World Pleasure is coming to Washington, D.C., this summer season — the primary time the worldwide occasion will happen in america in eight years.
For a lot of, this ought to be a second of celebration — a world gathering of LGBTQ+ folks, taking up the nation’s capital to acknowledge our pleasure and collective energy. And but, the lead-up to this historic occasion has already been stained by political gamesmanship, silencing, and erasure.
Simply this previous week, the Kennedy Middle canceled every week of LGBTQ+ occasions that had been deliberate as a part of the World Pleasure festivities. In response to CNN, the choice comes amid “a shift in priorities” and new Trump-aligned management on the storied establishment. If we’re being trustworthy, this isn’t only a programming choice; it’s a warning.
It’s additionally a reminder; we live in a second the place pleasure is political. And in 2025, our very survival nonetheless is determined by resistance.
Make no mistake; Donald Trump and his allies have by no means been associates of LGBTQ+ folks. From the second he took workplace in 2017, the Trump administration labored aggressively to roll again civil rights protections, appoint anti-LGBTQ+ judges, ban transgender folks from serving overtly within the army, and weaponize spiritual freedom to legalize discrimination.
He erased us from federal web sites, eliminated knowledge assortment on LGBTQ+ communities, and allowed companies to disclaim us companies. Whereas his 2024 marketing campaign could have appeared quieter on queer points, that silence was strategic — not an indication of progress.
Hurt continues to be occurring in actual time, notably by the relentless assaults on gender-affirming care, trans youth, and LGBTQ+ visibility in faculties. Extremists now not want Trump to shout from the rooftops when his agenda is already being carried out in statehouses, faculty boards, and courtrooms throughout the nation.
And now, he’s been elected Board Chair of the Kennedy Middle — a cultural cornerstone that has traditionally honored the very artists, thinkers, and changemakers his insurance policies undermine. This choice isn’t only a slap within the face; it’s a symptom of one thing deeper: a nationwide failure to see LGBTQ+ folks — particularly Black, brown, trans, and disabled people — as important to the American cultural and political material.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t nearly World Pleasure. It’s about what World Pleasure represents. Pleasure started as resistance, not rainbow capitalism or company floats, however revolt.
It was Black and brown trans girls like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera who pushed again towards police violence at Stonewall. It was ACT UP, Queer Nation, and different grassroots organizers who refused to let our group die in silence throughout the AIDS disaster. It’s the ongoing work of queer and trans youth who’re combating at present for the suitable to stay, be taught, and thrive in security.
World Pleasure ought to be an extension of that legacy — not only a celebration, however a platform. Not simply celebration, however survival.
In my current article for NewsOne, I wrote that “D.C. shouldn’t be a backdrop.” And I stand by that. The District is not only a stage for federal pageantry or political theater; it’s residence. It’s a metropolis the place Black and brown LGBTQ+ folks have organized, cherished, constructed households, and remodeled techniques. From the ballroom group to advocacy teams to Black queer-led protests at Nellie’s Sports activities Bar, this metropolis has at all times been greater than its monuments.
That’s what makes this second each painful and significant. For a lot of, the choice to attend World Pleasure is much from easy. It requires assessing danger in a local weather that feels more and more hostile — a fragile steadiness of pleasure and worry. Nobody ought to really feel pressured to attend or pressured to remain away. As a substitute, that call ought to be rooted in private company and collective care.
However it is usually necessary to not permit white supremacists, transphobes, or cultural revisionists to push us out of our personal communities.
That is our residence, too. And Pleasure continues to be protest.
The cancellations on the Kennedy Middle, the quiet normalization of Trump’s political return, and the rise of state-sanctioned anti-LGBTQ+ violence — all of it’s linked. These aren’t remoted moments; they’re coordinated methods to erase us, divide us, and exhaust us.
Our response should be simply as coordinated. We should arrange not simply to guard our rights, however to increase them. We should inform the reality about our historical past — not simply the sanitized tales, however the radical, intersectional ones that honor Black trans girls, disabled queer people, undocumented LGBTQ+ migrants, and intercourse employees.
We should present up for each other — in protest, in celebration, and within the messy, difficult areas in between.
World Pleasure is going on in Trump’s yard, however it’s additionally occurring in ours. That rigidity doesn’t must be reconciled; it needs to be acknowledged. Pleasure shouldn’t be about efficiency. It’s about presence.
So whether or not you march, rally, educate, relaxation, or resist in different methods — do it from a spot of affection. Do it as a result of we’re nonetheless right here. Do it as a result of we nonetheless have work to do. And do it as a result of the world is watching, and our message should be clear:
We’re not equipment to another person’s narrative. We’re not going anyplace. And that is nonetheless our residence.
Preston Mitchum is the founding father of PDM Consulting, primarily based in Washington, DC. His work focuses on racial justice, gender fairness, LGBTQ+ liberation, and the pursuit of insurance policies that transfer past symbolism to create lasting change.
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