Pride, Protests, Political Pressure

A Global Check-In on 2SLGBTQI+ Rights in 2025

In a now practiced motion the start of June sees companies celebrating 'Pride' but that is ringing a little hollow for the queer community. In 2025 Pride will still be a celebration for some, but for the queer community it's becoming increasingly a barometer of democracy and their right to exist. Pride in a way has become the rainbow canary in the human rights coal mine. We reviewed hundreds of queer news stories from the past couple of weeks as Pride celebrations begin to get a sense of how our community is celebrating, and resisting.

Pride celebrations this year are happening under the shadow of increased political persecution and ongoing escalations in violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community. Efforts to ban, suppress, defund and vilify the queer community have been met with legal challenge, defiance and support from allies. In Canada our largest Pride festival, Toronto Pride, is grappling with the impact of Trump's DEI crackdown on U.S. chastened companies who have rolled back their support. For Canadians the change in regime led many to cancel travel plans to the States for World Pride in D.C. for fear of persecution or being caught up at the border such as Jasmine Mooney the Canadian actor held for weeks at the southern US border (The Guardian), in Germany asked Homeland Security if their policies had changed after 3 different Germans were detained at the border (The Guardian).

Pride celebrations are a highly visible expression of queer identity making them prominent targets. In recent years violence had escalated: the horrific attack in Hamilton (2019) (CBC), the attack on the lesbian couple in Halifax (2024) (New York Post), and the attack on students at Waterloo University (2023) (Teen Vogue).

After the attack in 2023 Canada's intelligence agency CSIS issued a statement: “CSIS assesses that the violent threat posed by the anti-gender movement is almost certain to continue over the coming year and that violent actors may be inspired by recent ideologically motivated violent extremist attacks, such as the University of Waterloo attack to carry out their own extreme violence against the 2SLGBTQI+ community” spokesperson Eric Balsam told (Global News). The story followed reporting by the CBC on the assessment by the Integrated Terrorism Assessment Centre (ITAC); the CBC explains the ITAC is made up of intelligence authorities.

In June of 2024 responding to the potential violence and impact on the community, the federal government rolled out funding for security at Pride festivals (Canada.ca), a commitment that was expanded on by Prime Minister Mark Carney at the recent Pride Flag raising at Parliament, with Women and Gender Equality Minister Rechie Valdez telling the CBC it would be about $1.5 million (CBC).

New data released in April from Stats Canada showed that police-reported hate crimes targeting sexual orientation dropped about 30% (605 cases) down from the recent peak of 860 cases in 2023. To understand the context the recent peak in 2023 was roughly three times the annual average for Canada from 2015 to 2020 (Stats Canada). It could be an indicator that hate crimes against the community may be returning to their pre-Trump levels.

WorldPride in Washington: Resistance Meets Reality

World Pride kicked off this week in the shadow of Donald Trump's Whitehouse. The global festival licensed by InterPride was scheduled for May 17th to June 8th and although reporting indicates it had success and people celebrated in the summer sun. The festival flooded Instagram as people came out to celebrate and dance to guests like Ru Paul and Troye Sivan. Initially the festival was awarded to Taiwan, however the local host city Kaohsiung, accused the international member body InterPride of requiring then to drop 'Taiwan' from their event name. Taiwan has frequently faced pressure from China, they had earlier complained at being referred to as a 'region' and not as a country (Reuters). The festival was then picked up by Washington D.C, which is celebrating 50 years of their pride parade this year.

InterPride (The global association of pride organizations) is made up of representatives from Pride organizations all over the world. In Canada the national Pride organization Fierte Canada Pride lists 73 members (Fierte Canada Pride). The Canadians have a strong presence (53 members) in InterPride, however fewer Canadians made the trip into the USA to celebrate. Major queer organizations such as Egale Canada have reacted to anti-2SLGBTQI+ actions of the Trump government and have vowed to boycott travel to the USA.

A general boycott of travel to the USA didn't stop at its northern neighbour. In Europe: Finland, Portugal, the Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, and Denmark have all issued official travel guidance warning their citizens about travel to the USA (CNN). In Africa the African Human Rights Coalition issued a press release advising Africans to avoid travel to the USA for the World Pride events (Washington Blade). In Australia, an academic offered financial support to attend declined as her academic research included terms banned by the Trump Administration (The Guardian).

The World Pride festival faced a rocky start with the new Trump administration starting with the Kennedy Arts Center which cancelled a week's worth of programming causing organizers to find last minute alternatives (AP). The Official launch was also rescheduled as Shakira faced 'logistical issues' with travel into the USA (AP). Although InterPride organizers insisted that hosting the World Pride in Trump's backyard would be a way to push back on the administration the message rung hollow as the festival continued to pivot under the pressure.

The USA has become a far more hostile location for 2SLGBTQI+ folks. The health media organization KFF has tracked 17 Executive Orders and actions that have impacted queer and trans Americans since Trump returned to Office ranging from bans on gender-affirming care and the erasure of legal recognition for trans people, to the removal of LGBTQ+ health data from federal websites (KFF). The Human Rights Campaign (Equivalent to Egale Canada) is tracking over 750 anti LGBTQ legislation (HRC), the ACLU is tracking 588 Bills (ACLU) and the Trans Legislation Tracker has been following over 900 Bills (Trans Legislation Tracker) in the case of all three, that legislation is from just the last 6 months.

The culture war in the USA against the visibility of queer folks is particularly easy to understand with flags. Earlier this year Utah banned Pride flags in state buildings and schools (CBS). In Idaho, cities took the drastic step to declare Pride Flags as official city flags to avoid the statewide ban (NPR)). In Wisconsin the Democratic Governor ordered the pride flag to be flown over the legislative building as the Republicans conduct efforts to ban it (MSN). In Montana they banned the Pride Flag, notably their law banned flags that "represent a political party, race, sexual orientation, gender or political ideology" however an exception was carved out for the Confederate Gadson Flag (KTVH).

Global Resistance: Hungary, the EU, and UK Pride Shifts

The rise in rhetoric and violence against Pride is not just limited to the USA. In Europe Hungary has been at the forefront of the battle over Pride. Budapest Pride which typically sees tens of thousands of marchers was just hit with a ban by the Budapest Police. They refused the parade due to the new child protection legislation in Hungary (Independent). They argue that it is unlikely, if not inevitable that someone under 18 may attend the march.

Hungary is led by Trump ally Victor Orban, and the relationship with the European Union has become increasingly fraught as they introduced legislation that undermines EU common values. Recently, the European Commissioner for Democracy issued grave concerns for Hungary (Reuters) and Estonia called for Hungary's voting rights to be suspended due to the persistent and serious undermining of the values (ERR). At least 20 European countries have opposed the constitutional change in Hungary (Independent), and the European Parliamentary Research Service points out that similar laws from Russia have been repeatedly defeated by the European Court of Human Rights noting the laws are "incompatible with the notions of equality, pluralism and tolerance inherent in a democratic society'" (European Parliament).

Budapest Pride is scheduled for the 28th of June as organizers vow to defy the ban. Amnesty International and organizers have challenged the law in the Hungarian courts (MSN).The Europeans more broadly are tackling the legislation head-on as at least 70 members of the European Parliament, led by the The Intergroup on LGBTI Rights, intend on defying the ban and marching at Hungary Pride (CP24).

In the UK the four largest Pride organizations (London, Birmingham, Brighton and Manchester) have responded to the push back on Pride in the USA, and Hungary and the recent British Supreme Court ruling defining 'woman' and banned the participation of political parties. "We will not stand by as the dignity, safety, and humanity of our trans siblings are debated, delayed, or denied." (Brighton Pride). They implored the British government to lead on LGBT rights, at the same time that Britain dropped 6 places in the European Equality Index, the lowest position it has ever placed (Independent). These four Pride festivals have been followed by Oxford Pride (Yahoo News) and Glasgow Pride (BBC).

Corporate Pullback and Political Commitments in Canada

In Canada the issue of politicians attending came to a head a couple of years ago. Vancouver Pride led the way, requiring all parade participants including political parties to complete the 'Parade Matrix' (Vancouver Is Awesome). Their form requires participants to answer questions such as "What external programs, events or initiatives for the 2SLGBTQAI+ community has your organization supported and/or created within the last year?" and "What does participating in the Pride Parade represent for your organization and how does your participation advance the 2SLGBTQAI+ movement?" (Vancouver Pride).

The biggest challenge facing Canadian Pride organizations this year will be financial. Pride festivals in Canada are being impacted by the clamp down on DEI in the States. Toronto Pride has announced that they have seen several sponsors pull their support including: Google, The Home Depot, Nissan Canada, Adidas and Clorox. Additional sponsors such as Tim Hortons have reduced their support. The Executive Director of Pride Toronto recently indicated that $700,000 in sponsorship has been lost, and pointed the fault squarely at the Trump administration for the shifting winds in Corporate support (Campaign Canada).

That significant change makes up 12.5% of their budget for this year. Looking at previously reported financial data available from Toronto Pride from 2018 (Xtra), 2021 (Pride Toronto) and 2023 (Pride Toronto) we can see that the sponsorship for Pride Toronto has made up 58-68% of their revenues. In 2023 the Sponsorship total was $4.7 million. Modest indicated that other sponsors have come on-board to help close the gap, but the budget shortfall will still be significant. We are seeing the impact of corporate retreat elsewhere, for example New York City Pride saw a drop of $750,000 USD in sponsorship — roughly a quarter of their sponsors and specifically all of their major sponsors from the previous year (New York Times).

The proliferation of companies at Pride has been a longstanding point of contention with queer communities, often referred to as the 'pinkwashing of pride'. The allegation being that Pride parades create a veneer of support for the company, or more sinisterly as a ploy to market to the community. As a marketing tool Pride Parades are often one of the largest events in a community — for example, according to the 2023 Annual Report from Pride Toronto 3 million people attended the festival (Pride Toronto) making for a prominent billboard. In 2024 a coalition of activists under the banner 'Say No To Pinkwashing' (Instagram) caused a disruption in Toronto Pride, in part calling for Pride TO to address the pinkwashing and specifically the companies they allege are profiting from the war in Gaza (Global News).

Conclusion: Pride as a Political Barometer

Pride is the rainbow coloured canary in the human rights coal mine. For many this year it is a protest, an exercise in resistance against populism. The tone set by politicians using queer and trans people as political punching bags fosters a climate of hostility—even in countries like Canada that are often seen as progressive. Under this pressure, the test of true allyship is becoming more evident. In Hungary, MEPs are preparing to defy a police ban and march at Budapest Pride. In the United States, major corporations are hiding their rainbow colours.

Pride which has always been political is increasingly a frontline for democracy. To quote the Budapest police, it is nearly impossible to assume under-18s are not attending Pride—because it is their identity, and their right to exist, that is under attack. The celebration of Pride and diversity is hard-fought. The gains made are not guaranteed. And 2025 may be the starkest reminder yet that the battle for dignity, safety, and equality remains ongoing.

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