The U.S. Park Service released an official statement on June 5 announcing it has decided to close Dupont Circle Park for the WorldPride weekend from 5 a.m. Friday, June 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday, June 8.

While not saying so directly, the statement rejects a request by D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith to rescind her earlier request last week to close Dupont Circle Park for the WorldPride weekend after hearing from members of the community objecting to the closure.

After receiving Smith’s initial request to close the park, the National Park Service issued an earlier statement saying it agreed with Smith’s request and that the U.S. Park Police concurred with the closure request. But up until it released its latest statement on June 5, the Park Service did not publicly state whether it would agree to keep the Dupont Circle Park open at Chief Smith’s request.

Park service workers began installing metal fencing enclosing the park at 5 a.m. Friday, according to Park Service spokesperson Mike Litterst, who sent the Washington Blade the closure statement at 5 a.m. Friday.

“This closure comes at the request of the United States Park Police (USPP),” the statement says. “In USPP’s professional opinion this closure is necessary for the maintenance of public health and safety and protection of natural and cultural resources in Dupont Circle Park,” it says.

The statement adds, “The USPP has concluded that this temporary closure is necessary to ‘secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences.’”

Citing MPD Chief Smith’s earlier letter to the Park Service requesting the closure before she rescinded her request, the statement points out that “multiple instances of damage” to Dupont Circle Park, including damage to its fountain, occurred during Capital Pride weekends in 2019, 2023, and 2024.

Gay Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Vincent Slatt is among the community leaders and activists who have expressed strong objections to closing Dupont Circle Park for WorldPride weekend. Slatt and other activists have said potential damage to the park or acts of violence could be prevented by stationing police at the park rather than closing it. 

But the U.S. Park Service statement disputes that claim, saying, “Less restrictive measures will not suffice due to the security-based assessment of the USPP that this park area needs to be kept clear.” 

Ryan Bos, executive director of Capital Pride Alliance, the lead organizer of WorldPride 2025 D.C., has said no official WorldPride events were scheduled to take place in Dupont Circle Park. But Bos told the Blade that Capital Pride did not know whether other groups or individuals planned to hold an event there during WorldPride weekend.

“This temporary public use limit is not of a nature, magnitude, and duration that will result in a ‘significant alteration in the public use pattern,’” according to the National Park Service statement. “Other nearby park areas will remain open, this close will not impact any permitted events, and the closure will only last for the time that law enforcement agencies have determined is necessary to provide for public safety and resource protection,” it says. 

“It is pandemonium down here at Dupont Circle,” Slatt told the Blade in a 7 a.m. phone call on Friday. “All the news cameras are out here and they’re putting up the fences. It’s ridiculous,” Slatt said. 

“And traffic has ground to a halt,” he said, noting that Park Service work crews closed the inside street lanes surrounding Dupont Circle Park to install the fencing. “It’s a mess out here.”

David Fucillo, an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner from the Adams Morgan neighborhood, said he agrees with Slatt and others who say potential damage to Dupont Circle Park could be prevented by police presence rather than closing the park.

But Fucillo said the National Park Service’s decision to close the park for WorldPride weekend after having not closed it for previous Capital Pride weekends when they claimed damage to the park took place appears to be they are singling out WorldPride for biased treatment.

“It would seem they are trying to make a statement during WorldPride and Pride month,” he said. “It’s a shame they decided to do that this year as opposed to previous years.”