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African Human Rights Coalition Doubles Down and Challenges WorldPride in Global Controversy

  • nathan334
  • Mar 21
  • 5 min read

Updated: Mar 24

March 21, 2025.


Thank you to THE ADVOCATE and CHRISTOPHER WIGGINS for the well thought out and important article. Thank you for presenting the voice and concerns of African Human Rights Coalition, the most important of which is the safety of LGBTQI+ foreigners upon border arrival to the U.S.A. Thank you also for presenting the voice of WorldPride, as we have had no direct response from them to our concerns. The Advocate wrote: "WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., was meant to be a global celebration of resilience, history, and solidarity. But with the event just weeks away, it has become the center of an international debate over safety and visibility for LGBTQ+ people under the Donald Trump administration’s sweeping rollback of rights.


  • On Saturday, the African Human Rights Coalition called for a boycott of WorldPride, citing grave concerns about the safety of foreign LGBTQ+ attendees, especially transgender individuals and people of color. The organization, which advocates for LGBTQ+ Africans and asylum seekers, likened attending WorldPride in the U.S. to legitimizing apartheid-era South Africa, arguing that visibility in a hostile environment does not guarantee safety or progress." When writing our Statement at African Human Rights Coalition we sent it via email to several members of InterPride. The Ryan Bos e-mail kept bouncing back. However we believe he has known about our statement for a week. No one at any of these organizations has responded to us or contacted us about our concerns. By the way, the phone number on the Capital Pride Alliance website is defunct. I tried to reach Ryan Bos directly before calling for the Boycott. I Sent messages through The WorldPride message online system - even received a receipt number - no response. They are all impossible to reach. we issued our statement before money is spent on airfare and hotels. It also seems that the organizations involved are not quite fully understanding what African Human Rights Coalition is asserting. We are most concerned about border entry given the current anti-LGBTQI and anti-immigrant regime. We are hearing more and more about unprecedented detentions occurring at U.S. airports. People with legitimate visas, green card holders and even naturalized citizens holding U.S. passports. The Advocate Article provides the following response: "Organizers of WorldPride are pushing back against the boycott call, emphasizing that participation in the event is an act of resistance. “A boycott of WorldPride sends the wrong message,” Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said in a statement to The Advocate. “We need to show up together, show resilience and resistance to ensure we remain visible and heard.”" The Advocate further notes: "Capital Pride Alliance has emphasized that it is working with law enforcement and federal agencies to ensure safety, but the AHRC argues that under Trump’s leadership, those agencies cannot be trusted. The group has urged attendees to consider whether traveling to the U.S. is worth the potential risk." Ryan Bos in making his statement does not understands what this regime is all about, what is currently happening at our borders, or the risks involved, which at AHRC we are able to ascertain from our lived experience, a perhaps unique perspective at this time. The harms that are already facing our community are foretold. Hence the organizers' statement minimizes the issue at hand. The subjects of our concern, mostly foreign LGBTQI+ people of color, are acutely aware that this government :

  • has robbed the Africa and globe of life saving USAID;

  • this government thinks should we not exist at all;

  • this government has expelled an African ambassador

  • this government considers, with abject disrespect, countries to be “shitholes” have been impacted by the “Kill the Gays Bill” in Uganda which was launched by the very Project 2025 groups participating in this government at this time;

  • as well as the “The Family Values Bill” in Ghana that sends you to jail for 3- 10 years for identifying as LGBTTQAP (that includes allies) or for advocating for LGBTQ+ As sensitive as it is to suggest, and aware silence is complicit and irresponsible, at AHRC we view the Ryan Bos' statement as tantamount to suggesting a gay person should trust the NAZI regime as led by Adolf Hitler to say – 'hey don’t worry Gays, despite all this, entering our borders will be okay!' We are not asking that WorldPride shut down - in essence we ask the following: 1. WorldPride should under these current conditions, vehemently discourage foreigners from coming to the USA based on what we have said in the original statement - as a safety measure. We also suggested they support as resilience, a boycott of international tourism - to the USA while issuing a strong statement condemning the Trump fascist anti-LGBTQI regime. This would require a website change and bold statement to reflect truth. 2. What is the TRUTH - not matter what agencies organizers have engaged with, as alleged in the article in the Advocate - under this regime it is impossible to guarantee that the people entering our borders will be spared onerous and dangerous detentions.  Our question to organizers: Are you going to have the Secretary for Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, guarantee that a trans women will not be held in detention with cis men? Lest we forget Noem capable of shooting her own puppy because it was untrainable. We challenge Ryan Bos to provide transparency based on his reassurances. What agencies has WorldPride , Capital Pride and InterPride spoke to. Do you have written guarantees that no attendees will be detained? How in practice is this going to roll out? And curiously do you know How many VISAS have the State Department provided? 3. AHRC says yes to resilience and global unity: We suggest that WorldPride and all Prides continue to hold robust PRIDES with protests in the USA, including the DC WorldPride event -which ought to be a HUGE rally for those already safely here. We fully support that in the context of the above statements to be made by WorldPride. All of America ought to rally - our own USA citizens, to protest this regime in the true spirit of the history of Pride. However we remain steadfast that foreigners boycott the USA as a venue for safety and as a protest against the US government. We invite and support a global response by Prides and LGBTQI+ communities around the world to rally in solidarity in their own countries if they are able.  In conclusion I cannot state enough that in my capacity directing AHRC, and witnessing first hand the treatment of LGBTQI+ foreigners, refugees and asylum seekers at this time in the USA, and fully understanding the system and its shortcomings even at the best of times, WorldPride CANNOT guarantee no detentions. I truly believe that to call this for what it is instead of sweeping it under the rug, masked as resilience, will be a much more powerful resilience, if the above suggestions are followed. What could be more powerful than Queers across the world saying – 'We will not support the new fascist regime of the United States of America' - by attending that venue, but we will rally across the world in solidarity with our American LGBTQI+ family. America was once the bastion of LGBTQI+ rights - make your statements to highlight that this is no longer the case. It is ONLY a boycott that can truly reflect this. And THAT is Global Unity. UPDATE: HERE is one of many stories. How many do we not know about. This Canadian woman was detained without any communications for 12 days in deplorable conditions. Her story os in The Guardian> Watch the videos:








By MELANIE NATHAN Executive Director African Human Rights Coalition Country Conditions expert Witness for LGBTQI+ Asylum Seekers



 
 
 

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