An event by the International Pride Orchestra this week swung from classical Gershwin favorites to choral patriotism to high drag in a rebuff to Donald Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center and its subsequent snub of the LBGTQ+ ensemble.
The spirited celebration of WorldPride, the peripatetic biennial international festival in support of LGBTQ+ rights which kicks off this month and is taking place in Washington DC, was staged instead at the Strathmore Music Center in Maryland, just north of the capital.
Sequin-clad drag queen Peaches Christ acted as host and New York drag queen Thorgy Thor played a violin solo to Beyoncé’s Crazy in Love to an audience of 1,166 people.
The orchestra had hoped to play at the Kennedy Center, Washington’s premier performing arts center, but shortly after returning to the White House, Donald Trump pledged on social media that there would be, in all-caps: “No more drag shows, or other anti-American propaganda” at the public-private arts space.
The Trump administration has issued executive orders limiting transgender rights, banned transgender people from serving in the armed forces, and rescinded anti-discrimination policies for LGBTQ+ people as part of a campaign to repeal diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Michael Roest, conductor and founder of the International Pride Orchestra, a non-profit, reminded the audience that “people don’t feel safe to live and love openly”.
“That is the reason why we have this orchestra,” he said.
During the event, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington sang American the Beautiful, and a pianist, Sara Davis Buechner, who is transgender, dazzled while leading the orchestra on grand piano in the Gershwin favorite Rhapsody in Blue.
Both Stars and Stripes and rainbow flags were hoisted at the close.
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Trump in February fired the leadership of the Kennedy Center, named himself chair and put a loyalist in charge.
The center then sent Roest a message that said: “We are not in a position at this time to advance a contract,” according to an email chain seen by Reuters, after months of prior negotiations. Considering themselves “disinvited”, event organizers began looking for alternative venues and the Strathmore offered its space, an orchestra spokesperson said.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson referred Reuters to an X post from leadership saying it had not actually canceled any shows.
