Latest news with #AfricanHumanRightsCoalition
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
World Pride Attendance Plummets As Trump's Shadow Looms Over D.C.
The glitter-caked gatherings at World Pride have taken a more somber tone amid the Trump administration's crackdown on LGBTQ+ rights. World Pride comes to a close this weekend in Washington, D.C., after a month-long celebration. D.C. had anticipated some 3 million people to mark the 50th anniversary of Pride celebrations in the Capitol. But attendance has plummeted, hotel bookings were down, and the estimated $800 million expected to be generated in the local economy failed to materialize. The BBC reports that a massive two-thirds of expected attendees stayed away. 'It is a risk to now come over [the border] and especially as a trans woman,' one Canadian who decided not to attend told the BBC. The drop is sharp, though not unexpected. Nations around the world have issued travel warnings to their non-binary, trans, and LGBTQ+ citizens, cautioning them that America under Trump is not a safe place. World Pride organizers themselves even considered advising trans attendees not to come. The African Human Rights Coalition explicitly called out the event, warning 'LGBTQI+ people worldwide to refrain from attending' because 'the event is being held in a venue ... governed now by an antagonistic fascist regime which presents distinct dangers to foreign LGBTQI+ attendees.' The last World Pride, held in Sydney in 2023, served as a touchpoint for the Australian government to announce record funding for LGBTQ+ organizations. 'It couldn't be a starker contrast,' an Australian human rights law professor who attended both events told ABC. 'Sydney was a celebration ... This is a call to action. This is a realization of how quickly our rights can be wound back.' Government policy has been notably hostile since the new administration took office. On his very first day, President Donald Trump directed government agencies to recognize only two sexes on official documents. Bans on diversity, equity, and inclusion policies; curtailing anti-discrimination efforts; and suspending trans people from military service quickly followed. The Trump administration has refused to recognize World Pride, in contrast to the administration of former President Joe Biden. The crackdown has spread to corporate America, previously a stalwart supporter of LGBTQ+ rights. A recent survey found that more than a third of Fortune 1000 companies surveyed planned to decrease their support for Pride events in 2025. Booz Allen Hamilton, a leading federal contractor, pulled its support for World Pride this year, while others did not renew previous funding commitments. Ryan Bos, executive director of the group that organizes D.C. Pride events, told The New York Times that corporate fundraising reached about half its target. Some companies sponsoring the event asked for their logos not to be displayed, he said. Still, some attendees saw their attendance as a necessary act of defiance—a return to Pride's more traditional protest, rather than celebratory, history. 'For the first time in many, many years, I'm not parading; I'm marching,' one attendee told NPR. 'It's a very different approach for the first time in a long time. Everything's under threat right now.'
Straits Times
05-06-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
WorldPride gathers in Washington as Trump rolls back LGBTQ+ rights
– LGBTQ+ people from around the world will 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 US President Donald Trump's doorstep. The WorldPride parade will march within a block of the White House grounds on June 7, and the rally will be held on June 8 at the Lincoln Memorial, the site of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr's 1963 'I Have A Dream' speech. Mr 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 (DEI) programmes. 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 Mr Trump's policies or have raised concerns about safety given the US political climate. The White House 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. Mr 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. US President Donald Trump holding up a signed executive order banning transgender girls and women from participating in women's sports. PHOTO: REUTERS 'Defiant, united and unstoppable' Politics and concerns about crossing the border during Mr Trump's immigration crackdown are expected to contribute to a 7 per cent decline in international travel spending in the US in 2025, 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. Mr Brandon Wolf, a spokesman for Human Rights Campaign, the largest pro-LGBTQ+ organisation in the US, said queer people 'rightly feel nervous and afraid' but that WorldPride will be 'an opportunity for the LGBTQ+ 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+ 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,' Mr Wolf said. But transgender people said they feel targeted by the Trump rhetoric and state laws passed around the US 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. Ms Susan Stryker, author of the 2008 book Transgender History and a distinguished visitor at Stanford University's Clayman Institute for Gender Research, said framing the Trump agenda as anti-DEI or anti-LGBTQ+ was a 'misnomer'. 'It's very specifically transgender people that they are coming after,' Ms Stryker said. 'The public discourse has been weaponised around trans issues.' Ms Marissa Miller, a transgender activist in Chicago who is travelling 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 Mr Trump's re-election. 'The universe is ready to showcase us,' Ms 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.' REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Yahoo
Some global LGBTQ travelers are skipping America this Pride season
For many European gays, the festive Eurovision Song Contest each May marks the unofficial kickoff to the global Pride season. As usual, there were soaring highlights and scandalous lowlights among the competing Eurovision nations at the 2025 edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, this month. But another country was on the lips of many queer jet-setters this year: the United States, with its spate of new anti-trans and anti-immigrant policies that are causing some LGBTQ travelers to reconsider their upcoming American itineraries. Several European countries, including Denmark, Finland and Germany, have issued official cautions for LGBTQ travelers visiting the U.S., particularly those with an 'X' gender listed on their passport. Meanwhile, out of concerns for participant safety, Canada's leading LGBTQ rights group, Egale Canada, pulled out of participation in WorldPride DC, and the African Human Rights Coalition has called for a boycott of this edition of the international Pride event, coordinated by InterPride and usually held every two years. 'It doesn't feel right to at the moment,' Karl Krause told NBC News at Eurovision in Basel, referring to travel to the U.S. Krause, who is German by birth, lives in Amsterdam with his Dutch partner, Daan Colijn, and together they are travel-focused content creators known to their followers as Couple of Men. In 2021, Lonely Planet awarded them its first Best in Travel LGBTIQ Storyteller Award, a nod to their work for the LGBTQ community. 'As gay men traveling to the U.S., we are probably still the more privileged part of the community,' Krause said. 'But we had some interesting conversations recently in Bilbao with a trans person who was like, 'I cannot, I literally cannot travel to the U.S., because I have no idea how they would receive my diverse passport, if I would be put in detention or whatever. I have my little daughter — I'm not going to risk any of this.'' Krause said that was the moment he realized that while he and Colijn as gay men may not yet be feeling the full effects of the Trump administration's policies, they were already having an impact on other travelers within the LGBTQ community. 'So how can we in good feeling promote this destination?' he asked. 'How can I send a trans friend or nonbinary friend and try to inspire them to go to the U.S. when they are in what's supposed to be the best time of their year, to spend in a country where they don't feel safe?' Colijn added that he and Krause want to send their followers 'somewhere where they are safe, where they feel welcome.' 'At the moment, of course a lot of people will still feel very, very welcome in the majority of America — a lot of places are still the same, or maybe even trying to do better. But we just want to be careful in what we are supporting,' Colijn said. John Tanzella, president and CEO of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, or IGLTA, told NBC News that such concerns are commonplace this year. 'We've heard from travelers feeling uncertain about visiting the U.S., especially trans and gender-diverse individuals,' he said. 'These decisions are often driven by concerns about safety, treatment at the border and access to affirming health care. Some have canceled their trips. Many others are still coming, but they're being more selective about where they go.' Nicoló Manfredini, an Italian trans man living in Valencia, Spain, said he was recently able to enter the U.S. without incident thanks to having an 'M' marker on his passport, but the government's anti-trans policies currently make America a place he would rather not visit again. 'Originally I had planned to go to WorldPride, but not now,' he said. Given the current environment in the U.S., Manfredini added, he said he would only travel to the U.S. if he had to do so for work. Even American gender-diverse people are adjusting their travel plans because of Trump administration policies, according to a study released earlier this month by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Of the more than 300 transgender, nonbinary and other gender-diverse people surveyed, 70% said they are less likely to go on vacation to U.S. states they view as less trans-affirming. Krause said that despite usually attending at least one and sometimes several U.S. Pride events every year, this year will be different. 'We were actually planning to go to Washington, D.C., for WorldPride, but this is off the table for us … How safe can we be in Washington? Just saying that scares me a little bit,' he said, noting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was particularly concerning. 'I don't know what is going on there now and who is coming, and I don't feel safe with the idea that I'm going there and I'm walking and maybe there is a mob [coming] from whatever direction.' Capital Pride Alliance, the organizers behind WorldPride DC, which started earlier this month and continues through June 8, did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News, but the event's website details security protocols and includes a passport advisory for transgender and nonbinary travelers. Sahand Miraminy, director of operations for Capital Pride Alliance, told The Washington Post this week that security measures at WorldPride DC will include weapons screening at the entrance to the street festival June 7 and 8, which will also be fenced in. In addition to the local and federal "agency support that we have, we also hire private security and have many forms of safety measures and surveillance that we may not share at all times with the public,' he said, 'but there are certainly conversations that we're having with those agencies on a weekly basis.' Organizers at NYC Pride, arguably the most globally popular of U.S. Pride events each year and held like most big cities during Pride Month in June, are also stepping up security plans for 2025. 'NYC Pride has contracted a private firm with vast experience managing LGBTQIA+ events to lead on-site security,' spokesperson Kevin Kilbride said. 'Given the size and visibility of our events, NYC Pride is monitored and secured by municipal agencies at every level of government to protect our freedom of expression and ensure a safe space for our community.' Tanzella said that since safety is unfortunately never guaranteed for the LGBTQ community, careful planning is more essential than ever for LGBTQ travelers coming to the U.S. this year. 'Research destinations with strong reputations for inclusion and visible LGBTQ+ support,' he advised. 'Connect with local LGBTQ+ organizations for on-the-ground insights, stay informed about local laws and current events, and have a plan for accessing affirming health care if needed. Most importantly, prioritize places where you feel respected and supported.' Cities and states with long-standing reputations for LGBTQ inclusivity are getting more attention, Tanzella added. 'In this climate, a destination's visible commitment to inclusion through its policies, community engagement, and public support truly matters,' he said. In October, the IGLTA will host its annual global convention in Palm Springs, California, a destination Colijn said he and Krause can and will enthusiastically visit. 'We were there just last year, and we felt how amazing and welcome and how much old queer culture is there,' he said. 'So of course we want to go there, and we can fully tell people to go there. Unless of course we might get in trouble at the border.' Krause, however, noted that he and Colijn still haven't booked their Palm Springs trip just yet, because they fear that under the Trump administration 'everything can change overnight.' 'There is no long-term planning,' he said. Kilbride said he understands the need global queer travelers feel to exhibit caution this year, but he said he believes Pride remains one of the most powerful tools in the collective struggle for equality. 'We stand with the international LGBTIA+ community, particularly our trans and nonbinary siblings,' he said. 'But we also believe the fight for our community is more important now than ever. We need to show up big to make it clear: We're here, we're queer, and we're not going anywhere.' This article was originally published on
NBC News
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Some global LGBTQ travelers are skipping America this Pride season
For many European gays, the festive Eurovision Song Contest each May marks the unofficial kickoff to the global Pride season. As usual, there were soaring highlights and scandalous lowlights among the competing Eurovision nations at the 2025 edition of the contest in Basel, Switzerland, this month. But another country was on the lips of many queer jet-setters this year: the United States, with its spate of new anti-trans and anti-immigrant policies that are causing some LGBTQ travelers to reconsider their upcoming American itineraries. Several European countries, including Denmark, Finland and Germany, have issued official cautions for LGBTQ travelers visiting the U.S., particularly those with an 'X' gender listed on their passport. Meanwhile, out of concerns for participant safety, Canada's leading LGBTQ rights group, Egale Canada, pulled out of participation in WorldPride DC, and the African Human Rights Coalition has called for a boycott of this edition of the international Pride event, coordinated by InterPride and usually held every two years. 'It doesn't feel right to at the moment,' Karl Krause told NBC News at Eurovision in Basel, referring to travel to the U.S. Krause, who is German by birth, lives in Amsterdam with his Dutch partner, Daan Colijn, and together they are travel-focused content creators known to their followers as Couple of Men. In 2021, Lonely Planet awarded them its first Best in Travel LGBTIQ Storyteller Award, a nod to their work for the LGBTQ community. 'As gay men traveling to the U.S., we are probably still the more privileged part of the community,' Krause said. 'But we had some interesting conversations recently in Bilbao with a trans person who was like, 'I cannot, I literally cannot travel to the U.S., because I have no idea how they would receive my diverse passport, if I would be put in detention or whatever. I have my little daughter — I'm not going to risk any of this.'' Krause said that was the moment he realized that while he and Colijn as gay men may not yet be feeling the full effects of the Trump administration's policies, they were already having an impact on other travelers within the LGBTQ community. 'So how can we in good feeling promote this destination?' he asked. 'How can I send a trans friend or nonbinary friend and try to inspire them to go to the U.S. when they are in what's supposed to be the best time of their year, to spend in a country where they don't feel safe?' Colijn added that he and Krause want to send their followers 'somewhere where they are safe, where they feel welcome.' 'At the moment, of course a lot of people will still feel very, very welcome in the majority of America — a lot of places are still the same, or maybe even trying to do better. But we just want to be careful in what we are supporting,' Colijn said. John Tanzella, president and CEO of the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association, or IGLTA, told NBC News that such concerns are commonplace this year. 'We've heard from travelers feeling uncertain about visiting the U.S., especially trans and gender-diverse individuals,' he said. 'These decisions are often driven by concerns about safety, treatment at the border and access to affirming health care. Some have canceled their trips. Many others are still coming, but they're being more selective about where they go.' Nicoló Manfredini, an Italian trans man living in Valencia, Spain, said he was recently able to enter the U.S. without incident thanks to having an 'M' marker on his passport, but the government's anti-trans policies currently make America a place he would rather not visit again. 'Originally I had planned to go to WorldPride, but not now,' he said. Given the current environment in the U.S., Manfredini added, he said he would only travel to the U.S. if he had to do so for work. Even American gender-diverse people are adjusting their travel plans because of Trump administration policies, according to a study released earlier this month by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Of the more than 300 transgender, nonbinary and other gender-diverse people surveyed, 70% said they are less likely to go on vacation to U.S. states they view as less trans-affirming. Krause said that despite usually attending at least one and sometimes several U.S. Pride events every year, this year will be different. 'We were actually planning to go to Washington, D.C., for WorldPride, but this is off the table for us … How safe can we be in Washington? Just saying that scares me a little bit,' he said, noting the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol was particularly concerning. 'I don't know what is going on there now and who is coming, and I don't feel safe with the idea that I'm going there and I'm walking and maybe there is a mob [coming] from whatever direction.' Capital Pride Alliance, the organizers behind WorldPride DC, which started earlier this month and continues through June 8, did not respond to requests for comment from NBC News, but the event's website details security protocols and includes a passport advisory for transgender and nonbinary travelers. Sahand Miraminy, director of operations for Capital Pride Alliance, told The Washington Post this week that security measures at WorldPride DC will include weapons screening at the entrance to the street festival June 7 and 8, which will also be fenced in. In addition to the local and federal "agency support that we have, we also hire private security and have many forms of safety measures and surveillance that we may not share at all times with the public,' he said, 'but there are certainly conversations that we're having with those agencies on a weekly basis.' Organizers at NYC Pride, arguably the most globally popular of U.S. Pride events each year and held like most big cities during Pride Month in June, are also stepping up security plans for 2025. 'NYC Pride has contracted a private firm with vast experience managing LGBTQIA+ events to lead on-site security,' spokesperson Kevin Kilbride said. 'Given the size and visibility of our events, NYC Pride is monitored and secured by municipal agencies at every level of government to protect our freedom of expression and ensure a safe space for our community.'
NBC News
19-05-2025
- Politics
- NBC News
World Pride comes to Washington in the shadow of the Trump administration
WASHINGTON — The World Pride 2025 welcome concert, with pop icon Shakira performing at Nationals Stadium, isn't until May 31. But for host city Washington, D.C., the festivities started with a string of localized Pride events on Saturday, including Trans Pride. Hundreds of LGBTQ rallies, seminars, parties, after-parties and after-after-parties are planned for the next three weeks across the nation's capital, including Black Pride and Latin Pride. It all culminates in a two-day closing festival on June 7 and 8 with a parade, rally and concerts on Pennsylvania Avenue by Cynthia Erivo and Doechii. The biannual international event typically draws more than a million visitors from around the world and across the LGBTQ spectrum. But this year's events will carry both a special resonance and a particular sense of community-wide anxiety due to the policies of President Donald Trump's administration. Trump's public antipathy for trans protections and drag shows has already prompted two international LGBTQ organizations, Egale Canada and the African Human Rights Coalition, to issue warnings against traveling to the U.S. at all. The primary concern is that trans or nonbinary individuals will face trouble entering the country if passport control officers enforce the administration's strict binary view of gender status. 'I think it's a fair assumption that the international numbers won't be as high due to the climate and the uncertainties,' said Ryan Bos, executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance. 'At the same time we know that there's an urgency and importance to showing up and making sure we remain visible and seen and protect our freedoms.' Anxiety over Trump's approach to LGBTQ rights Opposition to transgender rights was a key point for Trump's presidential campaign last year and he's been following through since returning to the White House in January, with orders to recognize people as being only male or female, keep transgender girls and women out of sports competitions for females, oust transgender military troops, restrict federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender people under age 19 and threaten research funding for institutions that provide the care. All the efforts are being challenged in court; judges have put some policies on hold but are currently letting the push to remove transgender service members move forward. An Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found support for some of his efforts. In February, Trump launched a takeover at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, publicly promising to purge drag shows from the institution's stages. Within days of that takeover, the Kennedy Center abruptly pulled out of plans to host the International Pride Orchestra as part of a week-long series of World Pride crossover events entitled Tapestry of Pride. In the wake of that cancellation, the Capital Pride Alliance cancelled the entire week and moved some of the Tapestry events to alternate venues. Some potential international participants have already announced plans to skip this year's events, either out of fear of harassment or as a boycott against Trump's policies. But others have called for a mobilization to flood the capital, arguing that establishing a presence in potentially hostile spaces is the precise and proud history of the community. 'We've been here before. There is nothing new under the sun,' said D.C. Council Member Zachary Parker, who is gay. 'While this is uncharted territory … a fight for humanity is not new to those in the LGBTQ+ community.' Showing up could carry symbolic weight A recent editorial in the The Blade by Argentinian activist Mariano Ruiz argued for 'the symbolic weight of showing up anyway,' despite the legitimate concerns. 'If we set the precedent that global LGBTQI+ events cannot happen under right-wing or anti-LGBTQI+ governments, we will effectively disqualify a growing list of countries from hosting,' Ruiz wrote. 'To those who say attending World Pride in D.C. normalizes Trump's policies, I say: What greater statement than queer, trans, intersex, and nonbinary people from around the world gathering defiantly in his capital? What more powerful declaration than standing visible where he would rather we vanish?' The last World Pride, in 2023, drew more than 1 million visitors to Sydney, Australia, according to estimates. It's too early to tell whether the numbers this year will match those, but organizers admit they are expecting international attendance to be affected. Destination D.C., which tracks hotel booking numbers, estimated that bookings for this year during World Pride are about 10% behind the same period in 2024, but the organization notes in a statement that the numbers may be skewed by a 'major citywide convention' last year that coincided with what would be the final week of World Pride this year. Still, as the date approaches, organizers and advocates are predicting a memorable party. If international participation is measurably down this year, as many are predicting, the hope is that domestic participants will make a point of attending. 'The revolution is now,' said Parker, the D.C. council member. 'There is no greater demonstration of resistance than being present and being you, and that is what World Pride is going to represent for millions of folks.'
