Stop Centering Allies This Pride
The team at WorldPride DC needs to read the room. Here's why ...
‘LET’S GET PROUD!’ Jennifer Lopez’s official Instagram page left an enthusiastic comment along the announcement that she will be headlining the WorldPride 2025 Musical Festival. Clearly whoever left this comment overlooked all of the negative reactions from the community … and there were a lot of them.
WorldPride is a series of international LGBTQ+ pride events coordinated by an organization called InterPride; they are hosted in conjunction with local LGBTQ+ pride festivals, with host cities selected via bids voted on during InterPride's annual general meetings. WorldPride is often referred to as the ‘gay olympics’ because of the way it bounces from country to country, bringing a long with it thousands of tourists looking to celebrate and connect with community.
If JLO was a headliner for WorldPride in 2019, when it was held in New York City, I would probably still roll my eyes because her musical performer days are behind her. But my reaction would not have been nearly as visceral as it was today.
“Jennifer fucking Lopez?!” I thought, “Why do we need Jennifer fucking Lopez at Pride in 2025?!”
This year, of all years, is not the time to waste our money, resources and energy propping up so-called allies to the LGBTQ+ community. Folks have pointed out that one of Lopez’s children identifies as non-binary. That’s amazing! But this isn’t about her or her kids. This is about what it costs to get her onto that stage: robbing queer and trans talent of opportunity they actually need!
Jennifer Lopez, regardless of anyone’s opinion, is an A-List celebrity. She may not sell tickets or chart albums or win awards or … where was I? Oh right! She’s an A-List celebrity! Her booking fee is high. The cost of one mediocre JLO production (including her fee, her team, her crew, her dancers, her band, etc.) is certainly more than what it would have cost for WorldPride to do the right thing and book actual LGBTQ+ talent! Diverse LGBTQ+ talent!
When we have a President in office who is erasing people from our community and slashing funds from organizations that support the most marginalized among us, why are we not giving them opportunities? Why are we so obsessed with propping up cisgender women who do nothing tangible for us? Why are we not centering people from within our own community?
I know that JLO’s calendar was empty because she can’t sell a tour but that’s no reason to force her onto an audience looking to celebrate their queer and trans identities. There are plenty of people out there who could’ve done this like Lil Nas X, Doechii, Janelle Monae, Victoria Monet, Billie Eilish, Charlie XCX, Pabllo Vittar, Mila Jam, Angelica Ross, Keke Palmer, Snow Tha Product, Kehlani …. the list goes on and on.
I understand that Capitol Pride (the local Washington D.C. pride organization) did not curate the roster for this music festival. WorldPride Musical Festival 2025 is being produced by Jake Rescnicow, a white gay party producer. But it absolutely is the responsibility of Capitol Pride to tell the people organizing this music festival that representing the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community is a priority.
How will transgender people, who are further marginalized than the rest of us and are under constant attack, feel seen or represented by this programming? And how does WorldPride’s programming at-large push us forward as a community? This pride cannot be business as usual! We cannot take a few days off from the existential threat facing our community to do bumps of cocaine in bathroom stalls to numb ourselves in preparation for a Jennifer Lopez production.
WorldPride should be a celebration of love and community but it should also be what Pride has always been: a riot! And a time for organizing and advocacy. We have work to do!
In 2024, over 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced across the country, with a nearly 200 of them focusing on transgender rights.
2024 was the deadliest year on record for transgender people in America and around the world.
The Supreme Court this year will pass down decisions on gender affirming care and our access to HIV prevention medication
Given this data, it's crucial that WorldPride 2025 prioritizes the voices and needs of the LGBTQ+ community itself!
There is a ‘Human Rights Conference’ scheduled to take place during the week of WorldPride but registration costs anywhere from $300 - $1,000 per person. Why are we adding a dollar sign to advocacy?! We need community not exclusivity. These are the kind of programs we should focus on funding - not paying cisgender popstars.
It’s probably too late to make any changes to this lineup and I’m sure we’ll see more local trans and queer talent booked for other, less notable WorldPride events. And good for them. They should be booked and compensated. But it’s not enough.
If Jennifer Lopez insists on taking up space at this LGBTQ+ event, here’s my proposal: pay your team, take care of your people and donate all of your earnings to an organization that serves the trans community.
That is the only way that her involvement will make any sense. Allyship is a verb.