By Daniel Trotta
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -LGBTQ people from around the world gather in Washington this week for a parade, a political rally and cultural performances marking WorldPride to channel joy in sexual and gender diversity as well as outrage over the Trump administration’s rollback of their rights.
WorldPride, which takes place in a different city around the world every two years, has been running for weeks and will continue until the end of June, bringing hundreds of thousands of demonstrators nearly to President Donald Trump’s doorstep.
The WorldPride parade will march within a block of the White House grounds on Saturday, and the rally will be held on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial, the site of Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech.
Trump is certain to be the target of protests.
He has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banned transgender people from serving in the armed forces, and rescinded anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ people as part of a campaign to repeal diversity, equity and inclusion programs. His actions have been applauded by conservatives.
As many as three million people, including two million from outside the region, could attend, according to the non-profit travel and trade group Destination DC, even as some potential attendees have suggested a boycott in protest of Trump policies or have raised concerns about safety given the U.S. political climate.
The White House did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. It has said its transgender policy protects women by keeping transgender women out of shared spaces such as domestic abuse shelters and workplace showers, and has described DEI as a form of discrimination based on race or gender. Proponents of DEI consider it necessary to correct historic inequities.
Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, which is leading WorldPride coordination, said many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer people “fear for their security, their safety, their mental health, and don’t see a lot of hope right now.”
That makes this “the year that we need to ensure that we remain visible and seen so folks know that there’s a place for them, that there are people fighting for them,” he said.
The African Human Rights Coalition, which offers humanitarian services and protection for LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers, called for a boycott of WorldPride because it said the United States was “governed now by an antagonistic fascist regime which presents distinct dangers to foreign LGBTQ+ attendees.”
“This is not business as usual and not a time for celebration but rather the time for resistance,” it said.
‘DEFIANT, UNITED AND UNSTOPPABLE’
Politics and concerns about crossing the border during Trump’s immigration crackdown are expected to contribute to a 7% decline in international travel spending in the U.S. this year, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council.
Toronto’s Purple Fins, a self-described “gender free” swim club of non-binary and transgender athletes, made the difficult decision to skip the World LGBTQIA+ Aquatics Championship being held in Washington.
Brandon Wolf, a spokesperson for Human Rights Campaign, the largest pro-LGBTQ organization in the U.S., said queer people “rightly feel nervous and afraid” but that WorldPride will be “an opportunity for the LGBTQ-plus community to make clear that it’s not going anywhere, that we cannot be bullied back into the closet.”
“I’m really buoyed by the fact that the LGBTQ-plus community seems to be saying loudly and clearly that pride is, and always has been, a protest, and that they intend to show up defiant, united and unstoppable,” Wolf said.
But transgender people said they feel targeted by the Trump rhetoric and state laws passed around the country that have banned transgender healthcare services for minors. Backers of those laws say they are attempting to protect minors from starting on a path they may later regret.
Susan Stryker, author of the 2008 book “Transgender History” and a distinguished visitor at Stanford University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research, said that framing the Trump agenda as anti-DEI or anti-LGBTQ was a “misnomer.”
“It’s very specifically transgender people that they are coming after,” Stryker said. “The public discourse has been weaponized around trans issues.”
Marissa Miller, a transgender activist in Chicago who is traveling to Washington with the National Trans Visibility March, said the location of WorldPride events will empower demonstrators in their resistance.
Sydney hosted WorldPride in 2023. Washington was chosen to host in November 2022, before Trump’s reelection.
“The universe is ready to showcase us,” Miller said. “And I think that if it were going to be in any other place, that the consideration should have been to move it to Washington.”
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Additional reporting by Nathan Frandino; Editing by Donna Bryson and Bill Berkrot)
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