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WorldPride 2025 comes as a celebration and a clarion call.
The global Pride event celebrates its 25th anniversary in Washington, D.C .— and it should be anything but quiet.
As a wave of federal crackdowns on LGBTQ+ rights collides with a historic anniversary, Washington, D.C., is bracing for what will be its first and the most politically charged WorldPride in history. From May 17 to June 8, millions are expected to converge on the nation’s capital, not just to celebrate but to protest. At the center of it all is Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, leading a team of more than 1,000 volunteers preparing for the largest Pride event the city has ever seen.
WorldPride 2025 comes as a celebration and a clarion call. Hours after retaking office, Donald Trump signed an executive order stripping federal recognition of transgender, nonbinary, and intersex identities. IDs must now reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth. Civil rights protections are being rolled back. Funding for gender-affirming care has been cut. The administration calls it “biological truth.” Advocates call it erasure.
“This is what Pride is for,” Bos says. “Whether you’re marching in protest or dancing in the street, you’re resisting being told you have no value.”
This year’s WorldPride coincides with Capital Pride’s 50th anniversary and is planned as a direct rebuke. In addition to the Pride parade and festival, organizers are planning a protest rally at the Lincoln Memorial and a march to the Capitol on June 8. While protest is a constitutional right, permits are needed for structures and stages on federal land. Bos says his team is working with the National Park Service and expects approval. But he adds, “If the federal government were to deny our permits, I think we would expect a national outcry. And if anything, it could galvanize our community in ways we haven’t seen in a long time.”
“Even before the election, we were planning for a parade and protest, but now that march has a whole new urgency,” he says. “It’s about defiance.”
Organizers expect more than 3 million attendees, and Bos believes Trump’s policies may boost turnout. “There are people who never thought of coming to WorldPride because they saw it as just a party. Now they see its purpose. Now they feel the need to show up.”
While some international groups like the African Human Rights Coalition have announced a boycott, Bos believes pulling out sends the wrong message.
“It’s about being visible and heard,” Bos says. “Pride has always been protest.”
And protest, he adds, comes in many forms. “Some people think it means signs and chants,” Bos says. “But the act of dancing in the street — of showing joy when you’re being told to disappear — that is protest.”
Bos, who is white and cisgender, says those with privilege have a duty to show up. He acknowledges that many transgender people, especially those coming from abroad, may not feel safe attending WorldPride. Several countries have already advised their trans citizens about attending the event, and even Bos and his fellow D.C. organizers have cautioned trans and nonbinary visitors about potential trouble. Organizers warned trans and nonbinary travelers to exercise caution, given the Trump administration’s requirement that visa applications reflect a person’s sex assigned at birth.
“There will be those who choose to come, even though they are afraid and may be putting themselves at risk,” he says. “We want to do our due diligence to provide as much support as possible. But especially for those of us who are less at risk, we need to show up in droves for those who can’t.”
For those unable to attend, a partnership with Outright International’s March for All allows allies to march on their behalf, wearing bibs with their names.
Despite the cultural backlash, WorldPride is moving forward. Booz Allen Hamilton pulled its sponsorship, and the Kennedy Center canceled programming. But others, like Wegmans, remain committed.
Bos admits, “There are moments I worry no one will come. And then I remember what we’re fighting for.”
This cover story is part of the The Advocate's Pride issue. Support queer media and subscribe— or download the issue through Apple News, Zinio, Nook, or PressReader starting June 19.
