Dupont Circle park to close for WorldPride weekend after all
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Photo: Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
After days of uncertainty, the National Park Service shut down Dupont Circle for this weekend's Pride festivities, even after a community backlash to the idea and the D.C. police chief withdrawing her request to close it.
Why it matters: It's a blow to WorldPride 2025 revelers, who were hoping the park in the heart of D.C.'s historic LGBTQ community would remain open.
Driving the news: Citing D.C. police chief Pamela Smith's original request to close the park, NPS installed fencing early Friday morning. Fencing will remain until 6pm Sunday.
- U.S. Park Police said the temporary closure is necessary "to secure the park, deter potential violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences."
Context: In 2023, NPS said the park was faced with $175,000 in vandalism and damage to the historic fountain after Pride weekend festivities.
- Last year, D.C. police said groups of juveniles got into fights and "engaged in unpermitted and illegal activities."
Those incidents spurred Smith to send a closure request to NPS in April this year.
- But following public backlash, Smith rescinded that request on Tuesday.
The latest: U.S. Park Police decided to move ahead with the closure anyway.
- "While some community leaders and residents have voiced their concerns for a closure of Dupont Circle to MPD the threat of violence," the agency wrote in a letter to NPS leadership Wednesday, "criminal acts and NPS resource destruction has only increased since MPD's original April 22, 2025 park closure request."
- The letter cites a "local DJ advertising and selling tickets to an unpermitted gathering/party in Dupont Circle following World Pride events" as one more reason to shut down the park.
Between the lines: It's another pain point for festival-goers who are already upset with the Trump administration for anti-LGBTQ policies.
- The mayor's office didn't comment about NPS' decision.