World Pride and prejudice

President Trump has signed more than 70 executive orders since his first day in office, on issues ranging from the changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America to ending birthright citizenship. In the long lineup are several executive orders targeting the LGBTQ community, including banning transgender people from the military and certain sports, banning gender-affirming care for minors, and recognizing only two sexes in government documents.

At the same time, D.C. is gearing up to host World Pride this June, a three-week event bringing hundreds of thousands of people from around the world into the city to celebrate the LGBTQ community. Trump's executive orders against the community, potential threats to D.C.’s home rule, and growing national intolerance toward the LGBTQ community threaten the landmark celebration and raise concerns for organizers.

“How do we pivot on a dime?” said Kenya Hutton, president and CEO of the Center for Black Equity. “He may do something day of. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Since returning to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Trump has floated the idea of exerting control over the federal city. Some of his acolytes in Congress have already introduced legislation to strip D.C. of home rule. Trump’s ire toward D.C.’s autonomy is not new. The president threatened to take control of the Metropolitan Police Department during the George Floyd protests in 2020. The mercurial president already installed himself as the chair of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, leading some artists to cancel performances out of protest. There are mounting concerns that he could try a similar power grab for the city writ large.

The World Pride event will reportedly generate over $780 million for the city, which was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasing tourism rates are a high priority for the mayor’s office, and the event could be an opportunity both to bolster the local economy and to show off a city many only associate with the federal government.

“D.C. is more than the federal city. It's more than the White House. It's more than the capital. It's more than the Smithsonians and the Kennedy Center,” said Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance and World Pride D.C. 2025. “We have so many rich cultural neighborhoods and people that remain very steadfast in affirming the LGBTQ+ community, so we want to be able to showcase that.”

World Pride events will take place on D.C.’s public land, on private property, and throughout the region in Virginia and Maryland. Some activists who spoke to National Journal expressed concern about D.C. events being pulled out of the city and into the broader DMV area because of Trump, delivering a blow to the city’s fragile economy.

“We're a world-class city. We have beautiful hotels and venues. Many of them, I'm sure, have probably already been booked,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told National Journal. “I can't believe that the president would want to send a message to people not to come to the nation's capital.”

“A lot of corporations and even organizations that receive federal funding, the corporations that have federal contracts, are trying to figure out how that impacts them,” Bos said.

Attacks on DEI initiatives have led many companies that may have usually attended the celebrations to pull out or scale back their involvement.

The pullback in Pride participation isn’t new nor isolated to the Trump administration. For the past two years, corporations like Target and Anheuser-Busch have pulled back initial Pride pushes following conservative backlash.

“I hope they don’t show up,” said Jeremy Comeau, president of the National Federation of Stonewall Democrats, when asked about previous Pride-involved companies that have scaled back DEI commitments. Comeau said the companies that have remained firm in their support are the types of allies the community needs.

In the spirit of the riot at Stonewall Inn in 1969, activists and advocates are looking at the international event as a potential stage for protest and pushback against the Trump administration.

“The world is looking at us for strength. Pride started off as a protest, as a resistance,” Hutton said. “Pride is that safe space that we can come together and show in numbers that we’re all here. Pride is keeping the flame and the light and the road open for not just us, but the next generation. It’s upon us to show up and show out.”

As the result of one of Trump’s Day One executive orders, any mention of transgender people was struck from the Stonewall National Monument website. Stonewall is largely considered the start of the country’s gay rights movement. The transgender community was heavily involved in both the initial riot at Stonewall and in subsequent protests throughout the years.

“I like to clarify for folks that when they say Pride began as a protest—it did, but that protest included marching in the street for picket signs, as well as blaring the music and dancing in the streets because we're being told that we we are not valued, that we should not exist and should not have joy in our life,” Bos said.

There is currently a march and rally associated with World Pride planned for the final Sunday of the event on June 8. Bos clarified that the event was planned before the 2024 election.

Changing national attitudes toward the LGBTQ community, particularly the transgender community, aren’t just impacting World Pride. Anti-LGBTQ legislation is on the rise at the federal and local levels. Restrictions on gender-affirming care for minors have been passed in state legislatures across the country. Legislation banning transgender women from playing in women's and girls’ sports has become a hot topic in several states and is being taken up in Congress. Idaho’s Legislature is also challenging the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage.

“People are probably exhausted,” Comeau said. “It’s going to be a long four years. Even since January 20, it hasn’t even been that long, and we’re exhausted.”