Washington DC—Don’t be fooled about who’s really in charge at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC. The Drag and Trans community put on their own street show of resistance right out in front of the arts center Thursday night. A Drag Queen entourage led street dances and a protest in response to Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center Board.
Hundreds of supporters joined them despite a blustery cold windy night as they danced and protested the Trump regime oppression of the Trans community from rights to access healthcare to erasure of their identity. The ouster of the venerable arts center Board, and Trump’s own appointment as their Board chairman was the lightning rod for this street action.
One could no doubt hear the raucous protest inside the nearby Watergate Complex as they shouted “Whose Streets? Our Streets!” and “Whose City? Our City!” It was just a preview of what’s likely to come. And after two weeks of agency takeovers and takedowns, DC needed a little street dancing to relieve some of the tension. But this is also a serious matter especially given the nature of the targeting of a community already struggling with high rates of hate crime and prejudicial treatment.
The Drag Resistance action was in part a response to the Trump Regime takeover of the Board and subsequent replacement of its Board members. (Does anyone really believe its still an administration after two weeks of over a dozen agency takeovers?) A new Board appointed by Trump consisting of his political supporters took over its operations. Up to this point and ever since the Kennedy Center opening in 1972 there has never been a political ouster and takeover of the arts center Board.
The Trump regime has adopted policies designed to erase the Trans community. It has removed the option of Trans identity from passports, it is attempting to eliminate medical care for those in transition, blocking entry for Trans community into the military, and this week the Nation Park Service removed references to Trans and Queer from its Stonewall Memorial website.
If Trump wanted to pick a fight with a community he is bound to lose against then the Drag and Trans Community is it. No other community is as much skilled in the art of shade and street fighting strategies, and he and his political appointees in the arts center Board are likely to end up with a figurative fat lip and bruised ego.
Why does a non-political venerable institution like the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts matter anyway? It’s the last place anyone would try a corporate raid styled takeover—that is anyone except an authoritarian enamored with world dictators who feels threatened by anyone or anything that stands up to him.
Popular Drag Queen Tara Hoot joined in the resistance march along with the street dancing and vowed she’d be the one running things there when everything is said and done. She’s running for its Board Chair and although it’s a long shot as to whether or not she’s going to be end up as Board chair, the fact that she’s in the running for it will likely catch on and gain a lot of support as the Drag and Trans resistance movement begins in earnest against the Trump-Musk presidency.
Drag Queens and the Black Trans Community have a rich history in the U.S. fighting aggression and standing up to bullies and that history goes way back to the June 1969 Stonewall ‘Riots’ on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, New York City.
On June 23, 1969, NYC police raided the Stonewall Inn Bar, a popular place the LGBTQ Community went for drinks, dancing and fun—only it was run by the mob without a liquor license. The police hard-arrested and publicly abused patrons and this infuriated the LGBTQ community. The next six days and nights were back to back skirmishes, leading to the birth of the LGBTQ movement. Stonewall is also why Pride month is held in June.
This chapter of the resistance fight is just being written and still on its first pages. And it’s going to be a show one won’t need high-priced Kennedy Center tickets to watch. So stay tuned because it will be a history lesson you’ll not want to miss in the performing arts of resistance. It’s going to be one hell of a show.
