DEBBIE ELLIOTT, HOST:
Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., just down the street from the White House, will be closed to traffic today for a parade - the WorldPride parade. Many thousands of people are expected this afternoon - gay, transgender, queer, young, old, all races and religions. And this year, especially, people from all over the world. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin joins us now for a preview. Hi there, Selena.
SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE: Hi, Debbie.
ELLIOTT: So D.C. is usually pretty lit up for Pride every June, but this year, it seems to be a different level. Why is that?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Yeah. So this year, WorldPride is being celebrated here in the District. That is a roving international version of the Pride parades that happen all over the place in the summer months. The first one was in 2000 in Rome. It's been in Madrid and Toronto, and this year, it's in D.C. Later today is the parade, but it's really a festival that's been going on for several weeks with concerts and sporting events, art shows, lectures and more.
ELLIOTT: Tell us what it's like out there in the city. There's a lot going on politically right now with gay and trans people in America.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Yeah. I mean, from its earliest moments, the second Trump administration has passed all sorts of executive orders affecting LGBTQ people. All the anti-diversity, equity and inclusion - DEI - efforts have affected them. The White House has declared there are only two sexes, and they cannot change. Transgender people cannot compete in sports. There are limits to health care access, military service.
Here in D.C., there is a higher percentage of LGBTQ residents than any state in the country. There's tension between the federal government and the D.C. government over its local budget. And that tension really ratcheted up this week when the National Park Service decided to close Dupont Circle, which is basically the heart of D.C.'s historic gay neighborhood. The given reason was public safety and because of past vandalism during Pride. But after local pushback, the fencing actually came down this morning, just a few hours before the parade is set to start. but certainly, that incident highlights some of the tension between the federal government and the city where it is based.
ELLIOTT: Has that tension affected the feeling in the city leading up to the parade?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: I would say yes. There is a sense of nervousness that I don't remember from past years. All of those Trump administration policies we talked about led some places to warn transgender people in particular against traveling to D.C. from abroad. Here's Zach (ph), who asked NPR only use his first name because he is a federal worker and fears retaliation for criticizing the Trump administration.
ZACH: Anti-trans and anti-queer policies made a lot of people, especially those in foreign countries, feel like they weren't welcome here.
ELLIOTT: Now, what about businesses that have traditionally supported the parade?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Yeah. I mean corporate sponsorships are down, not just when it comes to world pride in D.C., but across the country. Gravity Research did a survey of 200 corporations on their participation in Pride events and found a third were scaling back this year. Some companies are nervous about being called out by President Trump, so they're trying to lay low in terms of public support while reassuring their employees they still care, and that's a difficult needle to thread.
ELLIOTT: So you've talked about this increased tension. Is that tamping down the parade's sense of celebration?
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: I mean, we'll see later this afternoon, but I, I will say there's a saying you'll hear a lot this year. The first Pride was a riot. And that's a reference to Stonewall Inn, where transgender people fought back against a police raid in New York City in 1969. So Pride didn't start because rainbows are pretty. It started because discriminatory laws and societal intolerance pushed queer people to the breaking point, and they decided to fight back. So I think this political moment has LGBTQ people thinking about that history and how fighting back when the odds seem stacked against you is something this community knows how to do.
ELLIOTT: That's NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin. Thanks so much.
SIMMONS-DUFFIN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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