The current political environment is creating a logistical nightmare for WorldPride organizers. One said they’re “rolling with the punches” in the final weeks of planning.
By Oriana González and Torrence Banks at NOTUS, March 11, 2025 05:01 AM
President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion and transgender people are upending organizing efforts for WorldPride Washington, D.C. 2025, which the capital is set to host in June.
Planning for the weeks-long slate of international events and cultural programming highlighting the LGBTQ+ community has been underway for several years, and more than 3 million people are expected to travel to Washington for the festivities.
LGBTQ+ organizers closely coordinate with federal partners and private sector sponsors to put on the event. But in the final weeks of planning, they’re shuffling locations for some events, worrying about the possibility of the celebration becoming weaponized and navigating hesitation from sponsors who organizers say are concerned about potential backlash from participating.
“The team is rolling with the punches,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of Capital Pride Alliance, the local group producing WorldPride. “Every day, we’re sort of evaluating the landscape and trying to strategize around how to adjust to the things that we need to get accomplished, because it really is a priority that we have WorldPride. We feel as though it’s much more important than prior to the results of the election.”
One point of anxiety for organizers is over participation from sponsors, some of which are still evaluating how they are being impacted by Trump’s executive orders. Trump’s recent order targeting “diversity, equity and inclusion” threatens contractors’ abilities to receive federal funding if they “provide or advance DEI, DEIA, or ‘environmental justice’ programs, services, or activities.”
NOTUS reached out to nearly 40 sponsors listed on the WorldPride Washington, D.C. 2025 website to check if they were pulling their backing, and only four — VACAYA, Pepco, K&L Gates and the American Chemical Society — responded to reiterate their support for the event.
At least one sponsor — Booz Allen Hamilton, a federal contractor — has withdrawn its support for the event. Ryan Boz, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance, told Politico that Booz Allen Hamilton has “a lot of federal contracts,” so they “made the decision that to protect their business, they did not want to risk the backlash.” In a statement to NOTUS, a Booz Allen Hamilton spokesperson said the company was “committed to supporting all our employee communities and celebrating tribute months.”
“Our decision not to be a headline sponsor of the World Pride Parade this year does not reflect any pullback of support to this community,” the spokesperson added.
Crenshaw told NOTUS she had “no additional announcements around withdrawals,” but said that some sponsors are “[delaying] their commitment to WorldPride” because of the political climate Trump has created. She declined to name any particular groups.
“Most of them are around, you know, just not giving firm answers and responses in a way in which we’ve experienced in years past,” Crenshaw said. “Everyone is kind of taking a wait and see, and obviously trying to protect themselves, right, in this ever-changing landscape.”
In the background is the long-simmering tension between Washington, where residents under the Home Rule Act have local representation but are still largely accountable to Congress, and the federal government, where some Republicans are angling to seize back more control of the nation’s capital. Those same Republicans are already warning organizers and city officials that they could lose access to federal funding if they don’t follow Trump’s executive orders.
“If they want to challenge the president on this, I would suggest that they be very cautious because I think the president will win,” Rep. Andy Harris said. “If they want federal government funding, and obviously the D.C. depends upon federal government funding, they probably ought to follow his executive orders.”
Funding from the city could put it in a precarious position with the Trump administration. The city announced last year that it would be spending $5.25 million to support WorldPride this year — an allotment that could be politicized by Republicans, who already criticize the city over how it’s been managed by Democrats.
The mayor’s office did not comment on whether it had concerns about the money it had committed given the new political environment. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
But it’s the type of thing that Republicans are feeling emboldened to go after — after Rep. Andrew Clyde introduced a bill to strip the city of federal funding if it did not remove the words “Black Lives Matter” from a street one block from the White House, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the mural would be repainted. (Bowser said the decision to repaint the mural was not related to Clyde’s legislation.)
The fast changes on the federal government side are also making the logistics of WorldPride events harder.
Prior to Feb. 12, the WorldPride website said that the Kennedy Center, which WorldPride organizers and city officials said last year was a “partner” of the event, was slated to host a marquee event from June 5 to 8 called “Tapestry of Pride at the Kennedy Center,” as well as other Pride-related performances.
Since taking office, Trump and his allies have taken over the performance center, and the president is now chair of its board. The Kennedy Center site that announced the “Tapestry of Pride” event now goes to an error page. And the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., which was set to perform at the center on May 21, announced it had its booking canceled.
“The performance we were supposed to do at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) will be done in some other venues around the DC area as part of our Choral Festival that will be part of World Pride 2025,” a spokesperson for the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., told NOTUS in a statement.
They added that locations for the performance and the festival were yet to be finalized, but “we are hoping to announce the full schedule with venues and dates in late March.”
The Kennedy Center’s performance calendar does not show any Pride-related events for late May or June. The center did not respond to a request for comment.
The Smithsonian Institution, which was also billed in 2024 as a partner of WorldPride, is also subject to Trump’s executive orders since it receives federal resources. A source familiar with Smithsonian’s programming, who spoke anonymously to speak frankly on the matter, told NOTUS as part of a broader conversation about the new political landscape that the Smithsonian is “de-emphasizing” promotional material around transgender collections. The Smithsonian Institution did not respond to NOTUS’ request for comment.
Patrick Woods, the interim director and treasurer of Team D.C., an LGBTQ+ sports network, and a member of the planning committee for WorldPride, told NOTUS that the organization is concerned that anti-DEI directives from the Trump administration could affect WorldPride’s ability to reserve national parks for events.
“Next week, we could have a policy that the Department of Interior could say that no LGBTQ events on national park lands,” Woods said. “We’re making contingency plans. We still plan on having this event, whether it be big or small, and hoping that we can get as many LGBTQ athletes to show up and compete in our nation’s capital.”
Some LGBTQ+ Trump supporters don’t think the president’s executive orders will impact WorldPride. Andrew Minik, president of the Washington, D.C., chapter for the LGBTQ+ group Log Cabin Republicans, told NOTUS that the Trump administration has “completely supported” his organization. Minik said that several members are volunteering with Capital Pride Alliance for WorldPride, and that he’s not worried about the orders “disrupting the event.”
Instead, he said, he was more worried about how the city would respond to safety concerns.
“I’m concerned that because of WorldPride and tourism that we’re seeing that classic pattern of local governments not stepping in to take these incidents seriously because they don’t want tourists to be afraid for their safety,” Minik said.
City officials say they’re committed to ensuring WorldPride takes place safely.
“Our government agencies are working diligently with community organizers to ensure that WorldPride is a safe, accessible, and bold celebration of our community. We are prepared and committed to supporting WorldPride events,” a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs said in a statement to NOTUS.
The Metropolitan Police Department also said in a statement that it is “working closely with our local, state, and federal partners as we prepare for World Pride 2025.”
Still, that’s not been enough to persuade at least one international group that initially intended on traveling to Washington for WorldPride.
Egale Canada, one of Canada’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, announced that its members would not be formally attending any events in the U.S. “based on the need to safeguard our trans and nonbinary staff.”
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Oriana González is a reporter at NOTUS. Torrence Banks is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
