Dupont Circle throughout a Delight celebration in 2022. {Photograph} by S. Philpott/Nationwide Park Service.
The DC Police Division tells Washingtonian it has “formally” rescinded a request that the Nationwide Park Service shut Dupont Circle park this coming weekend. Chief Pamela Smith “has heard from neighborhood members and understands how important Dupont Circle Park is to the Delight celebration,” a spokesperson tells us. You possibly can learn Smith’s letter beneath, which says that “Historically, there have been important challenges in Dupont Circle Park after formal Delight occasions have concluded” and cites incidents in 2019, 2023, and 2024 that Smith says brought about harm to the park and its historic fountain.
The Park Service, accordingly, introduced plans to shut the park Monday night. The Washington Put up reported late Tuesday morning that the Park Service had canceled plans to shut the park, citing a tweet from DC Councilmember Zachary Parker. Park Service spokesperson Mike Litterst was unable to verify Parker’s announcement when Washingtonian requested him to verify the transfer this morning and has not but responded to questions on whether or not NPS will hold the park open.
The unsure state of Dupont Circle’s park’s availability is one thing of a synecdoche for WorldPride, whose much-anticipated rollout in DC has been reasonably bumpy.
President Trump’s efforts to insert himself into a number of aspects of on a regular basis life in DC since he took workplace this spring coloured the pageant earlier this yr after his hostile takeover of the Kennedy Heart and the next information that the middle had canceled a deliberate Delight live performance that was to function the Homosexual Males’s Refrain of Washington (the refrain stated it bought no rationalization; the middle stated the cancellation occurred earlier than Trump got here aboard however wasn’t introduced till afterward).
Corporations like Booz Allen Hamilton and Deloitte walked again plans to sponsor the occasion because the administration attacked trans rights and what it calls “DEI” efforts. Some nations have issued journey warnings to the US, which has dissuaded some worldwide attendees. Resort bookings have been delicate, the Washington Blade reported final week. After which this previous Friday, a deliberate Saturday kickoff live performance by Shakira at Nationals Park was canceled, apparently due to issues along with her touring manufacturing.
Although “gayborhoods” have develop into much less homosexual in DC in recent times, Dupont Circle stays the center of homosexual DC, with a number of websites of historic curiosity. The park has been central to Delight celebrations because the mid-Seventies.
Recession of Request for Anti Scale Fencing Dupont Circle Park 6-3-25 by Washingtonian Journal on Scribd
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