W hen Phoenix’s LGBTQ+ community walks into Heritage Square this weekend, they’ll be met with a celebration of the city’s queer culture. DJs, musicians, drag queens and other talents will fill the area for “Arizona’s Greatest Street Fair” — the 23rd annual Rainbows Festival, which Phoenix Pride hosts. It’s the second- largest annual LGBTQ+ event in the state, behind only the annual Phoenix Pride Festival in October. Some parties you throw to celebrate a love of life. In most of those 23 years, Rainbows has been exactly that. Other parties exhibit a spirit of defiance — a note that this year’s Rainbows Fest will strike simply by existing. As some 25,000 people gather in downtown Phoenix to enjoy a weekend of craft cocktails, local food trucks, and more than 150 exhibits and booths, Phoenix Pride organizers are keenly aware of how urgently their community needs a safe space amid rollbacks of LGBTQ+ rights under the current administration. After President Donald Trump won in November, “there was immediate concern about what might be coming,” said Jeremy Helfgot, the spokes- person for Phoenix Pride. Despite the federal government’s targeting of the LGBTQ+ community, Helfgot said Phoenix Pride is holding firm. “This community is not going to be quiet, and this community is going to continue that fight and redouble its efforts in that fight,” Helfgot told Phoenix New Times. “But it will not be marginalized. It will not be erased. Period.” Since Trump won November’s election by a scant 1.5% of the popular vote, Phoenix’s LGBTQ+ community has braced for a cyclone. Parents of trans kids have created detailed folders full of essential medical and identi- fying information. Queer teachers have spoken with district lawyers about how to protect themselves from backlash. Families have had roundtable discussions about potentially leaving the country. Now, two months into his Trump’s administration, these Arizonans are in the eye of a storm. The administration slashed federal discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ individuals, leaving community members vulnerable to discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in such government programs as housing, welfare and employment. The administra- tion has threatened to pull funding from institutions that rely on diversity, equity and inclusion programs to ensure balance and care in their hiring practices. In turn, many corporations, universities and local governments have shrunk from the moment, axing their DEI programs and generally marginalizing already marginal- ized people. And Trump has attacked the trans community, which has included funding threats surrounding trans athletes and gender-affirming care for minors under 19, as well as banning transgender people from serving openly in the U.S. Armed Forces. For LGBTQ+ organizations in Phoenix, it has been a moment to come together. Organizations have hosted “know your rights” workshops, group therapy sessions, community discussions, town halls and connected others with social services resources. If you’re coming out to the party this weekend, you should consider what you, too, can do to help them ride out the storm. How Phoenix Pride is navigating 2025 Phoenix Pride is “continuing to watch the landscape with tremendous vigilance,” Helfgot said. That has meant connecting with “partners in the public safety world and intelligence space” to “ensure that our events are safe and secure and proceeding without threat.” Security and safety remain a large area of focus. Another is funding. As the Trump administration has widened its crusade against DEI efforts, companies across the country have stepped back from supporting Pride events. Several of San Francisco Pride’s biggest past sponsors — including Comcast, Anheuser-Busch and the beverage company Diageo — aren’t providing funding for the event this year. Twin Cities Pride, Hampton Roads Pride, WorldPride and Pride Toronto have also seen corporate funds vanish. So far, Phoenix Pride — or at least Rainbows Festival — hasn’t been hit by the same funding pulls. “Corporate and community partners have continued to be incredibly supportive,” Helfgot said. For Rainbows Festival, several national corpora- tions, including Jack Daniels, Sprouts and Coca- Cola, have continued Phoenix’s LGBTQ+ community rides out Trump storm >> p 15 “THIS COMMUNITY IS NOT GOING TO BE QUIET,” —Jeremy Helfgot Illustration by Miki Rose
