Updated June 7, 2025 at 11:48 PM EDT
WorldPride 2025 wraps up in Washington, D.C., this weekend with festivities including a parade that kicked off Saturday in one of the city's historic gay neighborhoods and conclude in front of the U.S. Capitol.
This is the first time that D.C. has hosted the international LGBTQ+ festival since WorldPride's inaugural event in Rome in 2000.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Pride events in D.C. — one of the largest Pride celebrations across the country that typically gathers hundreds of thousands of attendees over several days of celebration.
"We got to be able to celebrate, and be, and be seen because otherwise we will be disappeared," said Kylen Mahaney from Virginia as she and her friends mingled around the parade route.
Despite the usual magnitude of Pride festivities in the nation's capital, Pride organizers say the current political environment has dampened the excitement surrounding the celebration of life and self expression.
Speaking to NPR this week, several members of the queer community expressed reservations about attending Pride events in D.C., given the number of executive orders signed by President Trump that limit the rights of trans people.
And a number of high-profile corporate sponsors that have supported the event in the past have declined to do so this year in the wake of Trump's executive order targeting "illegal DEI" initiatives in the federal government.
"A lot of the big sponsors have all dropped out and so, you know, I think for a lot of people there was doubt if this was even going to happen," said parade attendee Kyle Lawson from Baltimore.
A controversy over fencing off D.C.'s Dupont Circle Park
Still, law enforcement officials prepared the city for a large celebration.
That included the controversial decision by the National Park Service this week to close Dupont Circle Park — considered by many as one of the city's queer landmarks — during WorldPride's finale weekend.
The move sparked immediate backlash, including from local elected officials.
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Joe Bishop-Henchman wrote on X earlier this week that the closing would be "like NYC cordoning off Stonewall or SF blocking off the Castro," a reference to two other famous gay neighborhoods in New York City and San Francisco.
In a reversal Saturday morning, the fencing was being removed.
"We are pleased that the Mayor's office and the National Park Service could work together overnight on a solution that protects the historic features of this park while also ensuring the safety of all who enjoy it," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the NPS said in a joint statement.
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