1. PRIDE MARCHES GRAPPLE WITH POLICE INVOLVEMENT: Pride month culminates this weekend with marches in New York, San Francisco, and Chicago, and one of the main topics surrounding this year’s events is whether or not police belong at Pride. Earlier this month, Toronto banned police from its Pride parade; Vancouver said police could march if they weren’t in uniform; and in Minneapolis, police decided not to march, with the reason being community opposition. On Sunday, L.G.B.T. activists in New York will hold an alternative march without police officers and corporate sponsors. The New York Times: “Regardless of whether organizers invite police officers to participate, they are obligated to provide security for public events like marches. For decades, activists frustrated by the presence of police officers, politicians, and corporate sponsors at Pride marches have organized their own events. The oldest may be the Dyke March, a protest started in 1993 by the Lesbian Avengers in Washington. Dyke Marches are now held annually in cities around the world. … But a poll conducted this month by Whitman Insight Strategies and BuzzFeed News found that 79 percent of L.G.B.T. Americans welcomed police participation in Pride events, including parades. Only 8 percent said they opposed including the police, and 13 percent said they did not have strong feelings either way.”
2. FIREWORKS PROVIDER DOESN’T WANT TRUMP TO TURN FOURTH OF JULY EVENT POLITICAL: Bruce Zoldan, C.E.O. of Phantom Fireworks, donated $75,000 of pyrotechnics to president Donald Trump’s Salute to America event, taking place July 4. Zoldan said he would be disappointed if Trump turned the event into a political rally, as many critics are concerned will happen. Newsweek: “Zoldan said he and Grucci Fireworks, the other donor for the event, made their offer to the event's organizers quickly after Trump's announcement because they knew it would be good public relations for the pyrotechnics industry. He subsequently met with Trump in May as part of a general meeting with business leaders from a wide range of industries to discuss the impact of the president's trade tariffs, particularly those imposed on China. The American Pyrotechnics Association of which Zoldan is a member and former director, is lobbying Trump on his tariffs, urging him to do a deal with the Chinese before further escalation in the trade war, which is set to hit the fireworks industry hard.”
3. WASHINGTON ALLOWS COUPLES TO OFFICIATE THEIR OWN WEDDINGS: The D.C. Marriage Bureau allowed self-uniting marriages, in which couples officiate the weddings themselves, in 2014. But now, Washington-based wedding planners are seeing a rise in popularity of these ceremonies, which are legal in a couple of states. Washington Post: “Self-uniting weddings are quick, often lasting less than half an hour; cheap, costing just $45 for the marriage license application; and simple. All couples must do is show up at the courthouse with government-issued IDs. … For Charles and Alyssa Wang, who married in a self-uniting ceremony in the District in May 2018, too many guests was the problem, not the solution. The Wangs wanted to marry as simply as possible before they moved to Lima, Peru — where they still live — for Charles’s work with the Foreign Agricultural Service. They planned to keep the ceremony small and ask a friend to officiate, obtaining a license online if necessary.”