World Pride, the international LGBTQ Plus celebration, is underway in Washington, D.C. against

the backdrop of the Trump administration, rolling back LGBTQ plus rights and protections,

particularly for transgender people.

The co-creator of the ACLU's Freedom to Be campaign, which advocates for trans people's rights, says that makes the

event all the more significant. There's nothing that Donald Trump has done or can do to LGBT

people that we have not faced before. We have to show up for one another and show that, no,

the power actually lives with us,

the people. And if, you know, he wants us sitting in our home, scrolling on our phones,

terrified of what will come next, I think what's important for us to do is remember that courage

is contagious.

But President Trump's anti-DEI policies have led some corporate sponsors to drop out,

and some foreign transgender groups have canceled their participation.

June Crenshaw is the deputy director of the Capital Pride Alliance, the Washington, D.C. group hosting World Pride.

June, when Washington was selected to be the host city for World Pride,

as I understand it the idea was to, it'll be a celebration

of the 50th anniversary of DC Pride, the Washington DC Pride event.

With what's happened with the second Trump administration,

has the emphasis and maybe the tone changed?

We certainly expected for World Pride to be a different celebration.

And since the Trump administration, we've had to pivot and really go back to our roots when prides were a protest and to really

shift to an advocacy type of approach, but not forgetting the fact that we needed to build unity

and community and also experience joy.

...