World Pride launches shortly in Washington D.C. The festival, running from May 17-June 8 coincides with the 50th anniversary of DC Pride celebrations. This double-billing, combined with the threats to queer and trans visibility and rights from the Trump administration, has the potential to usher in a record number of participants. People may show up in droves to resist new American oppressive policies, together, with allies and other queers from around the world. But there’s also a lot of fear in the air. According to Elias Visontay, writing for The Guardian, queer Australians are cancelling their travels to DC for the events. One featured PhD student in the article we’ve linked for you, Mik Bartels, examines LGBTIQ+ discrimination in healthcare for their research. Although they received a scholarship to cover their travel to World Pride’s human rights conference, they have opted not to attend. Bartels explains, “given my appearance as identifiably queer, my academic profile being centred on LGBTIQ+ discrimination, and my online presence where I am openly queer, I was not confident that I would be able to get into the US without being detained.” Although these sentiments are shared by many around the world, not everyone is cancelling their travel plans. Some bold folk consider it a risk worth taking.
Queers are skipping world pride due to detainment fears
