pride float. I’ve been talking about it for years," Lutz said.
“It’s been a great life, and I think we’re at a great turning point where it’s gonna continue to get better,” Cervantes added.
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SIGN UP They first met at a bar as friends, with Cervantes trying to pick up Lutz’s best friend before Lutz swooped in. The rest is history.
Over nearly three decades, Lutz and Cervantes have traveled the world, watched other friends get married and opened two locations of Freddie’s Beach Bar, in Arlington and Rehoboth Beach. The Arlington location is a gay bar billed as straight friendly to give military members a safe space to hang out near the Pentagon.
Last year, someone sent a bomb threat to Freddie’s, in protest of a drag story hour. Lutz also received a death threat at his house. It’s part of why he decided it wouldn’t be safe to have his young niece and nephew attend their wedding.
“The fact that I have to think about that when it would’ve been so beautiful is a very sad commentary about where we are right now in the country,” Lutz said.
The pair will celebrate their love with the community they’ve helped build.
“We are literally inviting the entire world to our wedding, which is pretty cool,” Lutz said.
The couple said Virginia state Sen. Danica Roem will officiate the wedding. Roem made history in 2017 as the first openly transgender person to serve in a state legislature.
