Cloudy skies can't dim joy as thousands fill nation's capital for World Pride parade

Source: AP

Updated 10:43 PM EDT, June 7, 2025


WASHINGTON (AP) — Gray skies and drizzle gave way to sunshine, multicolored flags and celebrations as the nation’s capital held the World Pride parade Saturday. ens of thousands of people participated in parades and other festivities, in defiance of what activists say is an unprecedented assault on the LGBTQ+ community that challenges the rights many have fought for over the years. A rainbow flag the length of three football fields flowed through the streets, carried by 500 members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., to kick off the parade.

Behind them, people waved Pride flags and flags representing the transgender, asexual and bisexual communities from atop a bus. Singer-songwriter and actor Reneé Rapp laughed and blew kisses from the back of a pickup truck draped with a transgender flag while Laverne Cox, a transgender actress and activist known for her role in Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black,” waved from an open convertible. “Pride means us looking out for each other no matter what,” she declared to the crowd as the convertible rolled to a stop. “We know how to be there for each other.”

Many LGBTQ+ travelers have expressed concerns or decided to skip World Pride due to anxieties about safety, border policies and a hostile political climate that they say hearkens back to another time. But that did not keep international travelers and other participants away, with groups visible from Iran, Namibia, Kenya and Russia.

Along the parade route, hundreds gathered outside the National City Christian Church as rainbow flags and balloons lined its steps and columns. A child with rainbow face paint blew bubbles at the base of the steps while Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” blared from loudspeakers. “D.C. is already one of the biggest cities in the country for celebrating Pride,” said Cheo White, 33, from Annapolis, Maryland. “But we are all collectively more united and turning out more because of what’s happening in the White House.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/world-pride-parade-trump-lgbtq-trans-e6f26563b3d48eea0720262c8f990270