LifeSiteNews) — Up to three million mostly LGBTQ+ individuals from around the world are expected to descend on the nation’s capital for “WorldPride DC 2025” in May, and they’ll arrive amid the Trump administration’s quest to rid government, the military, education, and publicly funded arts organizations such as the Kennedy Center of DEI and transgender influence and initiatives.
According to multiple reports, the Trump administration’s executive orders have “upended” preparations for WorldPride Washington, D.C. 2025 (WPDC2025), causing the organizers to “scramble.” Others, including those in leftist corporate media outlets, have characterized the administration’s actions as “attacks on LGBTQ+ individuals and organizations,” adding, “especially on the trans community.”
Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump issued a series of anti-woke executive orders stating that the United States recognizes only two sexes — male and female — and restricting so-called “affirmative” medical care for gender-confused youth. He banned “transgender” individuals from serving in the U.S. military, and gender-confused males from participating in girls’ and women’s sports competitions and using their restrooms and locker rooms. He also ordered prisons to house biological females in women’s prisons and banned the use of preferred pronouns within government agencies.
Of most concern to LGBTQ+ individuals planning to travel to the U.S. for WPDC2025 is the administration’s directive to the State Department and U.S. Customs to refuse to recognize travel documents that have gender indicated with an “X” instead of male or female, or which indicate a sex which doesn’t match the individual’s sex at birth.
Because of the new rules recognizing only biological sex, European countries — including Denmark, Germany, and Ireland — have issued travel advisories warning that individuals claiming to be “transgender” or “non-binary” may be denied visas or refused entry once they’ve arrived at a port of entry in the U.S.
And when the Trump administration installed a new board of directors with Trump serving as chairman at D.C.’s famed Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, events that were part of WPDC2025, including a concert by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, were forced to quickly find other venues.
“Our community is living in fear right now, with a lot of unknowns and uncertainty,” said Ashley Smith, president of Capital Pride Alliance which is one of WPDC2025’s organizers.
As a result of the hyperbolic fear mongering about the Trump administration’s return to biological sanity, fewer international participants than originally planned are expected to attend.
Major sponsors of WPDC2025, including federal contractors Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte and media giant Comcast, have pulled their sponsorships, reportedly because of the Trump directives.
However, plenty of other corporate household names remain, including Amazon, Starbucks, Verizon, McDonald’s, Hilton and Hyatt Hotels, European commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus, and Delta and United Airlines.
Organizers of the event, which will kick off on May 17, say that WPDC2025 an “historic moment” and “is occurring at a crucial time, bringing together voices from around the world to support the LGBTQ+ community’s ongoing fight for equality, visibility, and justice.”
Still, organizers remain on high alert concerning as-to-now announced moves by the Trump administration or Republicans on Capitol Hill who would like to retake congressional control of the Capital City after a mostly failed experiment in home rule.
Republican members of Congress are “already warning organizers and city officials that they could lose access to federal funding if they don’t follow Trump’s executive orders,” according to a report last month published by NOTUS, a nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom from The Allbritton Journalism Institute.
“If they want to challenge the president on this, I would suggest that they be very cautious because I think the president will win,” warned Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, according to the NOTUS report.
“If they want federal government funding, and obviously the D.C. depends upon federal government funding, they probably ought to follow his executive orders,” Harris said.
