Across Washington, large rainbow flags are flying next to the stars and stripes as the city plays host to World Pride, a global celebration of LGBTQ culture and identity.
But getting the world to come has proved challenging this year. Some international travellers are choosing to skip the biennial event over travel fears, while others are protesting President Donald Trump’s policies.
Alice Siregar, a Montreal-based data analyst who is transgender, had planned to attend. But travelling to the US at the moment was unthinkable, she told the BBC.
“It is a risk to now come over and especially as a trans woman,” she said.
The US capital won the bid to host World Pride years before Trump’s re-election. In January, the event’s organisers had projected the celebration, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of Washington’s first Pride march, would attract three million visitors and contribute nearly $800 million to the local economy.
But their expectations have now dropped to about a third of their previous estimates. Hotel occupancy rates are also down compared to last year.
Alice SiregarMs Siregar, 30, holds both Canadian and US citizenship but says she has been unable to renew her US passport because of new rules implemented by the Trump administration that prevents transgender Americans from changing their gender on official documents.
The White House says it is defending “the biological reality of sex”.
She could travel south with her Canadian passport, but she is worried border agents may not accept her gender, which is listed as female on her Canadian documents.
Reports of other foreign travellers being detained and taken into custody have raised her concerns, she said.
“It’s too dangerous to risk it,” she said.
A spokesperson for US Customs and Border Protection said that a person’s gender identity does not make them inadmissible.
“A foreign traveller’s gender as indicated on their passport and their personal beliefs about sexuality do not render a person inadmissible,” the spokesperson told the BBC in a statement. “Claims to the contrary are false.”
But Ms Siregar is not alone in her concerns. Several European governments including Germany, Finland, and Denmark have issued travel advisories for transgender and non-binary citizens travelling to the US. Equality Australia, an advocacy group, also issued a travel alert for gender non-conforming people and those with a history of LGBTQ activism.
Egale Canada, one of the country’s largest LGBTQ charities, said it was not participating in World Pride because of concerns for the safety of their transgender and non-binary staff. It has previously participated in World Pride events in London, Sydney and at home in Toronto.
“We are very concerned about the general tone and hostility towards domestic LGBTI people in the US, but also to those who may be visiting the US from other jurisdictions,” its executive director Helen Kennedy said.