A prominent LGBTQ activist who lives in the U.K. said she could not travel to D.C. for the WorldPride 2025 Human Rights Conference because the U.S. revoked her eligibility to enter the country without a visa.

Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, the co-founder of UK Black Pride known as Lady Phyll, was supposed to speak at the conference’s opening plenary at the National Theater. Opoku-Gyimah instead spoke remotely.

She said the U.S. “revoked” her eligibility to participate in the Visa Waiver Program and use an Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, to enter the country without a visa because she traveled to Cuba earlier this year.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection website notes the State Department on Jan. 12, 2021, designated Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism.

President Donald Trump’s first administration ended eight days after he made the designation. Then-President Joe Biden in the final days of his administration said the U.S. would move to lift the designation as part of a Vatican-brokered deal that secured the release of prisoners on the Communist island. Brenda Díaz, a transgender woman with HIV who participated in an anti-government protest in 2021, is among those who the Cuban government released from prison.

The CBP website notes that with “limited exceptions, a traveler who is found to have visited Cuba on or after this date is not eligible for travel under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) using an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) and must apply for a visa to travel to the United States.”

“Additionally, a traveler who at the time of application for an ESTA holds dual nationality with both a VWP country and Cuba is not eligible for travel under the VWP using an ESTA and must apply for a visa to travel to the United States,” it reads. “If an ESTA has already been approved and it is later determined that the traveler has been present in Cuba or holds dual nationality with both a VWP country and Cuba, the ESTA will be revoked.”

“Ineligibility for an ESTA is not a bar to travel to the United States,” notes the CBP website. “Individuals who are not eligible to travel under the VWP may apply for a visa at any U.S. embassy or consulate.”

Opoku-Gyimah said she learned of the revocation “as I preparing to be with you.” Opoku-Gyimah in her remarks said she applied for a visa that would have allowed her to enter the U.S., but the first available appointment was not until later this year.

“Yet from afar, I’m here,” she said. “We don’t abandon our people.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, has yet to respond to the Washington Blade’s request for comment.

As the lead organizer of D.C.’s first Gay Pride Day celebration held 50 years ago in 1975, Deacon Maccubbin has been involved as an organizer in D.C.’s Pride events at least until 1979 and as an active participant every year since that time.

But this year Maccubbin says he, along with his partner and husband of 47 years, Jim Bennett, are honored to have been selected as both honorary co-chairs for World Pride D.C. 2025 and as grand marshals for the World Pride Parade scheduled for June 7.

Maccubbin points out that D.C.’s first Gay Pride Day celebration came one year after he opened Lambda Rising, D.C.’s first LGBTQ bookstore in 1974 on the section of 20^th Street, N.W. where the first Pride celebration was held.

He later moved Lambda Rising to two other nearby D.C. locations in the Dupont Circle neighborhood with more space to allow the popular LGBTQ bookstore to expand its operations. And not long after that, Maccubbin opened Lambda Rising stores in other locations including Baltimore, Norfolk, Va., and Rehoboth Beach, Del.

Around 1977, Maccubbin says Lambda Rising started a book mail order operation that published a catalogue of LGBTQ books and related items. And in 1989 he and his business partners founded the Lambda Literary Awards, which recognized excellence in LGBT books and authors, according to Maccubbin.

As if that were not enough, in 2006 under Maccubbin’s direction, Lambda Rising bought the famous Oscar Wilde LGBTQ bookstore in New York City to prevent it from going bankrupt, he told the Blade.

Leading up to his retirement in 2010, Maccubbin says he turned over the Lambda Literary Awards operation to a nonprofit foundation and sold or closed the bookstores, including Lambda Rising in D.C. and the other cities.

Maccubbin, 82, reflects on his more than 50 years of LGBTQ activism, Pride organizing, bookstore operations, and what he calls his enjoyable years of retirement in an interview with the Washington Blade.

Blade: Can you tell a little about when you first came to D.C. and your launching of the Lambda Rising bookstore in D.C.?

Maccubbin: Well, I’m from Norfolk, Va. originally. And came to D.C. in 1969 after getting out of the Army. And after two weeks of enjoying Washington, I called home and said sell everything I own. I’m staying here. And I’ve been there ever since.

And when I was in D.C. I was active in the Gay Liberation Front and later with the Gay Activists Alliance. And I started Earthworks with a $100 investment.

Blade: Was Earthworks your store?

Maccubbin: Yeah, the pipe store.

Blade: And what year was it that you started Earthworks?

Maccubbin: In 1971 is when I bought an existing store for $100 that had been going out of business for two years. And I had nothing else to do at that time. It was something for me to do. And before I knew it, I had built it into a pretty good business.

In ’71 I had been in New York for Gay Pride Day, and I stumbled upon the Oscar Wilde bookshop and thought someday I should have a store like that. It was the first gay and lesbian bookstore in the world. I wasn’t sure I would do it myself. But in 1974 a space became available in the community building across the hall from where my pipe shop was. And I said what the hell, let’s give it a try.

So, we took $3,000 from Earthworks and borrowed $1,000 from a gay activist and had $4,000 to open a bookstore. It had about 250 titles. 

Blade: Was it immediately named Lambda Rising?

Maccubbin: Yes.

Blade: And could you remind me of the address?

Maccubbin: It was on 20^th Street, 1724 20^th St. It was a 300-square-foot store, very small. It opened in ’74. And the next year, I think it was February but I’m not sure about the date, we were having a party at my place and talking about going to New York for Pride Day.

And somebody said it’s nice to go to New York, but why don’t we do a Pride Day here in D.C.? And I thought that was a wonderful idea. So, the next morning I started working on it. I had a friend who was currently unemployed. So, I thought about giving him $200 to help me put it together. And he did, and we had the first Pride in June of that year.

And we had no idea what we were doing because we never did it before. It had never been done before here. But it worked. We had only one sponsor at the time, and that was the bookstore [Lambda Rising], a tiny little bookstore that had been open for only a year. That was our sole sponsor. 

We didn’t have a board of directors. We didn’t have anybody with a title. There was no government support at all. There was no guarantee that we could get a permit even to close the street. But we had a burst of progress and a willingness to try. So, we did it anyway. That was our attitude. We don’t know what we’re doing but we’re going to do it anyway, because we had to. We had to show up. We had to be visible. As I put it, we needed to take the battle to the people and bring the people to the battle.

Blade: So, was that Father’s Day? Wasn’t it on Father’s Day for a few years?

Maccubbin: Not that year but the next year it happened to fall on Father’s Day. The reason we did it on that date it was the week before New York, because we knew people still wanted to go to New York because that was the tradition. So, we did it the week before New York. But eventually we changed it to another date so we wouldn’t conflict with Father’s Day. There were fathers who wanted to be there on that day.

Blade: At some point was the then-Gay Blade located in the same building where Lambda Rising was located?   

Maccubbin: Yeah, the Blade had an office on the second floor right above Lambda Rising.

Blade: And eventually didn’t it move again around the corner to Connecticut Avenue?

Maccubbin: Yeah, in ’84. In ’84 we had outgrown the S Street space, and we rented a space at 1625 Connecticut Ave. And that was a 5,000-square-foot space on two floors. … The store was on the first floor and the office, and the mail order operations were on the second floor. And we had almost a whole basement that was for storage.

Blade: Were books sold through the mail order?

Maccubbin: Yes, We published a catalogue four times a year that went to a quarter of a million people. And in 1989 we founded the Lambda Literary Awards, which is still ongoing today.

Blade: And what is that about?

Maccubbin: That is to recognize excellence in lesbian and gay and bisexual books, writings. It’s kind of like the Oscars in gay publishing.

Blade: So, did you retire in 2010 when the D.C. Lambda Rising was closed?

Maccubbin: Yes, I did retire.

Blade: Can you tell me a little about what you have been doing since your retirement?

Maccubbin: I’ve been enjoying retirement. I’ve been traveling a bit. We just got back from a major trip. Earlier this year we celebrated our 47^th anniversary with a trip to Puerto Rico. And then over the past three weeks we were in Denver, Seattle, Vancouver, and all over the coast of Alaska.

Blade: Wow – it was your 47^th anniversary with Jim Bennett. 

Maccubbin: Yes.

Blade: And what year was it that the two of you became a couple?

Maccubbin: Well, we first met in ’78. He started working at the bookstore probably – we think it was in ’79 or ’80 maybe. We’re not sure. And he worked there for 20 years, starting as a salesperson and rising to the position of general manager for regional operations.

And when he decided he wanted to do something else, he went into the décor business and did very well at that. Excellent years.

Blade: Can you tell a little about what prompted you and Jim to move from D.C., where  you lived for many years, to the Maryland suburbs?

Maccubbin: We moved to Kensington, Md., seven years ago. And we did so – we still maintain our condo in Dupont Circle, which is right across the street from the original Lambda Rising. We still maintain that, and we rent it out. But we have a townhouse now in Kensington.

Blade: What are your thoughts now on being selected as one of the grand marshals for the WorldPride Parade?  

Maccubbin: Jim and I are apparently both honorary co-chairs of WorldPride and grand marshals. There are a lot of grand marshals this year.

Blade: What message might you have for people attending WorldPride this year in your role as the person who started the very first D.C. Gay Pride Day event 50 years ago?

Maccubbin: So, we are under attack right now. We’re under serious attack right now. And that’s the time you need to stand up and be counted. I will be marching. I hope everybody will be out marching. We’ve got to be visible.

Blade: Are you talking about the planned WorldPride March for Freedom or the parade?

Maccubbin: Yes, both.

Blade: What can you say about some of the changes that have taken place since the first D.C. Gay Pride Day?

Maccubbin: Well, when we started Pride originally, we didn’t have sponsors, we didn’t have much money. It was all done with volunteers. We did it with flyers. There wasn’t any government support for it at the time. And it was just done by the seat of our pants. We just rolled up our sleeves and went to work and got it organized.

And sometimes we have to do that. We have to show up. We have to be visible. We have to take the battle to the people and welcome the people to the battle.

Blade: And about how many people turned out for that first Pride Day event?

Maccubbin: Two thousand people turned out for the very first one.

Blade: Did any public officials such as Council members come?

Maccubbin: The first Pride, I believe, John Wilson was there. At that time, he was the Ward 2 Council member. We had a lot of music. We had drag queens. Lots of booths and tables set up for various organizations to use and use for fundraising.

We had a lot of people dancing in the street and we had news media there. We allowed them to film on one side of the street and not on the other side of the street. So, if people did not want to be filmed, they could stay on that side of the street. If they wanted to be filmed, they could go to where the film crews were.

WorldPride was supposed to attract up to three million visitors to the Nation’s Capital for a once-in-a-lifetime celebration that would boost all of the region’s queer-owned businesses and shine a bright light on the progressive, pro-LGBTQ city that is Washington.

Then came the 2024 election. 

In an instant, the mood shifted. Then the anti-trans attacks came — eliminating “X” gender markers on passports, a trans military ban, efforts to criminalize affirming healthcare. The list goes on. Many trans people fear for their safety and those with the means are fleeing the country, as the Blade has reported.

As WorldPride drew closer, there were travel warnings from here and abroad for trans tourists and boycott calls from allied countries. 

As we commemorate the 50^th anniversary of LGBTQ Pride in D.C., it’s important to remember why we come together each June. We celebrated Pride before corporate sponsors embraced us and we will continue to celebrate and protest as our fair-weathered “allies” drop like flies amid Trump’s petty threats. We don’t need rainbow-colored Doritos and Oreos. We need safe and affirming spaces for our own to gather, celebrate, grieve, and protest the many injustices perpetrated by Trump and his toadies in Congress.

The first D.C. Pride, held on Sunday, June 22, 1975 and organized by local legend Deacon Maccubbin and the staff of Lambda Rising, sought to draw attention to New York’s Liberation Day March held that June 29 that drew thousands commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Rebellion. The D.C. City Council proclaimed June 22 as Gay Pride Day. The Blade published a crowd estimate of 2,500 for that first celebration and noted that many attendees were busy dodging NBC and Channel 7 news cameras out of fear of being outed.

Fast-forward 50 years and the city’s Pride events draw hundreds of thousands as the city embraces LGBTQ visibility and equality each June. 

After so many years of progress, 2025 feels dark, as our trans community is attacked, our friends in the federal workforce face harassment and termination, immigrant communities are hunted, HIV funding is gutted, and journalists, musicians, actors, and artists are deemed enemies of the state. It’s inconceivable to many of us that Trump could defeat Kamala Harris and take our country backwards so fast, crippling an economy that was booming under Joe Biden.

In the face of all this darkness, it’s important that we show up for WorldPride. Many LGBTQ people no longer feel safe or comfortable living authentically and openly. So those of us who are more privileged have to show up and be seen and heard. The WorldPride boycott calls are disappointing and misguided. No one ever said a social justice movement would be an endless party. This is hard work filled with setbacks and heartbreaks. Many of us won’t live to see a day in this country when the work is finished but that’s the point — we show up to make things easier on the next generation. Rather than stay home, all of us, along with our straight allies, should attend the marches and parades (and fireworks displays!) and send a clear message to Trump that we will not be erased. He and his cronies have deleted scores of pages from government websites from the SBA to the Interior Department, scrubbing any mention of LGBTQ history, as if we never existed. The Blade’s 56-year archive tells another story.

It’s the story of a loving community fighting to overcome police brutality, AIDS indifference, hate crimes, legalized discrimination, racism, hate, and bigotry to forge happy and productive lives under the American promise of equality. We’re not there yet but WorldPride offers an opportunity to stand up and be seen and counted. 

So I hope everyone reading this will join us at the many events scheduled to celebrate Pride. It may seem like a small thing but there is power in numbers. Help us show the world that Donald Trump has not extinguished or exhausted us. He has reinvigorated us and inspired a renewed sense of purpose and dedication to justice. See you at WorldPride.

Kevin Naff is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at [email protected].