National Park Service to Close Dupont Circle in Washington During Pride Event
The National Park Service will close the park at Dupont Circle, a gathering place for the city's L.G.B.T.Q. community, during a major Pride Month event this weekend that is already grappling with cancellations and pulled corporate sponsorships.
The event, WorldPride, is an international celebration of the L.G.B.T.Q. community that is held each June in a different city. Washington won the bid for this year's edition, which began in mid-May and runs through Sunday, in 2022.
The Park Service will fence off the Dupont Circle park during WorldPride celebrations from Thursday to Monday as a 'public safety measure,' said Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the agency, in a statement first shared on Monday. The statement cited 'a history and pattern of destructive and disorderly behavior' in the park during previous Pride celebrations, including vandalism of the park fountain in 2023.
The last WorldPride event in the United States, in New York City six years ago, was largely peaceful. 'Five million people, and there was almost not a single incident,' Mayor Bill de Blasio said at the time.
The Park Service said it was closing the park in response to a request from Washington's police force, and that the closure was in line with President Trump's executive order in March to protect historic national monuments.
Some L.G.B.T.Q. residents and at least one elected official responded on social media by calling on Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is set to march in the city's Pride Parade this weekend, to open the park.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Chicago Tribune
an hour ago
- Chicago Tribune
Ask Anna: How to make LGBTQ+ friends as an adult
Dear Anna, My girlfriend and I (both 28, together for three years) have a solid group of friends from college and work, but we're the only queer couple in the bunch. While our friends are supportive and inclusive, we're craving connections with other LGBTQ+ people who just 'get it' without explanation. The problem is, we're not sure how to branch out at this stage of our lives. We're past the club scene and dating apps obviously aren't the right tool for friendship. We've tried a few LGBTQ+ meetups but they skewed much older than us. How do we find our queer chosen family without it feeling forced or like we're abandoning our current friendships? We want to expand our circle, not replace it, but we're struggling to know where to start. — Bad at Finding Friends Dear BFF, The struggle is real. Regardless of sexual orientation, the older we get, the harder it is to make friends. This isn't your fault. When we're younger, socialization is built into a lot of our activities. As we age, that becomes less and less true. And depending on where you live, finding friends can be especially challenging, particularly if you're in a monogamous relationship, aka not doing the dating-to-friends pipeline. I have vivid memories of being 22 and making lifelong friends with random people on the sidewalk at Pride, getting swept into their friend group like some beautiful gay fairy tale. (Fairy gayle?) Alas, those days are over. Is it because I'm too jaded to strike up conversations with strangers on sidewalks? Or because everyone's buried in their phones? Probably both, plus the fun crushing weight of adult social anxiety. But fear not! Alternatives do exist. However, like getting abs or learning TikTok dances, a certain amount of effort must be invested to get anything worthwhile out of it. Let's talk apps, because as the cliche goes, there's an app for everything now, including queer friendship. Lex has a friendship/community component that (in my opinion) works way better than using it for dating. It's text-first, so you actually get to know people's personalities instead of judging their bathroom mirror selfie game. Plus, you can join group chats based on your interests — comedy shows, writing fan-fiction, rock climbing, erotic crochet (I mean, one can dream), etc. HER also lets you switch to 'looking for friends' mode, though you'll still get the occasional person who clearly didn't read your profile and propositions you anyway. And Bumble BFF exists too — not exclusively queer, but you can be pretty obvious about what you're seeking. For IRL connections, think beyond those generic 'LGBTQ+ Meetup' events where everyone stands around awkwardly eating gluten-free wafers. Look for activity-based groups where friendship happens naturally while you're distracted by actually doing something fun. What would you enjoy doing anyway that just happens to be better with other queer humans? Book clubs where you can argue about whether that character was actually gay or just 'really good friends,' hiking groups, volunteer work that doesn't make you want to cry. Many cities have queer sports leagues ranging from serious competition to less serious. (Drunk pickleball, anyone?) Gay bar trivia nights are clutch — nothing bonds people like collectively failing to remember who won Eurovision in 2019. Pro tip: Become the lesbian social coordinator you wish existed in the world. Host a casual Pride potluck and make each of your straight friends bring one queer person they know. Your allies probably have LGBTQ+ coworkers, cousins or that person from their yoga class who has a labret piercing and a rainbow carabiner. You'd be amazed how connected we all are through the gay grapevine. Check out local LGBTQ+ centers too — many have age-specific events so you don't end up feeling like someone's mom at a college mixer or someone's granddaughter at a retirement home bingo night. (Though I've done both and can say these events also have their charms.) Remember: Building chosen family is a marathon, not a sprint (unless you're really lucky and stumble into a friend group at karaoke night/a magical sidewalk). Start with one genuine connection and let it take as long as it takes to bloom. The beauty of queer friendship is real — that instant 'finally, someone who gets it' feeling when you don't have to explain why your heart quickens during certain Chappell Roan songs or watching Cate Blanchett do literally anything. Be patient and keep searching. Happy Pride. ___
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
WorldPride speaker says she was denied entry to US after Cuba visit
Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, a British political and LGBTQ rights activist, said she was denied entry to the U.S. over a recent trip to Cuba. Opoku-Gyimah, also known as Lady Phyll, had been scheduled to deliver opening remarks at WorldPride's human rights conference, which runs June 4-6 in Washington. Speaking over a livestream Wednesday afternoon, Opoku-Gyimah said U.S. officials revoked her visa waiver under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), an automated system determining whether visitors from participating countries may enter the U.S. without a visa. Travel to Cuba, which the U.S. designated a state sponsor of terrorism in 2021, is grounds for having an ESTA revoked, according to the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) website. The Caribbean nation's terror designation was briefly rescinded under former President Biden and reinstated by President Trump in January. Opoku-Gyimah said she was notified of the revocation of her travel authorization days before she was set to fly to the U.S. for WorldPride. She applied for a temporary visa, she said, but was told the earliest she could enter the country was September. 'I've called. I've written. I've pleaded,' said Opoku-Gyimah, the co-founder and CEO of UK Black Pride. 'And the answer was a cold, bureaucratic 'No.'' DHS did not immediately return a request for comment. Opoku-Gyimah's virtual remarks on Wednesday highlighted the LGBTQ community's diversity, and she encouraged WorldPride gatherers to embrace the group's intersectional identities. 'Enjoy the Pride, walk together, walk proudly and talk proudly,' she said. 'Be bold and brave in our fight for justice.' The U.K. issued a travel warning for the U.S. in March, cautioning British passport holders that 'authorities in the U.S. set and enforce entry rules strictly' and 'you may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules.' Other countries, including Denmark and Finland, have issued travel advisories for transgender visitors to the U.S., referencing policies instituted by the Trump administration targeting trans rights.
2 hours ago
World Pride aims to bring hope to LGBTQ+ community during Trump-era Washington
Ryan Bos is the executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes Pride Month programming in D.C. each year.
