Kennedy Center's events scheduled for LGBTQ+ pride celebration canceled, organizers say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Organizers and the Kennedy Center have canceled a week’s 
worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s World Pride 
festival in Washington, D.C., amid a shift in priorities and the ousting 
of leadership at one of the nation’s premier cultural institutions.

Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride 
schedule, which had been planned for June 5 to 8, told The Associated 
Press that their events had been quietly canceled or moved to other 
venues. And in the wake of the cancellations, Washington’s Capital Pride 
Alliance has disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center.

“We are a resilient community, and we have found other avenues to 
celebrate,” said June Crenshaw, deputy director of the alliance. “We are 
finding another path to the celebration … but the fact that we have to 
maneuver in this way is disappointing.”

The Kennedy Center’s website still lists Tapestry of Pride on its website 
with a general description and a link to the World Pride site. There are 
no other details.

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request from the AP for comment.

The move comes on the heels of massive changes at the Kennedy Center, with 
President Donald Trump firing both the president and chairman in early 
February. Trump replaced most of the board with loyalists, who then 
elected him the new Kennedy Center chairman.


The World Pride event, held every two years, starts in just under a month 
— running from May 17 through June 8 with performances and celebrations 
planned across the capital city. But Trump administration policies on 
transgender rights and comments about Kennedy Center drag performances 
have sparked concern about what kind of reception attendees will receive.

“I know that D.C. as a community will be very excited to be hosting World 
Pride, but I know the community is a little bit different than the 
government,” said Michael Roest, founder and director of the International 
Pride Orchestra, which had its June 5 performance at the Kennedy Center 
abruptly canceled within days of Trump’s takeover.

Roest told the AP he was in the final stages of planning the Kennedy 
Center performance after months of emails and Zoom calls. He was waiting 
on a final contract when Trump posted on social media Feb. 7 of the 
leadership changes and his intention to transform the Kennedy Center’s 
programming.

Immediately the Kennedy Center became nonresponsive, Roest said. On Feb. 
12, he said, he received a one-sentence email from a Kennedy Center 
staffer stating, “We are no longer able to advance your contract at this 
time.”

“They went from very eager to host to nothing,” he said. “We have not 
since heard a word from anybody at the Kennedy Center, but that’s not 
going to stop us.”

In the wake of the cancellation, Roest said he managed to move the 
International Pride Orchestra performance to the Strathmore theater in 
nearby Bethesda, Maryland.

Crenshaw said some other events, including a drag story time and a display 
of parts of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, would be moved to the World Pride 
welcome center in Chinatown.

Monica Alford, a veteran arts and culture journalist and event planner, 
was scheduled to organize an event June 8 as part of Tapestry of Pride, 
but said she also saw communication abruptly end within days of Trump’s 
takeover.

Alford has a long history with the Kennedy Center and organized the first-
ever drag brunch on the Kennedy Center rooftop in 2024, and said she 
regarded the institution — and its recent expansion known as The Reach — 
as “my home base” and “a safe space for the queer community”

She said she was still finalizing the details of her event, which she 
described as “meant to be family-friendly, just like the drag brunch was 
family-friendly and classy and sophisticated.”

She said she mourns the loss of the partnership she nurtured with the 
Kennedy Center.

“We’re doing our community a disservice — not just the queer community but 
the entire community,” she said.

Roest said he never received an explanation as to why the performance was 
canceled so late in the planning stages. He said his orchestra would no 
longer consider performing at the Kennedy Center, and he believes most 
queer artists would make the same choice.

“There would need to be a very, very public statement of inclusivity from 
the administration, from that board, for us to consider that,” he said. 
“Otherwise it is a hostile performance space.”

https://apnews.com/article/world-pride-kennedy-center-trump-lgbtq-
69fbf0ca20c2f9c36f49f8311f8bf1b6