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Pride Month in the nation’s capital this year is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of participants across three weeks of programming consisting of over 300 events for World Pride 2025, an annual international festival that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community.

Organizers for the global celebration this year told ABC News they are emphasizing messages of resistance, resilience and, above all, hope at a time when LGBTQ+ individuals, particularly the transgender community, are being targeted on various fronts by the Trump administration.

World Pride 2025 makes its way back to the U.S. for the first time since 2019, when organizers chose New York City to host the festival the same year as the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising.

World Pride 2025 events began May 17 and will culminate the weekend of June 7 and 8 with the annual parade and street festival. Included in the programming are events and partnerships with minority groups, including DC Latinx Pride, API Pride, Trans Pride, DC Black Pride, Youth Pride and DC Silver Pride for senior members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Ryan Bos is the executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes Pride Month programming in D.C. each year. He has been spearheading the planning of World Pride since last year and says that the celebration this year is “more important than ever.”

“It’s surreal on days to think that the country that I was born into, the country that I have grown to have a lot of pride in — a country that I have devoted my professional and personal time in regards to creating spaces for people to feel welcome, to feel included, to make sure people feel seen and are valued — that in that country, we are now in a space where overtly, our federal government is saying certain people aren’t as valued,” Bos said. “And that hurts, and it’s scary.”

During his first weeks in office, Trump signed an executive order declaring that the U.S. government will only recognize a person’s gender assigned at birth. More executive orders targeted the transgender community in the military and in athletic spaces.

Marissa Miller, founder of the National Trans Visibility March, said that with attention focused on her community, this year, “humanity is on the line.”

“This is a revolutionary time,” she said. “We’ve been somewhere near here before, but I think that it’s been a while since we have been here.”

As a Black transgender woman, Miller emphasized that some members of the community have always felt like they had target on their backs.

“These are dangerous times — not unprecedented, dangerous times — for trans people, even more dangerous than they have been because there has been a permission set that says we do not exist,” Miller said.

In leading Pride Month planning this year, Bos said that security and safety have been at the forefront of many conversations. While D.C. is ready and welcoming, he said that it’s important for attendees and participants to understand any potential risks their international friends may have in travel.

Organizers and groups from several countries have already opted out of coming to World Pride this year, including those from Canada and some countries in Africa, Miller told ABC News.

Ry Schissler, a swimmer and cyclist from Toronto who decided not to travel to the United States for World Pride this year, citing decisions by the Trump administration. Schissler, who identifies as transgender and nonbinary, holds Canadian-American dual citizenship. Schissler’s team, the Toronto Purple Fins, a self-described “gender free” swimming group, had planned to come to D.C. in June for the IGLA+ Aquatic Championships and World Pride, but Schissler didn’t want to lead the team to a country where the group didn’t feel welcomed.

“There’s so many benefits to participating in sports, particularly team sports, and … trans people have been discouraged from that and actively banned from it,” Schissler said. “In a lot of cases, it’s so important to recognize how difficult it is for us to do that, much less travel internationally, to show up to an event where we’re clearly not wanted by a lot of people.”

Even though Schissler and the rest of the team planned to make the trip, they decided against it in the winter following Trump’s executive orders.

“Wherever I go, I have to be on my toes. And when I’m outside my comfort zone — the places that I go and know that there are people to support me — it’s hard,” Schissler added.

With the Trump administration’s executive orders targeting LGBTQ+ spaces and diversity equity and inclusion practices, Bos, the World Pride organizer, said that corporate partnerships this year have been more difficult to secure out of fear of losing federal funding.

Another one of Trump’s January executive orders not only banned DEI practices in the federal government, but also called on those in the private sector to end what the order calls “illegal DEI discrimination and preferences.”

According to Bos, some companies that had regularly sponsored Capital Pride in the past were “dragging their feet” to commit to World Pride 2025 as they waited for the outcome of the 2024 presidential election and some eventually backed out or lessened their support.

Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Comcast and Darcars are some of the companies that previously supported the Capital Pride Alliance that will not be sponsors for World Pride 2025, according to Bos. ABC News has not received a response after reaching out to the companies for comment.

But Bos says that he hopes the community persists, believing that “human decency and respect will ultimately win out.”

“My hope is that we can show that through World Pride and letting, again, folks know that there are people standing in our corner, that there are people willing to stand up, to be visible, to be heard, and that they’re not alone. And that they see hope in the future,” he said.

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Through the course of three weeks of testimony in the trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, one man has loomed large even as he remains locked up in a prison, more than 2,500 miles away. That man is Marion “Suge” Knight, the rap impresario who was viewed by many as Combs’ chief competitor at the peak of Combs’ prominence atop the hip-hop world.

During hours of conversation with ABC News this weekend, Knight offered his reactions to the trial that has grabbed headlines and offered an often-disturbing portrait of the private life of a pop-culture icon and fashion tastemaker who could end up being sentenced to serve the rest of his life in federal prison, if convicted. Combs has pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing.

Knight’s name has been mentioned in the Combs trial at least 50 times so far, with some of those references connected to the notorious Combs-Knight rivalry and others simply acknowledging that Knight once led Combs’ fierce competitor, Death Row Records. Their names are synonymous with the explosion of hip-hop, and the bad blood between the two moguls, and their record labels.

Speaking for himself in a series of phone interviews Saturday, Knight described what he saw as a toxic culture of abuse in some parts of the hip-hop industry that certainly did not start with Combs.

Knight is currently serving a 28-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter stemming from a 2015 fatal hit-and-run not connected to Combs’ case, to which he pleaded no contest in 2018. The famed founder of Death Row Records had an extensive criminal rap sheet that added time to his current sentence because it triggered California’s three strikes law. According to law enforcement, Knight has longstanding ties to LA’s infamous Bloods street gang.

On the phone, Knight said that, if Combs is the only one held accountable for alleged violence and abuse inside the world of rap, it won’t break the cycle.

“If you’re going to make Puffy answer, make everyone answer,” Knight said, referring to those who benefited from a system of trading sexual favors for advancement, or enabled the kind of behavior of which Combs is accused.

“Change the theme of the culture of the problems in hip-hop,” Knight said, repeatedly referring to Combs by his earlier street names “Puff” and “Puffy.”

“I think it’d be a great thing to let Puffy tell his truth. Tell the real truth, and bring everybody accountable,” Knight said.

Long before federal authorities charged Combs for alleged sex-trafficking and racketeering in connection with a lifestyle of allegedly forced sex sessions called “freak-offs,” Knight claimed there had long been rumors about Combs’ sex life back to the 1990s and 2000s.

“Everybody knew that,” Knight said, but that “Puffy didn’t just pop in the industry and say ‘hey, I want to have sex with everybody,’” Knight said. “I mean, we don’t have enough time to name all the names.”

Combs’ alleged use of fear and force to get what he wanted has been a frequent theme in his criminal case, far beyond sexual favors. The prosecution of Combs hinges on the core accusation that Combs used coercion and force to get what he wanted. To make that point, prosecutors presented Combs’ former assistant, Capricorn Clark, who said she returned to work for Combs after leaving his employment because Combs allegedly made it impossible for her to work elsewhere in the music industry.

“He held all the power as it related to me,” Clark testified through sobs.

Clark told jurors she had worked for Knight before Combs – a connection that, she claimed, did not sit well with Combs.

“He told me he didn’t know that I had anything to do with Suge Knight and, if anything happened, he would have to kill me,” Clark testified.

On cross-examination, Combs’ defense attorney Marc Agnifilo attempted to undermine Clark’s overall portrayal of Combs — and why she would want to continue working for a man who had allegedly threatened her.

“I wanted my life back, sir,” Clark explained.

“You want to work with him again,” Agnifilo said. “I wanted to work in the music industry,” Clark replied.

In his comments to ABC News, Knight lamented how Clark had allegedly been treated.

“I feel bad for Capricorn,” Knight said, describing “a young woman who want to work hard and become successful in the world.”

“She did great things for Puffy. Anything he needed, she got it. Anything he wanted, if she didn’t have it, she made it happen,” Knight said. “A lot of people might say, well, Capricorn could have did anything else she wanted to do. She did try. If you go get a job at Universal and Puffy makes a phone call, you’re not getting that job. If you go get a job at a counter agency or in the movie business and Puff make that call, your career is over.”

Knight recalled Clark telling him she had been warned by another records executive not to “tell on Puffy,” and that she was allegedly paid for her silence, he said.

On the witness stand, Clark recalled one meeting where, she claimed, she was given such a warning.

“It wasn’t about job opportunities. They were there to tell me to leave Puff alone and that this wasn’t going to end well for me,” Clark testified. “The outcome of that meeting was that — well, no job, but it was a warning.”

In response to that testimony, Knight said “They put that woman in a situation where she didn’t have no choice but try to be cool with these people if she’s gonna be in the industry.”

Knight said Combs did not invent the hardball tactics he allegedly employed.

“Don’t get me wrong, he (Combs) did terrible things, but he just didn’t come up with those stuff and those ideas on his own,” Knight said. “I don’t feel that they should take Puffy and lock him up and throw away the key. I think he can do so much good right now, him telling the truth about the industry,” Knight said. “When you can pick and choose who to put on the fire pit, it’s not fair.”

Combs should tell “the whole truth, nothing but the truth so help him god. That way, everybody would – history won’t keep repeating itself,” Knight said. “It’s a long list of people in the industry that’s unhappy because of the things they were being put through. And that’s the sad part about it.”

Knight said he sympathizes with Combs’ position.

“I feel that people in Puffy’s life, going on his journey growing up, they failed him,” Knight said.

“Do I think he made some mistakes? I think he repeats what he’s seen. He repeats what he learnt,” Knight said.

“First thing I would tell Puffy is this – I’m not going through what he’s going through for his freak-offs. But I’ve been there sitting in those cells. And I know he feels that he don’t have a friend in the world,” Knight said. Of all those once in his glamorous orbit, “none have been to court. None of them have been a help. So I’m quite sure he’s in a lonely place right now,” Knight said.

Combs’ family has remained by his side, some even sitting in on trial proceedings; Knight noted that cannot be easy for his kids especially.

“If there’s a situation where he can do some time, but not a lot of time, go knock it out. Don’t keep torturing yourself,” Knight said. “Once he get where he going, to a real prison, he’ll be able to, you know, have a step closer to freedom.”

Knight suggested that, perhaps, Combs should plead out. (Knight himself pleaded no contest to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to prison in 2018.) Combs declined a plea deal on the eve of trial last month.

“I think they should work out a deal with Puffy,” Knight said.

Though Combs and Knight are usually portrayed by the media and law enforcement as having been rivals, Knight said he saw it differently.

“I wouldn’t quite say we was rivals, because to say we rivals that means we had to be really really bad enemies,” Knight said.

“I do feel that he cared about the music industry. I think he do love the industry, and he did a great job with his artists, I do an incredible job with my artists,” Knight said, detailing a long history of competition as hip-hop went from being a street sound to a billion-dollar business. “I say it all the time, Puffy is known for making hit singles, like one song to go crazy. I’m known for making hit albums. Puffy can take an artist and make great music with them. I can take an artist and make them a superstar.”

The alleged grudge between Combs and Knight was a focus of early testimony in Combs’ trial. Combs’ former personal assistant, David James, said that, one night in 2008, he spotted Knight and his entourage eating at Mel’s Drive-in diner in Hollywood, and said Combs, upon hearing that, wanted to go confront Knight and the rival group.

Knight responded to that testimony this way:

“If there’s anything suggesting that I was doing anything illegal, I’m gonna say, definitely not,” Knight said chuckling. “I’m’a put it to you like this — I’m quite sure I remember some of that.”

“Anybody that know me — from 2 o’clock in the morning or 3 o’clock in the morning, to almost 6 o’clock in the morning, I’m always at Mel’s with six or seven [pretty women] enjoying myself. Until I finally was in a relationship with someone,” Knight said. “I’m a real West Coast man, and I have different stuff that I like to eat, but Mel’s was one of my places, because, Mel’s was open 24 hours, you know?”

If Combs did insist on returning to the diner to confront Knight, as James testified, Knight said perhaps it’s because “he’s got to show power.”

Of the competition between the two record-label bosses, Knight said he was told Combs would listen to Death Row music.

“I was surprised about that,” Knight said, making a reference to the late Death Row rap star Tupac Shakur. “He’d put on Death Row music, he’d put on Tupac, they’d go to the boat in the marina, the yacht, whatever it was, and get the Death Row music going again.”

“I hope he wasn’t jealous of me, ’cause if he was jealous of me, that means he was liking me too much, loving me too much,” Knight said.

“I don’t put myself in his head – or no one else’s head – because the man is on trial fighting for his life,” Knight said.

ABC News’ Peter Charalambous and Kaitlyn Morris contributed to this report.

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A suspect was booked on a range of charges after allegedly carrying out an “act of terrorism” on a pedestrian mall in Boulder, Colorado, on Sunday afternoon, using what police are describing as a “makeshift flamethrower” against a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators.

Eight people were hospitalized with burns, Boulder Police said in an update Sunday night. The victims’ ages ranged from 52 to 88, and they were all taken to local hospitals, police said.

One victim was in critical condition, police said.

The suspect, identified by the FBI as 45-year-old Mohamed Sabry Soliman, was allegedly heard yelling “Free Palestine” while using a “makeshift flamethrower” and throwing an incendiary device at the crowd, according to Special Agent in Charge Mark Michalek.

Soliman was taken into custody without incident and transferred to a hospital where he was examined, police said.

Soliman is being held on $10,000,000 bond, according to the Boulder County Jail, which listed a range of felony charges against him, including use of an incendiary device.

FBI Director Kash Patel said officials were investigating the incident as a “targeted terror attack.” The FBI believes the attack was “ideologically motivated violence,” according to “early information, the evidence and witness accounts,” Deputy Director Dan Bongino added.

The attack in Boulder comes at a time of heightened violence, including high-profile incidents against the Jewish community.

The pro-Israel demonstration was a Run for Their Lives walk, aiming to raise awareness about the remaining hostages in Gaza. The organization hosts global run and walk events, “calling for the immediate release of the hostages held by Hamas,” according to its website.

Leo Terrell, head of the antisemitism task force at the Justice Department, said that an “incendiary device” was thrown at participants in the walk.

“This was not an isolated incident,” Terrell continued. “This antisemitic terrorist attack is part of a horrific and escalating wave of violence targeting Jews and their supporters simply for being Jewish or standing up for Jewish lives,” he said.

The attack happened on the eve of a Jewish holiday, Shavuot, “making it all the more chilling and cruel,” Terrell said.

A spokesperson for the organization, Miri Kornfeld, said in a statement to ABC News said a man who was leading the walk described the scene as “the floor burning beneath them.”

All upcoming Run for Their Lives events have been canceled until further notice, Kornfeld said, who was not at the walk in Boulder.

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the “targeted terror attack,” a senior White House official told ABC News.

“Hate-filled acts of any kind are unacceptable. While details emerge, the state works with local and federal law enforcement to support this investigation,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis wrote on X, describing the incident as a “heinous act of terror.”

Boulder Police, while calling the attack a “tragedy” and “unacceptable,” initially stopped short of calling the incident terrorism and did not want to speculate on the suspect’s move, according to Chief Stephen Redfearn.

The incident occurred just before 1:30 p.m. on Sunday at the intersection of 13th Street and Pearl Street.

Police responded to reports of a man with a weapon and that people were being set on fire.

When they arrived, there were multiple victims at the scene with injuries consistent with burns, police said. Police said four of the victims were taken to Boulder Community Hospital and two others were airlifted to a burn unit in Aurora. Apart from the victim with serious injuries, the others were believed to be more minor, Redfearn said.

Last month, two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot and killed in Washington, D.C. in what was labeled as an “act of terror.”

The shooting sparked outrage and has been condemned as an “unspeakable” act of antisemitism after officials said the suspect, who is in custody, shouted “free, free Palestine” following the shooting.

In April, the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, was targeted by an arsonist who allegedly made two Molotov cocktails from Heineken bottles he had at home and threw them inside the governor’s mansion after breaking a window with a hammer, according to court documents.

The attack happened after the governor had posted about celebrating Passover with his family.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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