World Pride comes to Washington in the shadow of, and in defiance of, the Trump administration

WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Pride 2025 welcome concert, with pop icon Shakira performing at Nationals Stadium, isn’t until May 31. But for host city Washington D.C., the festivities start with a string of localized Pride events beginning with Trans Pride on Saturday.

Hundreds of LGBTQ+ rallies, seminars, parties, after-parties and after-after-parties are planned for the next three weeks across the nation’s capital, including Black Pride and Latin Pride. It all culminates in a two-day closing festival on June 7 and 8 with a parade, rally and concerts on Pennsylvania Avenue by Cynthia Erivo and Doechii.

The biannual international event typically draws more than a million visitors from around the world and across the LGBTQ+ spectrum. But this year’s events will carry both a special resonance and a particular sense of community-wide anxiety due to the policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump’s public antipathy for trans protections and drag shows has already prompted two international LGBTQ+ organizations, Egale Canada and the African Human Rights Coalition, to issue warnings against travelling to the U.S. at all. The primary concern is that trans or non-binary individuals will face trouble entering the country if passport control officers enforce the administration’s strict binary view of gender status.

“I think it’s a fair assumption that the international numbers won’t be as high due to the climate and the uncertainties,” said Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance. “At the same time we know that there’s an urgency and importance to showing up and making sure we remain visible and seen and protect our freedoms.”

There’s major anxiety over Trump’s approach to LGBTQ+ rights

Opposition to transgender rights was a key point for Trump’s presidential campaign last year and he’s been following through since returning to the White House in January, with orders to recognize people as being only male or female, keep transgender girls and women out of sports competitions for females, oust transgender military troops, restrict federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19 and threaten research funding for institutions that provide the care.

All the efforts are being challenged in court; judges have put some policies on hold but are currently letting the push to remove transgender service members move forward. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found support for some of his efforts.

In February, Trump launched a takeover at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, publicly promising to purge drag shows from the institution’s stages. Within days of that takeover, the Kennedy Center abruptly pulled out of plans to host the International Pride Orchestra as part of a week-long series of World Pride crossover events entitled Tapestry of Pride. In the wake of that cancellation, the Capital Pride Alliance cancelled the entire week and moved some of the Tapestry events to alternate venues.

Some potential international participants have already announced plans to skip this year’s events, either out of fear of harassment or as a boycott against Trump’s policies. But others have called for a mobilization to flood the capital, arguing that establishing a presence in potentially hostile spaces is the precise and proud history of the community.

“We’ve been here before. There is nothing new under the sun,” said D.C. Council Member Zachary Parker, who is gay. “While this is uncharted territory … a fight for humanity is not new to those in the LGBTQ+ community.”

Supporters say showing up would carry symbolic weight

A recent editorial in the The Blade by Argentinian activist Mariano Ruiz argued for “the symbolic weight of showing up anyway,” despite the legitimate concerns.

“If we set the precedent that global LGBTQI+ events cannot happen under right-wing or anti-LGBTQI+ governments, we will effectively disqualify a growing list of countries from hosting,” Ruiz wrote. “To those who say attending World Pride in D.C. normalizes Trump’s policies, I say: What greater statement than queer, trans, intersex, and nonbinary people from around the world gathering defiantly in his capital? What more powerful declaration than standing visible where he would rather we vanish?”

The last World Pride, in 2023, drew more than 1 million visitors to Sydney, Australia, according to estimates. It’s too early to tell whether the numbers this year will match those, but organizers admit they are expecting international attendance to be impacted.

Destination D.C., which tracks hotel booking numbers, estimated that bookings for this year during World Pride are about 10% behind the same period in 2024, but the organization notes in a statement that the numbers may be skewed by a “major citywide convention” last year that coincided with what would be the final week of World Pride this year.

Still, as the date approaches, organizers and advocates are predicting a memorable party. If international participation is measurably down this year, as many are predicting, the hope is that domestic participants will make a point of attending.

“The revolution is now,” said Parker, the D.C. council member. “There is no greater demonstration of resistance than being present and being you, and that is what World Pride is going to represent for millions of folks.”

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Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, contributed to this report.