Founded in 1991 and held every year in mid-October, as of 2011 Reel Affirmations was one of the largest LGBT film festivals (in terms of attendance) in the United States.

[1] Baltimore's Gay Life newspaper called it "one of the top three films festivals for the entire LGBT community.

[7] The program began sponsoring monthly film screenings titled RA Xtra beginning in 2000,[8] but stopped these events after RA15 in 2005.

[8][15][16] In 1992, the festival expanded to screen its opening night film at the Cineplex Odeon Embassy Theatre in the District.

[8] The festival continued to expand in 1994, screening 130 films and dropping smaller venues (Biograph, Sumner School) while adding larger ones (such as the West End 1-4 cinema).

The festival also conducted a screening at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden—one of the first gay events to be held in a federal building.

[8][19] By its fifth anniversary in 1995, Reel Affirmations was the fourth-largest LGBT film festival in the United States in attendance, with more than 12,000 attendees.

[11] Although the festival screened only 102 films that year, it expanded to a fifth large venue (the AMC Courthouse Theatre in Virginia).

A year later, it dropped two of its smaller venues in favor of the 275-seat Goldman Theatre in the D.C. Jewish Community Center in Dupont Circle.

[8] Reel Affirmations' growth led it to move out of the Cineplex Odeon Embassy and West End theaters in 1998.

The award-winning film debuted in New York City, screened at Reel Affirmations, and then opened in theaters nationwide.

[9][10] According to the Washington Blade, an LGBTQ newspaper in D.C., a number of factors were responsible for the debt: A diminishing number of corporate sponsors, the timing of Murray's resignation (just as donor recruitment was beginning for the following year), lack of preparation by RA for Murray's departure, an increasing number of popular LGBTQ events competing with the festival in October, fewer advertisers in the festival's program booklet, poor weather during several days of the 2009 festival, discontinuation of the festival's VIP program (which left it dependent on single ticket sales), and a heavy drop in single ticket sales.

[25] In July 2010, RA organizers announced that the film festival would move from October 2010 to April 2011 because of funding shortfalls.

[25] However, on March 8, 2011, RA officials cancelled the April event because of continuing heavy debt and because several grants had not been awarded to the organization.

[29] The Women and Filmmakers' Brunch continued to be held, although the venue was now the U.S. Navy Memorial Heritage Center's Arleigh Burke Theater.

In March 2012, it held an "Oscar Party" (with muscular men covered in gold welcoming patrons) in which the public was invited to view the Academy Awards in a gay-friendly setting.

The DC Center reestablished the RA Xtra program of monthly film screenings, which it offered beginning in 2015.