Despite having allegedly resolved a controversy stemming from the planned shuttering of Dupont Circle during WorldPride, the National Park Service has moved forward with the closure anyway, putting up caution tape and erecting “anti-scale” fencing around the perimeter.

Dupont Circle is considered the “heart” of D.C.’s historic “gayborhood.”

A record of determination, dated June 5, and signed by Kevin Griess, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Park, states that the U.S. National Park Service will be closing the circle, effective 6 p.m. on Thursday, June 5 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 8.

In the memo, printed on Department of the Interior letterhead, Griess said that the closure came at the request of the U.S. Park Police. 

“In [U.S. Park Police]’s professional opinion, this closure is necessary for the maintenance of public health and safety and protection of natural and cultural resources in Dupont Circle Park,” Griess wrote. “The USPP has concluded that this temporary closure is necessary to ‘secure the park, deter political violence, reduce the risk of destructive acts, and decrease the need for extensive law enforcement presences.’

“Less restrictive measures will not suffice due to the security-based assessment of the USPP that this park area needs to be kept clear,” Griess added, noting that the closure of the circle would not result in a “significant alteration in the public use pattern,” would not affect scheduled events, and that other nearby parks would remain open. 

Read Next

WorldPride 2025 in DC: The Ultimate Celebration Guide

“[T]he closure will not adversely affect the park’s natural, aesthetic or cultural values and is not of a highly controversial nature, as evidenced by the lack of any requests to utilize the area to be closed. Comparable closures and public use limits are commonplace when necessary, provide for the protection of the park and public,” he concluded.

Griess cited three incidents of “damage to park resources and unsafe conditions for the public” from 2019, 2023, and 2024, and as justification for the closure, included a copy of a memo from U.S. Park Police Major Frank Hilsher, the commander of U.S. Park Police’s Icon Protection Branch, providing an assessment of possible criminal activity or destructive behavior that might occur in the circle.

Hilsher cited a 2019 incident in which gunshots were allegedly heard in the park, causing people to flee the area on the belief that there was an active shooter.

Revelers knocked over barriers, leading to a full-scale stampede as people seeking cover fled the circle, which ultimately resulted in the abrupt cancellation of the Capital Pride Parade in progress at the time. Police later arrested a man with a firearm in connection with the incident.

Hilsher also said that the National Park Service claimed that Dupont Circle Park was vandalized following Pride weekend events in 2023, resulting in approximately $175,000 in damage to the historic fountain. And, in 2024, during Pride Weekend, large groups of juveniles entered the park and engaged in illegal activities.

Hilsher noted that he agreed with the initial assessment of Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith, who submitted a request to U.S. Park Police on April 22, requesting that the National Park Service close the circle and erect “anti-scale” fencing to prevent criminal mischief.

Read Next

Gay Actor Jonathan Joss, of ‘King of the Hill,’ Shot Dead in Texas

“While some community leaders and residents have voiced their concerns for a closure of Dupont Circle to MPD, the threat of violence, criminal acts, and NPS resource destruction has only increased since MPD’s original April 22, 2025 park closure request,” he wrote.

Hilsher noted that a local DJ has been advertising and selling tickets to an unpermitted, unsanctioned gathering in Dupont Circle following official WorldPride events.

That same DJ and unofficial “party” has taken place in previous years, which is believed to have contributed to the aforementioned criminal activities. He also claimed that increasing the presence of law enforcement at the circle “would not be feasible or effective to protect visitors and resources.”

Opponents of the closure have claimed that the disorderly conduct and incidents of vandalism that have occurred in the circle were not done by Pride revelers, and may not have even been committed by LGBTQ people. The Capital Pride Alliance also noted that no official Pride events have taken place in the park in recent years.

Earlier in the week, after facing public pressure and backlash from the public, local elected officials claimed that Smith had sent a letter rescinding her earlier request to close the circle, presumably resolving the controversy. But over the past 24 hours, they were informed that U.S. Park Police were not honoring Smith’s request and moving forward with their plans to cordon off the area.

An MPD spokesperson supplied Metro Weekly with a copy of a letter, dated June 3, rescinding her earlier request.

Read Next

MPD Withdraws Request to Park Service to Close Dupont Circle for Pride

“To prevent the recurrence of prior year’s incidents, particularly with the demands of WorldPride 2025,
MPD requested the closure of Dupont Circle Park and the installation of anti-scale fencing around its
perimeter this upcoming weekend,” Smith wrote in that letter. “However, after hearing from community leaders and residents, I am formally withdrawing MPD’s request to close Dupont Circle Park and the installation of anti-scale fencing around its perimeter from Thursday, June 5, 2025, through Monday, June 9, 2025.”

But Smith also noted in her correspondence that the final decision would be left up to the U.S. Park Police.

“Chief Pamela A. Smith has heard from community members and understands how significant Dupont Circle Park is to the Pride celebration,” the MPD spokesperson said in a statement. “MPD stands ready to support the National Park Service and the U.S. Park Police during this weekend’s events.”

The spokesperson referred all other questions about the park closure to NPS and U.S. Park Police.

D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only out LGBTQ member, who had previously convinced Smith to rescind her request, expressed anger over the re-emergence of an issue that many thought had been resolved.

“It’s infuriating that the National Park Service has issued another notice to close Dupont Circle Park after MPD Chief Smith rescinded her initial request for closure earlier this week,” Parker said in a statement. “Dupont Circle is sacred ground for the LGBTQ+ community — a place with a rich history of protest, pride, and joy. Closing it during one of the most significant global celebrations of our community sends the wrong message…. [We] certainly should not sit quietly while LGBTQ+ spaces like Dupont Circle Park are shut down during World Pride.”

Local Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners representing the Dupont Circle area expressed frustration at the National Park Service’s decision to move forward with closing the circle. But they also pointed a finger at the Metropolitan Police Department and at D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, accusing them of deliberately leaving commissioners — who are elected officials — in the dark.

ANC 2B Commissioner Jeff Rueckgauer, whose district includes Dupont Circle Park, told Metro Weekly earlier this week that while the closure of Dupont Circle is “disappointing,” there needs to be some accountability taken by MPD and the mayor.

“I believe that MPD did not come up with this and then escalate it to the Park Service or Park Police without the mayor’s approval,” Rueckgauer said. “I find it particularly insulting how the mayor has been basically smiling in our faces about WorldPride for the last few weeks, all while knowing that this was going on at some point. At the very least, she’s known about it in the last week.”

Similarly, ANC 2B Commissioner Vincent Slatt noted that even though Smith’s request to the National Park Service was submitted in April, ANC commissioners were left in the dark.

“It’s a greater pattern with the Wilson Building and the city’s executive agencies of not informing ANCs of what’s going on, and not soliciting our input,” Slatt said in an interview with Metro Weekly.

He noted Smith had known about the requested closure since April, yet never mentioned anything to the local ANC commissioners. “It’s really upsetting, because she never informed the ANC that she was doing this. As of now, we don’t know if that’s a violation of Home Rule, we’re going to need lawyers to look at that, but [MPD is] supposed to be informing us and asking our opinion about things related to the neighborhood. And they didn’t do that.

“It’s important for people to know that ANCs are the elected representatives of our neighborhoods. And our oath, under Home Rule, is to defend the Constitution and the Home Rule Act. We’re suppposed to advise the government on its decisions about our neighborhood and the best interest of the District as a whole. We’re an integral part of Home Rule, and to ignore us like this — it’s got commissioners around the city inflamed.”

Slatt says he and his fellow commissioners are “pissed” about the closing of Dupont Circle, although he described it as a “peaceful anger.”

“This is the historic enclave of the gay neighborhood,” he says. “Going back to the first picket at the White House in 1965, and the first AIDS vigil in 1983, which featured a march — during Pride — from Dupont Circle to the White House, the circle has been part of the heritage of Pride and the heritage of activism. So we’re really upset about it, but there’s not much that can be done.”

He added, “The mayor has been saying that WorldPride is about the whole world turning its attention on Washington. You know, we’re [allegedly] the gayest city in the country, the [city] administration is so pro-gay, everything in the city is gay-friendly, and so forth. But then to do this to the heart of Dupont Circle is just tone deaf to what the community is and how we celebrate Pride.”