District of Columbia
U.S. Park Service orders Dupont Circle park closed during WorldPride weekend
Shutdown came at request of D.C. police; ANC commissioners denounce action
The U.S. Park Service announced in a statement released on Monday that it will close Dupont Circle park during the final weekend of WorldPride 2025 D.C. to prevent “destructive and disorderly behavior” by WorldPride participants.
“At the request of the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, with the concurrence of the United States Park Police, the National Park Service will temporarily close Dupont Circle park this weekend, beginning Thursday, June 5 to Monday, June 9, as a public safety measure and to protect park resources during WorldPride celebrations,” the statement says.
The statement adds, “This decision was based on a history and pattern of destructive and disorderly behavior from unpermitted activities happening in the park during past DC Pride weekends, including vandalism in 2023 that resulted in approximately $175,000 in damage to the historic Dupont Circle fountain.”
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for an explanation of why MPD reportedly requested the Dupont Circle park shutdown for WorldPride, a D.C. police spokesperson declined to comment and referred all inquiries to the National Park Service. Also declining to comment was the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“We have nothing else to add to the National Park Service statement at this time,” said mayoral spokesperson Daniel Gleick.
Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events and is serving as lead organizer for WorldPride 2025, said no official WorldPride events were scheduled this year for Dupont Circle park.
Bos noted that no official Capital Pride events have taken place in or around Dupont Circle park since 2023, when the Pride parade traveled around Dupont Circle park as it had in prior years until the parade route was changed in 2024.
“It’s important to know that there haven’t been organized Capital Pride events in Dupont Circle park for many years, and none of the damage was done by a Capital Pride event,” he said.
But others familiar with the Dupont Circle neighborhood, which has for many years and continues to have a large concentration of LGBTQ residents, has been the site of unofficial Pride related events for a long time.
Among those who have raised strong objections to the Park Service decision to close Dupont Circle park are gay Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners Vincent Slatt and Jeffrey Ruegauer.
“Not only did MPD make this decision, they did so without consulting the ANC, other stakeholders,” Ruegauer said in an email to fellow Dupont ANC members.
At a public meeting on Monday night, Ruegauer added, “The circle belongs to everyone, it is the city’s town square. It is intimately linked with the gay community and the gay rights movement and so many other rights movements over the years,” he said according to a report by the Washington Post.
“To just arbitrarily shut it down from Thursday to Monday is such an affront to not only the gay community but everyone in the District,” the Post quoted him as saying.
Slatt, who also serves as an official with D.C.’s Rainbow History Project, told the Blade he believes city officials, including D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith, the mayor, and D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) who represents the Dupont Circle area, should be raising questions over the shutdown decision.
“The community should be as outraged as I am,” he said.
“We recognize that WorldPride is a significant event, and we are committed to supporting a safe celebration for all,” the National Park Service statement announcing the park shutdown says. “We ask for the public’s cooperation and understanding as we take this necessary step to keep the community and visitors safe and protect one of D.C.’s most treasured public spaces,” it says.
It concludes by saying the action in part implements “President Trump’s Executive Order on Protecting American Monuments, Memorials, and Statues, and Combating Recent Criminal Violence.”
District of Columbia
Norton reintroduces bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ jurors in D.C. Superior Court
Congresswoman notes Congress controls local court system
D.C. Congressional Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) on Friday, June 20, reintroduced her bill to ban discrimination against LGBTQ D.C. residents in the process for selecting people to serve as jurors in D.C. Superior Court.
“The bill would clarify that D.C. residents may not be excluded or disqualified from jury service in the local D.C. trial court, the D.C. Superior Court, based on sexual orientation or gender identity,” Norton said in a statement.
“Specifically, this bill would clarify that the term ‘sex,’ which is a protected class under the nondiscrimination law that applies to jurors in the D.C. Superior Court includes sexual orientation and gender identity,” Norton said.
She points out in her statement that under the D.C. Home Rule Act approved by Congress that created D.C.’s local government, including an elected mayor and City Council, the federal government retained control over the local court system.
“Therefore, until D.C. is given authority to amend Title 11 of the D.C. Code, which one of my bills would do, an act of Congress is required to clarify that LGBTQ+ jurors in the D.C. Superior Court are protected from discrimination,” according to her statement.
A spokesperson for Norton couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether Norton is aware of specific instances where residents were denied jury service because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Online records of congressional action on Norton’s juror nondiscrimination bill show she had introduced it in 2019, 2021, and 2023, when it died in committee each year, except for the 117th Congress in 2022, when it was approved by a committee but died in the full House.
“During Pride month we are reminded of the many contributions of the LGBTQ+ community,” Norton said in her June 20 statement. “Nobody, including D.C. jurors, should be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, and D.C. juries should not be deprived of the service of LGBTQ residents,” she added.
District of Columbia
Juvenile arrested for anti-gay assault in D.C.
Police say suspect targeted victim in house with Pride flags
D.C. police announced on June 16 that they have arrested a 13-year-old juvenile male on a charge of Assault With Significant Bodily Injury for allegedly throwing a rock through the window of a house in Northeast D.C. and “striking the victim in the face.”
In a statement announcing the arrest, police said the incident took place on Friday, June 6, and “LGBTQ+ flags were displayed at the front of the home.”
A separate D.C. police incident report obtained by the Washington Blade states, “Victim 1 reports he was sitting in his living room at the listed location watching television when a rock came through the front window and struck him about his left eye. Victim 1 suffered a laceration under his left eye.”
The report adds, “Victim 1 states he observed Suspect 1 running away.”
According to the June 16 statement issued by police, “On Sunday, June 15, 2025, officers located the suspect and placed him under arrest. [A] 13-year-old juvenile male of Northeast D.C., was charged with Assault With Significant Bodily Injury (Hate/Bias).”
The statement says the house where the incident occurred is located on the 400 block of 20th Street, N.E.
Similar to statements D.C. police have issued regarding LGBTQ bias-related cases in the past, the statement announcing this case says that while the case is being investigated as being potentially motivated by hate or bias, that designation could be changed at any time during the investigation.
It adds that a hate crime designation by D.C. police may not be prosecuted as a hate crime by prosecutors. Under D.C. law, juvenile cases are prosecuted by the Office of the D.C. Attorney General.
Since court records for cases involving juveniles are sealed from public access, the Blade could not immediately determine whether prosecutors designated the case as a hate crime.
It also could not immediately be determined if the juvenile charged in the case was being held in detention while awaiting trial at juvenile court or whether he was released to a parent or guardian and whether a judge set any conditions for release.
The police statement concludes by saying that the department’s Special Liaison Branch, which includes the LGBT Liaison Unit, is assisting with the investigation.
District of Columbia
Drive with Pride in D.C.
A new Pride-themed license plate is now available in the District, with proceeds directly benefiting local LGBTQ organizations.
Just in time for Pride month, the D.C. Department of Motor Vehicles has partnered with the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to create a special “Pride Lives Here” license plate.
The plate, which was initially unveiled in February, has a one-time $25 application fee and a $20 annual display fee. Both fees will go directly to the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Affairs Fund.
The MOLGBTQA Fund provides $1,000,000 annually to 25,000 residents through its grant program, funding a slew of LGBTQ organizations in the DMV area — including Capital Pride Alliance, Whitman-Walker, the D.C. Center for the LGBTQ Community, and the Washington Blade Foundation.
The license plate features an inclusive rainbow flag wrapping around the license numbers, with silver stars in the background — a tribute to both D.C.’s robust queer community and the resilience the LGBTQ community has shown.
The “Pride Lives Here” plate is one of only 13 specialty plates offered in the District, and the only one whose fees go directly to the LGBTQ community.
To apply for a Pride plate, visit the DC DMV’s website at https://dmv.dc.gov/
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