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   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-   
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