The WorldPride 2025 Parade kicks off Saturday in Washington, D.C., with a 1,000-foot Rainbow Flag made from pieces of the Gilbert Baker Foundation’s original 2003 Key West “Sea to Sea” flag.
The flag symbolizes “a vivid act of defiance and a powerful declaration of LGBTQ+ visibility amid mounting legislative attacks,” say organizers.
The foundation, founded in memory of the creator of the Rainbow Flag, said it has been aggressively fighting the defense of the flag amid legislative and legal challenges, rallying public support, organizing grassroots resistance and raising funds to support legal challenges against efforts to ban the flag and curtail LGBTQ+ visibility in public life.
The iconic sea-to-sea flag event in 2003 is when the late Baker and thousands of people unfurled a rainbow flag over a mile long that stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, casting all of Duval Street in multi-color.
READ MORE: World Pride comes to Washington in the shadow of, and in defiance of, the Trump administration
Earlier this year, Florida legislators in Tallahassee withdrew a proposal to ban pride flags and others that represent political viewpoints in schools and public buildings. Similar measures failed in past legislative sessions.
Utah became the first state to prohibit flying LGBTQ+ pride flags at schools and all government buildings in March after the Republican governor announced he was allowing a ban on unsanctioned flag displays to become law without his signature.
Political flags supporting a certain candidate or party, such as President Donald Trump’s signature “Make America Great Again” flags, are also not allowed.
Republican sponsors of the legislation said it’s meant to encourage “political neutrality” from teachers and other government employees.
Opponents argued it aims to erase LGBTQ+ expression and take authority away from cities and towns that don’t align politically with the Republican Legislature.
