
WorldPride 2025 wraps up in Washington, D.C., this weekend with festivities including a parade that kicked off Saturday in one of the city's historic gay neighborhoods and conclude in front of the U.S. Capitol.
This is the first time that D.C. has hosted the international LGBTQ+ festival since WorldPride's inaugural event in Rome in 2000.
This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Pride events in D.C. — one of the largest Pride celebrations across the country that typically gathers hundreds of thousands of attendees over several days of celebration.
"We got to be able to celebrate, and be, and be seen because otherwise we will be disappeared," said Kylen Mahaney from Virginia as she and her friends mingled around the parade route.
Despite the usual magnitude of Pride festivities in the nation's capital, Pride organizers say the current political environment has dampened the excitement surrounding the celebration of life and self expression.