District of Columbia
Where things stand with WorldPride just 10 weeks until kickoff
Amid some criticism, D.C. retains event management company to assist
In a little-noticed development, the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in November arranged for a prominent local event planning company to help organize WorldPride D.C. 2025, which is expected to be the city’s and possibly the nation’s largest LGBTQ Pride celebration.
Dozens of WorldPride 2025 events, including an International LGBTQ March on Washington and Rally, an LGBTQ Human Rights Conference, a Music Festival and Global Dance Party, and multiple sporting events, are scheduled to take place in D.C. May 17-June 8.
Capital Pride Alliance, the organization that plans most of D.C.’s Pride celebrations, was awarded the WorldPride contract in 2022 by the international LGBTQ organization InterPride after an LGBTQ organization in Taiwan dropped out after winning the initial competition to host WorldPride 2025.
Mayor Bowser has since earmarked — and the D.C. Council has approved — $5 million in city funds to support the WorldPride celebration and events. Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos told a D.C. Council hearing earlier this year that the WorldPride budget was set at $20 million, with most of the funding coming from private corporate donors.
At least two knowledgeable sources, who spoke on condition of not being identified, said the mayor’s office began looking for another entity to help organize WorldPride last fall when questions arose over Capital Pride Alliance’s ability to manage the budget, funding, and events associated with WorldPride. Another source said lower than expected yields from fundraising had prompted Capital Pride Alliance to cut the budget in half, a claim that Bos disputes and said was not credible.
“The budget, like any budget, is a guide,” Bos told the Blade. “And we budgeted between $15 million and $20 million, which included a lot of in-kind support as well,” he said. “And like we do every year for an organization like ours, which is event based, we do our best every year to come under budget.”
Bos added, “So, we are doing our best to save whenever we can and to ensure that we have a safe and successful WorldPride.”
It was around that time when Linder Global Events, a prominent minority and woman-owned D.C. event management company, was awarded a city contract to assume responsibility for several aspects of the WorldPride planning and organizing.
In a Nov. 21 statement sent to the D.C. Council, Bowser outlined the specific roles that Linder Global Events and Capital Pride Alliance would have under the city’s $5 million funding allocation for WorldPride.
The mayor’s statement says the Linder company would receive $1.4 million for “strategic partnership development, fundraising coordination, sponsorship fulfillment, financial oversight reporting, and management.” It says Capital Pride Alliance would receive $3.1 million for “event execution and community engagement” and an additional $500,000 for the issuance of “competitive grants for community supported events.”
Both Bowser and Nina Albert, the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, told the Washington Blade at a Feb. 12 press conference on an unrelated subject that the decision to retain the Linder company to help organize WorldPride is something the city often does for this type of event. Albert said it was not brought about due to any problem with Capital Pride Alliance.
“Look, this is a big event. It requires coordination across a lot of different organizations,” she said. “Capital Pride is kind of the point for that event. It is very typical that we would bring on consultants to help,” she told the Blade. “So, this is very typical, and we’re very excited to host hopefully two million people to the District of Columbia.”
Anthony Hesselius, a spokesperson for Capital Pride Alliance, said it was the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs that selected the Linder company, which he said would oversee the city’s $5 million funding allocation for WorldPride.
“In addition, Linder is one of the many collaborators working with Capital Pride Alliance to make WorldPride a success,” Hesselius told the Blade.
Despite those assurances, others have expressed concern over Capital Pride Alliance’s management of WorldPride.
Zar, the founder and former creative director of Team Rayceen Productions, a local LGBTQ events group that is currently on hiatus, wrote an op-ed in the Blade critical of his interactions with Capital Pride during the planning of WorldPride. Among other things, he said Capital Pride was reluctant to share information and listen to suggestions for proposed WorldPride events.
“I know countless bits of miscellaneous information that cause me trepidation,” he wrote. “I have had contact with numerous people, including performers, leaders of organizations, and subcommittee members, and not once has anyone said anything that assuaged my concerns,” he added.
Another source who spoke on condition of anonymity said they met with Capital Pride officials several times in 2024 to propose WorldPride events, but Capital Pride failed to respond to subsequent calls and emails.
“My organization was prepared to work with Capital Pride on a series of events, but they stopped communicating with us months ago,” the source said. “This is something I have heard from multiple community leaders, activists, and bar owners, that Capital Pride is not engaged with the local community.”
Hope Giselle, a prominent D.C. trans activist, posted a highly critical video commentary on Instagram last month denouncing the WorldPride Music Festival lineup of Jennifer Lopez, Troye Sivan, and RuPaul for the lack of Black inclusion.
“Jennifer Lopez? That was the best y’all could do,” Giselle said in her video, asserting that Lopez can’t sing live and has limited appeal to LGBTQ audiences.
She also assailed the inclusion in the WorldPride Music Festival of the singer Grimes, who is the mother of three children of Elon Musk, the billionaire conservative Republican activist who President Trump appointed to head the newly created office to fire thousands of federal government workers.
“Grimes literally has children with Elon fucking Muskrat, the person that is making us all feel this fucking small, or at least attempted to make us feel this fucking small,” Giselle said in her video. “It is essential that Pride remains a protest for inclusivity, not an exclusionary event that upholds the status quo for a select few,” she wrote in a comment accompanying her video.
Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance executive director, points out that the WorldPride Music Festival, which will take place outdoors on the city’s RFK stadium grounds June 6-7, is being produced by an entertainment event promoter in partnership with Capital Pride Alliance. Bos notes that the promoter, who is identified on the WorldPride website as Jake Resnicow, is the one who selected the performers, including Grimes.
“Some events for WorldPride, like the free two-day Street Festival and Concert, are organized and curated by the Capital Pride Alliance and other events like the [WorldPride Music Festival and] Global Dance Party, the Anthem’s Grace Jones and Janelle Monáe show, the Lincoln Theater’s show with Bob The Drag Queen and Monet X Change, and others, are independently curated by partner producers,” Bos told the Blade in a statement.
“The Capital Pride Alliance remains committed to listening to the community and fostering inclusive and celebratory spaces for all,” he said. “WorldPride’s mission is to unite and uplift the LGBTQ+ community through music, art, and advocacy. We value our community’s diverse voices and look forward to an incredible celebration of Pride and resilience,” he said.
Yet another source familiar with WorldPride 2025 organizing, who spoke on condition of anonymity, did not dispute Bos’s claims that WorldPride organizers were doing all they could to ensure a full diversity of events, including participation of African-American, Latino, transgender, and other members of the LGBTQ community.
However, the source indicated that WorldPride organizers, possibly due to the extensive work required to organize an event of WorldPride’s scale, initially fell short in robustly soliciting community collaboration. For example, community activists like Hope Giselle were not informed in advance that outside promoters hosting partner events (like the Music Festival at RFK) were responsible for selecting their performers. However, community members are beginning to feel more reassured due to new funding opportunities, programming announcements, and direct stakeholder engagement efforts, the source said.
According to the source, WorldPride organizers could have done more to inform the community that, overall, highly acclaimed African-American performers, including Janelle Monáe, were among those scheduled to perform at WorldPride marquee and partner events.
Bos also said in his statement to the Blade that Capital Pride Alliance was pleased to bring back the WorldPride Closing Ceremony and Concert to Pennsylvania Avenue, which is the site for the two-day WorldPride Street Festival and Concert.
The Closing Ceremony and Concert had initially been slated to take place on the National Mall. Bos told the Blade a higher cost for holding that event on the National Mall played a role in the decision to move it to Pennsylvania Avenue.
But Bos did not say whether the possibility that the Capital Pride application for a permit to hold that and several other events on the National Mall or in federal parks would be turned down was a factor in moving the closing event to Pennsylvania Avenue.
In response to a request from the Blade, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Park Service, which has jurisdiction over the National Mall and other federal parks in D.C., provided the Blade with a list of eight separate permit applications submitted by Capital Pride Alliance for use of federal parklands for WorldPride events.
Among the parks or spaces included in the applications in addition to the National Mall are Dupont Circle park, Thomas Circle, Franklin Park, Freedom Plaza, the Lincoln Memorial Parkway Beach volleyball courts, the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center and Stadium, West Potomac Park, and Anacostia Park.
The National Park Service spokesperson, Mike Litterst, didn’t respond to a question from the Blade about whether any of the multiple executive orders targeting LGBTQ issues and DEI by President Donald Trump might result in denial of the WorldPride permit applications.
“We continue to work with the organizers of WorldPride on the details of the event required to allow for issuing the final permits,” Litterst said in an email message. “We do not anticipate conflicts or overlap with any other proposed events,” he said.
Capital Pride Alliance on Feb. 17 issued a five-page press release announcing the launch of a new WorldPride 2025 website that it says includes, among other things, a list of all the WorldPride events, all of which are moving ahead as planned.
The updated website includes information about hotel availability for out-of-town visitors and announces that Cynthia Erivo will be one of the lead performers at the street festival and concert on Pennsylvania Avenue on June 7.
“With the full support of the mayor’s office, its office of LGBTQ Affairs, and additional financial backing from legacy sponsors, alongside a growing list of committed corporations, community businesses and individuals, WorldPride 2025 is expected to be the largest international event in Washington, D.C. this year,” the press release says.
“Three million attendees (inclusive of two million visitors and one million regional participants) are expected from May 17 through June 8, 2025, during which the Welcoming Concert featuring Shakira, the Capital Cup Sports Festival, D.C. Black Pride, an International March and Rally on Washington, and much more will take place,” it says. Visit worldpridedc.org for more information.
District of Columbia
‘Sandwich guy’ not guilty in assault case
Sean Charles Dunn faced misdemeanor charge
A jury with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday, Nov. 6, found D.C. resident Sean Charles Dunn not guilty of assault for tossing a hero sandwich into the chest of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent at the intersection of 14th and U streets, N.W. at around 11 p.m. on Aug. 10.
Dunn’s attorneys hailed the verdict as a gesture of support for Dunn’s contention that his action, which was captured on video that went viral on social media, was an exercise of his First Amendment right to protest the federal border agent’s participating in President Donald Trump’s deployment of federal troops on D.C. streets.
Friends of Dunn have said that shortly before the sandwich tossing incident took place Dunn had been at the nearby gay nightclub Bunker, which was hosting a Latin dance party called Tropicoqueta. Sabrina Shroff, one of three attorneys representing Dunn at the trial, said during the trial after Dunn left the nightclub he went to the submarine sandwich shop on 14th Street at the corner of U Street, where he saw the border patrol agent and other law enforcement officers standing in front of the shop.
Shroff and others who know Dunn have said he was fearful that the border agent outside the sub shop and immigrant agents might raid the Bunker Latin night event. Bunker’s entrance is on U Street just around the corner from the sub shop where the federal agents were standing.
“I am so happy that justice prevails in spite of everything happening,“ Dunn told reporters outside the courthouse after the verdict while joined by his attorneys. “And that night I believed that I was protecting the rights of immigrants,” he said.
“And let us not forget that the great seal of the United States says, E Pluribus Unum,” he continued. “That means from many, one. Every life matters no matter where you came from, no matter how you got here, no matter how you identify, you have the right to live a life that is free.”
The verdict followed a two-day trial with testimony by just two witnesses, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent Gregory Lairmore, who identified Dunn as the person who threw the sandwich at his chest, and Metro Transit Police Detective Daina Henry, who told the jury she witnessed Dunn toss the sandwich at Lairmore while shouting obscenities.
Shroff told the jury Dunn was exercising his First Amendment right to protest and that the tossing of the sandwich at Lairmore, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, did not constitute an assault under the federal assault law to which Dunn was charged, among other things, because the federal agent was not injured.
Prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. initially attempted to obtain a grand jury indictment of Dunn on a felony assault charge. But the grand jury refused to hand down an indictment on that charge, court records show. Prosecutors then filed a criminal complaint against Dunn on the misdemeanor charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers of the United States.
“Dunn stood within inches of Victim 1,” the criminal complaint states, “pointing his finger in Victim 1’s face, and yelled, Fuck you! You fucking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
The complaint continues by stating, “An Instagram video recorded by an observer captured the incident. The video depicts Dunn screaming at V-1 within inches of his face for several seconds before winding his arm back and forcefully throwing a sub-style sandwich at V-1.
Prosecutors repeatedly played the video of the incident for the jurors on video screens in the courtroom.
Dunn, who chose not to testify at his trial, and his attorneys have not disputed the obvious evidence that Dunn threw the sandwich that hit Lairmore in the chest. Lead defense attorney Shroff and co-defense attorneys Julia Gatto and Nicholas Silverman argued that Dunn’s action did not constitute an assault under the legal definition of common law assault in the federal assault statute.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael DiLorenzo, the lead prosecutor in the case, strongly disputed that claim, citing various provisions in the law and appeals court rulings that he claimed upheld his and the government’s contention that an “assault” can take place even if a victim is not injured as well as if there was no physical contact between the victim and an alleged assailant, only a threat of physical contact and injury.
The dispute over the intricacies of the assault law and whether Dunn’s action reached the level of an assault under the law dominated the two-day trial, with U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols, who presided over the trial, weighing in with his own interpretation of the assault statute. Among other things, he said it would be up to the jury to decide whether or not Dunn committed an assault.
Court observers have said in cases like this, a jury could have issued a so-called “nullification” verdict in which they acquit a defendant even though they believe he or she committed the offense in question because they believe the charge is unjust. The other possibility, observers say, is the jury believed the defense was right in claiming a law was not violated.
DiLorenzo and his two co-prosecutors in the case declined to comment in response to requests by reporters following the verdict.
“We really want to thank the jury for having sent back an affirmation that his sentiment is not just tolerated but it is legal, it is welcome,” defense attorney Shroff said in referring to Dunn’s actions. “And we thank them very much for that verdict,” she said.
Dunn thanked his attorneys for providing what he called excellent representation “and for offering all of their services pro bono,” meaning free of charge.
Dunn, an Air Force veteran who later worked as an international affairs specialist at the U.S. Department of Justice, was fired from that job by DOJ officials after his arrest for the sandwich tossing incident.
“I would like to thank family and friends and strangers for all of their support, whether it was emotional, or spiritual, or artistic, or financial,” he told the gathering outside the courthouse. “To the people that opened their hearts and homes to me, I am eternally grateful.”
“As always, we accept a jury’s verdict; that is the system within which we function,” CNN quoted U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro as saying after the verdict in the Dunn case. “However, law enforcement should never be subjected to assault, no matter how ‘minor,’” Pirro told CNN in a statement.
“Even children know when they are angry, they are not allowed to throw objects at one another,” CNN quoted her as saying.
District of Columbia
Trial begins for man charged with throwing sandwich at federal agent
Jury views video of incident that went viral on social media
Prosecutors showed jurors a video of Sean Charles Dunn throwing a sub sandwich into the chest of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent at the bustling intersection of 14th and U streets, N.W. at around 11 p.m. on Aug. 10 of this year on the opening day of Dunn’s trial that has drawn national attention.
According to a knowledgeable source, Dunn threw the sandwich at the agent after shouting obscenities at him and other federal law enforcement officers who were stationed at that location after he was refused admission to the nearby gay bar Bunker for being too intoxicated.
Charging documents and reports by witnesses show that Dunn expressed outrage that the federal officers were stationed there and at other locations in D.C. under orders from President Donald Trump to help curtail crime in the city.
Prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. initially attempted to obtain a grand jury indictment of Dunn on a felony assault charge, but the grand jury refused to hand down an indictment on that charge, court records show. Prosecutors then filed a criminal complaint against Dunn on the misdemeanor charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers of the United States.
“Dunn stood within inches of Victim 1,” a criminal complaint states, “pointed his finger in Victim 1’s face, and yelled, Fuck you! You fucking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”
The complaint adds, “Dunn continued his conduct for several minutes before crossing the street and continuing to yell obscenities at V-1. At approximately 11:06 p.m. Dunn approached V-1 and threw a sandwich at him, striking V-1 in the chest.”
The complaint continues by stating, “An Instagram video recorded by an observer captured the incident. The video depicts Dunn screaming at V-1 within inches of his face for several seconds before winding his arm back and forcefully throwing a sub-style sandwich at V-1.”
At the opening day of testimony at the trial on Tuesday, Nov. 4, V-1, who was identified as Customs and Border Patrol Agent Gregory Lairmore, testified as the first government witness. Also testifying was Metro Transit Police Detective Daina Henry, who said she was present at the scene and saw Dunn throw the sandwich at Lairmore.
The position taken by Dunn’s defense attorneys is outlined in a 24-page memorandum in support of a motion filed on Oct. 15 calling for the dismissal of the case, which was denied by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols.
“This prosecution is a blatant abuse of power,” the defense memo states. “The federal government has chosen to bring a criminal case over conduct so minor it would be comical – were it not for the unmistakable retaliatory motive behind it and the resulting risk to Mr. Dunn.”
It adds, “Mr. Dunn tossed a sandwich at a fully armed, heavily protected Customs and Border Protection {CBP} officer. That act alone would never have drawn a federal charge. What did was the political speech that accompanied it.”
The trial was scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5.
District of Columbia
D.C. mayor announces use of local funds for SNAP food aid
Md., Va. arrange for similar local replacement of federal money
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Oct. 30 that she has arranged for at least $129 million in local D.C funds to be used to support as many as 141,000 D.C. residents in need who depend on the federal food assistance programs known as SNAP and WIC whose funding will be cut off beginning Nov. 1 due to the federal shutdown.
SNAP, which stands for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and WIC, the Women, Infants, and Children Program, provide food related services for 10 million or more people in need nationwide.
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer also announced similar plans to provide emergency state funds to replace the federal funds cut off beginning Nov. 1 for the two food programs.
Similar to Bowser, Moore and Youngkin said their replacement funds at this time would only last for the month of November. Each said they were hopeful that Congress would end the shutdown before the end of November.
“We know that SNAP and WIC play a critical role in keeping thousands of Washingtonians and millions of Americans put food on the table each month,” Bowser said in a statement. “We were hopeful it wouldn’t come to this – and we will need the federal government to reopen as soon as possible – but for right now, we’re moving forward to ensure we take care of D.C. residents in November,” she said.
The mayor’s statement says about 85,000 D.C. households, consisting of 141,000 individuals, receive SNAP support each month, with an average monthly allocation of $314. It says more than 12,500 city residents in 8,300 households benefit from the WIC program.
A spokesperson for the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs couldn’t immediately be reached to determine whether the city has an estimated count of how many LGBTQ residents receive support from the SNAP and SIC programs.
Erica Deuso elected as Pa.’s first openly transgender mayor
LGBTQ legal leaders to Supreme Court: ‘honor your president, protect our families’
Suicide and the policy crisis facing trans Americans
Nancy Pelosi: an LGBTQ appreciation of the retiring House speaker emerita
Gala Hispanic Theatre’s Flamenco Festival returns
‘Sandwich guy’ not guilty in assault case
Gay speedskater racing toward a more inclusive future in sports
Jonathan Bailey is People’s first openly gay ‘Sexiest Man Alive’
FBI thwarts Halloween terror plot targeting Mich. LGBTQ bars
Blue wave hits Northeast: Sherrill and Mamdani lead Democratic comeback
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District of Columbia2 days ago‘Sandwich guy’ not guilty in assault case
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