Pride organizations across America are facing a coordinated and escalating backlash, squeezed by political hostility toward LGBTQ+ people, corporate retreat from DEI commitments, and shrinking public funding. Facing this reality, many Pride organizers have dramatically scaled back what festivals and celebrations look like. Others have shut down their events and organizing bodies altogether as our federal government dismantles DEI.
Washington, D.C.'s Capital Pride Alliance (CPA) is no exception, and here, the pressure is about to get more acute. The fees charged by D.C. government agencies that support major events like Capital Pride have increased dramatically. If these costs are fully passed on to nonprofit organizations like CPA, events like ours, which are a major economic engine for both D.C. and the region, will no longer be able to function.
I guess it’s back to it being a protest then. Makes it more meaningful too, I think.
The first Pride was a riot.
I went to three Pride events as an ally this year, and it was a fucking blast every time, 1000% recommend, even if you’re not strictly an ally, just if you have an open mind… you’re going to have a good time. I even saw a drag show at one, and I thought before, “that’s just an aspect of Pride I have no interest in engaging with”… nah fuck that shit, those queens put on a fucking show. And I learned there are drag kings as well.
But yeah, it’s not all fun and games. So the third event I went to, it was in a bigger city, and I saw a sign or sticker or maybe a shirt that said the first Pride was a riot, and I kinda knew it, but seeing it just changed the perspective of the whole thing. Like yeah, it’s fun, but to realise all these people are there and able to be there because of the sacrifices of those who came before… it just made the struggles all more real.
And to make it worse, so many pride events now invite cops to participate. The same people who kept us down and still terrorize us.
I only saw police attempting to keep the peace. Though, they were generally just spectating.
What weirded me out was all the churches. The organisers (this was at two different Pride events) had the churches off to the side, like the parade went up a main street and there were things like food trucks down the side streets, and they put religious groups there. I guess so those who don’t want to interact with them don’t have to see them, but you can find them if you want.
The bigger one had protesters, claiming we were all going to Hell. What was funny about that was, not a single church represented there (and there were over a dozen) claimed them.
Yeah, I live in a progressive city and when the corporations pulled out of pride events, honestly it was kind of a positive to the whole vibe, but it definitely cut down on funding, but a ton of local organizations more than made up for it.
Now the city decided that the parade interrupted the bus system too much and started putting a ton of police at every few intersections to stop the parade and let busses through. So more cops and slower parade. Just more tactics to try to reduce participation, but the streets are still usually pretty full of people.
Fellow LGBTQ+, allies, whatever, as long as you’re not going to assault or murder us, you’re all welcome to most events. Check out how awesome we all are and how really we are just ordinary people with some different feelings when it comes to some things that have no effect on others whatsoever and just want to survive without being beaten and hunted.
