Pride organizations across America are facing a coordinated and escalating backlash, squeezed by political hostility toward LGBTQ+ people, corporate retreat from DEI commitments, and shrinking public funding. Facing this reality, many Pride organizers have dramatically scaled back what festivals and celebrations look like. Others have shut down their events and organizing bodies altogether as our federal government dismantles DEI.

Washington, D.C.'s Capital Pride Alliance (CPA) is no exception, and here, the pressure is about to get more acute. The fees charged by D.C. government agencies that support major events like Capital Pride have increased dramatically. If these costs are fully passed on to nonprofit organizations like CPA, events like ours, which are a major economic engine for both D.C. and the region, will no longer be able to function.