Tag: World Pride

Trump administration closes iconic Dupont Circle Park during WorldPride against city’s objections

*This is reported by The Advocate. This comes less than 2 days after they agreed to leave park open.

The Trump administration has closed Dupont Circle Park for the peak weekend of WorldPride in Washington, D.C., fencing off a landmark deeply tied to LGBTQ+ history despite objections from local officials and organizers.

The National Park Service and U.S. Park Police barricaded the park Thursday evening. The closure, which extends through Sunday night, includes the central fountain, grassy areas, and sidewalks within the circle but excludes the surrounding streets, according to Washington’s NBC affiliate, WRC.

Earlier this week, D.C. Councilmembers Brooke Pinto and Zachary Parker announced that the Metropolitan Police Department had withdrawn its request to close the park following backlash from community members. But federal officials proceeded with the shutdown anyway and have not responded to requests for comment.

“I am extremely disappointed and frustrated that Dupont Circle Park will be closed this weekend despite MPD’s commitment to keep folks safe there,” Pinto said in a statement to The Advocate. “This closure is disheartening to me and so many in our community who wanted to celebrate World Pride at this iconic symbol of our city’s historic LGBTQ+ community. I wish I had better news to share.”

According to a June 4 Record of Determination obtained byThe Washington Post, the National Park Service said that the closure was necessary “to secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presence.”

Despite MPD’s reversal, the U.S. Park Police doubled down. In a memo to NPS Superintendent Kevin Greiss, USPP Commander Major Frank Hilsher wrote that “the threat of violence, criminal acts, and NPS resource destruction has only increased since MPD’s original April 22, 2025, park closure request.” He referenced a local DJ advertising an unpermitted party at Dupont Circle and said, “Less restrictive measures will not suffice.”

The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride events, told The Advocate it was not consulted about the decision.

“This beloved landmark is central to the community that WorldPride intends to celebrate and honor,” the group said in a statement. “It’s much more than a park — for generations, it’s been a gathering place for D.C.’s LGBTQ+ community, hosting First Amendment assemblies and memorial services for those we lost to the AIDS epidemic and following tragic events like the Pulse nightclub shooting.”

“This sudden move was made overnight without consultation with the Capital Pride Alliance or other local officials,” the statement continued. “No official WorldPride activities have been planned in Dupont Circle this weekend; thus, no events will be impacted.”

While MPD had initially requested the closure, Chief Pamela Smith rescinded that request in a formal letter sent Tuesday. When asked for comment Friday, MPD spokesperson Tom Lynch told The Advocate, “We have nothing to share beyond the letter rescinding the request, which we shared on Tuesday.”

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser did not respond to The Advocate’s questions, but a spokesperson pointed to an appearance she made on local radio Friday in which she discussed the fencing.

She said the closure represented a breakdown in coordination between federal and local authorities. “I think I put this in the category of an unfortunate error,” Bowser told The Politics Hour With Kojo Nnamdi on WAMU. “We had a communication with the Park Service … and it looks like at this stage, they’re going to proceed with the closure, though we continue talks.”

Pressed on whether the decision originated at the White House or with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Bowser said, “I can’t say that with any clarity. I do know, unfortunately, the public safety issue rose to the top over the cultural celebration.” She added, “We don’t control the NPS, though we will continue to try to lean on them for a different decision.”

The Park Service has cited past incidents (none of which were linked to Capital Pride Alliance events), including $175,000 in damage to the fountain during Pride 2023, as well as a recent executive order from President Donald Trump instructing federal agencies to protect national monuments and public spaces. But LGBTQ+ advocates say the move appears politically motivated.

The Partnership for Civil Justice Fund filed Freedom of Information Act requests this week seeking communications and records from the Department of the Interior, the MPD, and the D.C. Mayor’s Office. In a statement Tuesday, Executive Director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard called the decision “a dangerous step and outside the legitimate authority of the Park Service.” Staff attorney Sarah Taitz said, “The LGBTQ+ community and general public deserve to know how and why the decision to shut Pride out of Dupont Circle was made, and how and why that decision was reversed.”

Though no official events were scheduled at the park, many saw its closure as symbolic — a federal message during a global celebration of queer life.

“World Pride will continue this weekend,” Pinto said, “and it will be a time of celebration and commitment to uplift our LGBTQ+ neighbors.”

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Angry pridegoers force administration to cave after it tried closing a queer park during WorldPride

*This is reported by LGBTQ Nation.

In less than 24 hours, the National Park Service (NPS) has rescinded its decision to close off Dupont Circle Park in Washington D.C. for WorldPride, citing “significant” damage to the park’s fountain during a previous pride event, costing nearly $200 thousand. The rescinding of their decision followed pushback from LGBTQ+ community leaders and advocates, as the area is a vibrant gathering place for queer people with many nearby LGBTQ+-owned shops and gay bars.

On Monday, the NPS announced that, “at the request of the [local] Metropolitan Police Department,” they would be closing off Dupont Circle Park for the final weekend of WorldPride 2025 to prevent “disorderly and destructive behavior” from WorldPride participants. The closure was set to occur from Thursday, June 5 to Monday, June 9, as a public safety measure and to protect park resources, the NPS’ statement added.

“This decision was based on a history and pattern of destructive and disorderly behavior from unpermitted activities happening in the park during past DC Pride weekends, including vaŋdalism in 2023 that resulted in approximately $175,000 in damage to the historic Dupont Circle fountain,” the statement claimed.

Indeed, $175,000 is a substantial amount of money, but it is unclear how they arrived at this figure. Despite $175,000 in damages to public property being a newsworthy story in itself, there is little to no reporting to suggest the fountain sustained critical damage during a Pride event in 2023. The event they are likely referencing was The Capital Pride Parade and Block Party in 2023. Most news coverage on the event paints it as a mainly peaceful event with no significant rioting having occurred.

It is worth noting that the fountain had been undergoing numerous repairs at the time, including waterproofing at the base, upgrades to the water pump system, and pressure testing for the pipes.

During the initial decision to close the park, reporters from The Washington Blade attempted to reach out to a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department concerning the decision, but the spokesperson declined to comment and referred them to the NPS. Additionally, the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser also declined to comment.

“We have nothing else to add to the National Park Service statement at this time,” mayoral spokesperson Daniel Gleick told reporters.

In less than 24 hours after the announcement, the NPS rescinded their decision to close off the park this morning, according to D.C. Council member Zachary Parker. 

In the moments leading up to NPS changing its mind, local LGBTQ+ rights activists condemned the agency for blocking off a major historic community within the LGBTQ+ movement.

Jeffrey Ruegauer, a member of the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC), in a public meeting, proclaimed, “The circle belongs to everyone, it is the city’s town square. It is intimately linked with the gay community and the gay rights movement and so many other rights movements over the years,” The Washington Post reported.

Fellow ANC commissioner and official with D.C.’s Rainbow History Project told the aforementioned publication, “The community should be as outraged as I am.”

Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance, the organization behind D.C.’s annual Pride events and that also helped organize this year’s WorldPride events, said no official WorldPride events were set to occur at Dupont Circle Park during the upcoming weekend, though he was unsure if independent individuals or groups had planned any events there.

Bos also said he felt certain that participants of Capital Pride events did not cause any damage to the park in past years.

In February, NPS removed all mentions of transgender people from its website for Dupont Circle to comply with the president’s executive orders prohibiting any federal recognition of trans people in any aspect of civic life.

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Kennedy Center’s events scheduled for LGBTQ+ pride celebration canceled, organizers say

*This is reported by the AP

Organizers and the Kennedy Center have canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., amid a shift in priorities and the ousting of leadership at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.

Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other venues. And in the wake of the cancellations, Washington’s Capital Pride Alliance has disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center.

“We are a resilient community, and we have found other avenues to celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the alliance. “We are finding another path to the celebration … but the fact that we have to maneuver in this way is disappointing.”

The Kennedy Center’s website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website with a general description and a link to the World Pride site. There are no other details.

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request from the AP for comment.

The move comes on the heels of massive changes at the Kennedy Center, with President Donald Trump firing both the president and chairman in early February. Trump replaced most of the board with loyalists, who then elected him the new Kennedy Center chairman.

The World Pride event, held every two years, starts in just under a month — running from May 17 through June 8 with performances and celebrations planned across the capital city. But Trump administration policies on transgender rights and comments about Kennedy Center drag performances have sparked concern about what kind of reception attendees will receive.

“I know that D.C. as a community will be very excited to be hosting World Pride, but I know the community is a little bit different than the government,” said Michael Roest, founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, which had its June 5 performance at the Kennedy Center abruptly canceled within days of Trump’s takeover.

Roest told the AP he was in the final stages of planning the Kennedy Center performance after months of emails and Zoom calls. He was waiting on a final contract when Trump posted on social media Feb. 7 of the leadership changes and his intention to transform the Kennedy Center’s programming.

Immediately the Kennedy Center became nonresponsive, Roest said. On Feb. 12, he said, he received a one-sentence email from a Kennedy Center staffer stating, “We are no longer able to advance your contract at this time.”

“They went from very eager to host to nothing,” he said. “We have not since heard a word from anybody at the Kennedy Center, but that’s not going to stop us.”

In the wake of the cancellation, Roest said he managed to move the International Pride Orchestra performance to the Strathmore theater in nearby Bethesda, Maryland.

Crenshaw said some other events, including a drag story time and a display of parts of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, would be moved to the World Pride welcome center in Chinatown.

Monica Alford, a veteran arts and culture journalist and event planner, was scheduled to organize an event June 8 as part of Tapestry of Pride, but said she also saw communication abruptly end within days of Trump’s takeover.

Alford has a long history with the Kennedy Center and organized the first-ever drag brunch on the Kennedy Center rooftop in 2024, and said she regarded the institution — and its recent expansion known as The Reach — as “my home base” and “a safe space for the queer community”

She said she was still finalizing the details of her event, which she described as “meant to be family-friendly, just like the drag brunch was family-friendly and classy and sophisticated.”

She said she mourns the loss of the partnership she nurtured with the Kennedy Center.

“We’re doing our community a disservice — not just the queer community but the entire community,” she said.

Roest said he never received an explanation as to why the performance was canceled so late in the planning stages. He said his orchestra would no longer consider performing at the Kennedy Center, and he believes most queer artists would make the same choice.

“There would need to be a very, very public statement of inclusivity from the administration, from that board, for us to consider that,” he said. “Otherwise it is a hostile performance space.”

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WorldPride organizers may warn trans people from abroad not to attend event

*Reported by the Washington Blade.

One of the lead organizers of WorldPride 2025, set to take place in D.C. May 17-June 8, told members of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, known as COG, on April 9 that due to the recently implemented anti-trans policies of the Trump administration, it may be dangerous for trans people traveling from abroad to attend WorldPride in D.C, according to a report by WTOP News.

The WTOP report says the message of concern was delivered by Ryan Bos, executive director of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, which is the lead organizer of WorldPride 2025. The news report says Bos spoke at a meeting of COG, which consists of local government officials from D.C. and the surrounding suburban counties in Maryland and Virginia.

“It’s possible that we may actually issue a statement telling trans folks internationally not to come, or if they come, they come at their own risk,” WTOP quoted Bos as saying.

“So, these are the things that we will be discussing with the D.C. government and our partners to determine how best to communicate that to ensure that we’re getting the resources to the folks that need it,” Bos said according to the WTOP report.

WTOP reported that some members of the COG board expressed concern over the news that it may be harmful for trans people to travel to the D.C. area for WorldPride.

 “It’s really shameful that you all are having to consider making statements like that,” WTOP quoted Frederick County, Md., Executive Jessica Fitzwater as saying. “It’s really heartbreaking.”

D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who attended the COG meeting, told Bos, “I’m disheartened to hear that, but I hope you also recognize you’ve got partners in this room that want to be right there with you to make sure this is a wonderful, successful event, a safe event, that’s going to take place across the whole region,” WTOP reports.

Capital Pride Alliance, in response to a request for further comment on Bos’s remarks at the COG meeting, said in a brief statement that Bos’s presentation was limited to what “may happen.” The statement said no official decision has been made regarding a possible warning for trans people considering attending WorldPride. 

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