As D.C. prepares to welcome the world for the biggest Pride celebration of the year, “America’s Metro system” is encouraging visitors and locals alike to take the Metro to WorldPride events.

On May 24, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority unveiled a series of specially wrapped vehicles in honor of the upcoming WorldPride celebration. The colorful fleet — featuring a set of train cars, a bus, and a Metro operations vehicle — is decked out in vibrant rainbow stripes alongside the message: “Metro proudly welcomes the world.”

Riders can track the WorldPride-themed train and bus in real time by visiting wmata.com/live and clicking on the “Special Edition” option.

To accommodate the estimated two to three million visitors expected in the D.C. area, WMATA is also boosting rail service from June 6-8. Service enhancements include the extended operation of the Yellow Line to Greenbelt Station — typically the end of the Green Line — on both Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8, in an effort to ease crowding on Metro lines serving WorldPride events.

Metro is also expanding hours that weekend to help Pride-goers get to and from celebrations:

• Friday, June 6: Metro service extended by one hour, closing at 2 a.m.
  
• Saturday, June 7: Metro opens one hour earlier at 6 a.m. and closes at 2 a.m.
  
• Sunday, June 8: Metro opens at 6 a.m. and closes at midnight
  

Keep in mind that last train times vary by station. To avoid missing the final train, check the “Stations” page on the WMATA website or app. Metrobus will continue to operate several 24-hour routes throughout D.C.

During daytime hours, trains arrive every 4–6 minutes at most central stations, with service every 8–12 minutes at stations further out.

“Washington D.C. is a city of major international events and WorldPride is no different,” said Metro General Manager Randy Clarke. “Metro is the best way to get around, and we are making it even easier with a new seamless way to pay for fares coming soon, our new MetroPulse app to help navigate the system, and increased service on WorldPride’s closing weekend.”

One of the biggest updates ahead of WorldPride is the launch of Metro’s new “Tap. Ride. Go.” fare payment system. Beginning Wednesday, riders can enter the Metrorail system simply by tapping a credit card, debit card, or mobile wallet at fare gates — eliminating the need to purchase a physical SmarTrip card. Riders must use the same card to tap in and out, and should note that transfer discounts will not apply when using this payment method. The feature will expand to Metrobus and Metro-operated parking facilities at a later date.

For full details on all Metro updates related to WorldPride, visit wmata.com.

We are all stuck for the moment, suffering in Trump’s alternate universe, where it’s OK to lie and insult foreign leaders who are your guests in the White House. Where it’s OK to lie and say you have a beautiful bill that won’t add to the deficit when it’s actually a disgusting bill that will add $4 trillion to the deficit. Where it’s OK to screw the poor and make the rich richer. Where you can scapegoat trans people and make their lives hell. Where you can invite racist South Africans into our country, and send legally here Venezuelans back home, to maybe face death. Where it is OK to take grift from Qatar in the form of a $400 million plane that will cost the American taxpayer over a billion dollars to retrofit for your sorry lying ass to use. That is the Trump alternate universe we all currently live in. 

But as this alternate universe begins to unravel, I have a gut feeling the American people, or at least enough to make a difference, will wake up one morning and say ‘we’ve had it with you and your MAGA cult’ and finally rebel. My hope is they do it in time for the 2026 mid-term elections. By then there will be very few Americans who themselves, have a friend, or relative, who have not been negatively impacted from the actions taken in Trump’s alternate universe. They, or someone they know, will have lost their job. They will have lost their healthcare, or know someone who did, or find their rural hospital has closed. They or someone they know will have trouble applying for Social Security because their local office has been closed. They will know a veteran who can’t access their healthcare, because they were fired, or their VA hospital has fired so many care givers. They will see their grocery bill go up, and all the Christmas gifts they hoped to buy for their children become unaffordable because of Trump’s tariffs. They will see their rent rise, and have no recourse but to find the money to pay it, or lose their home. They will be told they can no longer get their annual flu or COVID vaccination, and even if they could, their health insurance will no longer pay for it, and that is if they still have health insurance. Their prayers for a cure for their own, a relative, or friends’ illness; cancer, Alzheimer’s, MS, or HIV/AIDS, will have been dashed, as in Trump’s alternative universe all the research looking for those cures has been defunded. 

They will wake up one morning to a nightmare realizing Trump lied to them. That he has appointed the biggest collection of incompetent fools ever to run the government. They will finally understand it’s not the government that is bad, but rather Trump and his MAGA minions. They will see too late that in Trump’s alternate universes it was OK to fire the people at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) so we no longer get predictions of hurricanes and tornadoes, which allowed communities to get advance warning. Then when they hit and create havoc and death, people will find out in Trump’s alternate universe the Federal Emergency and Management Administration (FEMA) has been defunded, so there is no help for them to rebuild their lives. 

I believe that one morning people will wake up to reality, and realize that yes, President Biden was diminished and should have said earlier he wouldn’t run for a second term. But their lives were still better and safer than they are now in Trump’s alternate universe. It is Trump who is diminished, and is diminishing them, while screwing them. They will recognize in Trump’s alternate universe the poor in the United States are expendable and don’t matter except as pawns in his desire to rule the world. He thinks it’s OK to screw the heroic people of Ukraine, and all of our allies in NATO, as he bows down and kisses Putin’s ass. That he can actually talk about displacing millions of Palestinians, so he can steal their homeland, and build a resort. That he can go to the Middle East, bow to their sheiks, and cut deals for his private company to build hotels and resorts. 

So again, it is my hope and prayer, that before 2026 they will realize Trump never had a mandate from them, the people, to enter his alternate universe. Contrary to his rants, while he won the last election, the vote was split nearly evenly. So, it won’t take many voters to throw his MAGA sycophants out of Congress in 2026. It won’t take many to rise up and say, “We have had it with your alternate universe.” They will refuse to continue to live in Trump’s alternate universe, where we get hurt, and you and your friends get richer on our backs. They will say, “We are ready to reclaim our country, to bring back common decency. You will not continue to lie to us and we will not continue to be fooled. We finally see through you, and see who you really are. We will keep you from doing any more harm to us, and our country, in your last two years in office.” Then the people will cast Trump and his MAGA sycophants in Congress out. They will see to it that he ends up on the dust heap of history and ensure that one day his tombstone will read “Here lies the lying felon who tried to destroy our county, but we stopped him, and took it back.” 

We the people, will eventually win against Trump’s alternate universe, because good does finally triumph over evil, and Donald Trump, you are proving to be pure evil. 

Peter Rosenstein is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.

Across faiths, identities, and nations, we are united by one unshakable truth: every person is worthy, every voice sacred, every body divine. Our unity is not rooted in a single tradition but in a collective belief in the sacred worth of every person. We uphold the fundamental principle of religious freedom, recognizing that no faith should dictate the governance of our nation. We reject all attempts to impose religious values, symbols, or authority upon our shared civic life, united in our commitment to a society where all traditions — and those who follow none — are equally respected. In the face of forces that seek to divide, erase, and harm, we unite as one — rooted in justice, driven by love, and committed to a future where liberation is not just an ideal but a lived reality. 

We call upon all to embrace joy as resistance — to dance, to celebrate, to laugh, to live loudly. In a world that weaponizes despair, joy is our defiance. It is our fuel, our sustenance, and our reminder that liberation is not just survival — it is thriving. 

We call upon the LGBTIQ+ community to embrace the common ground that unites us in the fight for dignity and liberation. Though our experiences and identities vary, we share a sacred commitment to intersectional justice. We will not be divided by differences; instead, we will center solidarity, knowing that our shared struggle is our greatest strength. 

We call upon people of faith across the globe to join in radical solidarity — not just in the United States, but across borders, traditions, and languages. Justice is not bound by geography; neither is our love, resistance, or advocacy. Let faith be the force that binds us together, not the tool that tears us apart. 

We call upon faith communities to be places of compassion, healing, and activism — spaces that do not merely welcome but actively uplift, renew, and give witness to inclusion and intersectional justice. Let our faith be evident in the way we fight for each other, hold space for each other, and refuse to leave anyone behind. 

We call upon faith leaders to unite in advocacy and pastoral care, challenging their communities to make visible the lives of those under attack, and providing education on trans and nonbinary realities, human sexuality, nonviolent social change, and the systems that increase vulnerabilities to harm and violence. Knowledge is power, understanding is liberation, and faith must never be a tool for harm — it must be a beacon of transformation. 

We call upon faith leaders to amplify trans theologians. Their voices, wisdom, and spiritual insights must not remain in the shadows. Let pulpits, platforms, and sacred spaces be filled with trans-theological perspectives, ensuring that faith itself becomes a force of liberation. With care and consent, we commit to sharing their work, making sure their voices reach the wider faith community. 

We call upon advocates to join in solidarity — bearing each other’s burdens not with judgment, but with grace. Intersectional justice demands action against homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, ableism, racism, white supremacy, any religious nationalism, and every system of oppression. We must reject policies that strip our communities of essential services, including gender affirming care, HIV, reproductive health, and other programs addressing public health, medical research, housing, education, and services for persons with disabilities. Justice is not selective; it is intersectional. We cannot be free until we all are. 

We call upon all people of conscience to hold elected officials to account that they defend the Constitution, oppose self-dealing by public officials, resist transactional, market-driven approaches that dismantle collaborative spaces and institutions, and uphold the inherent dignity of every human being. No exceptions. No compromises. Let us rise up against the forces that weaken democracy and erode our shared humanity. 

We call upon the world to reimagine love as revolutionary and decolonizing — to see faith, justice, and neighborliness through a lens that liberates rather than oppresses. Let us honor the activism, resistance, and resilience that drive change. And let us refuse narratives of powerlessness. We are not powerless. We are powerful beyond measure. It is an imperative to protect, uplift, and fight for our neighbors everywhere. 

Above all, we call for self-care — for the nourishment that sustains movements, the rest that strengthens resistance, and the healing that ensures we do not lose ourselves in the fight for liberation. 

This is the charge. This is the sacred work.  

We are boldly, unapologetically, and unshakably committed to collective liberation. Together, unstoppable, and unafraid. 

More information about the Lavender Interfaith Collective can be found here.