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Housemate talks about Kameny’s home life

Gay activist’s ashes to be laid to rest in Saturday ceremony

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Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part report on Timothy Clark, the sole heir of Frank Kameny’s estate. Visit washingtonblade.com for more of this exclusive Blade interview.

Timothy Clark, gay news, gay politics dc

Timothy Clark was Frank Kameny’s sole heir; the two lived together for almost 19 years in Kameny’s D.C. home, which is now on the market. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

LGBT rights leaders from D.C. and across the country are scheduled to honor the late gay movement leader Franklin E. Kameny Saturday morning, March 3, at an interment ceremony in the city’s historic Congressional Cemetery.

Among those expected to attend is Timothy Lamont Clark, 35, Kameny’s friend, housemate, and heir of his estate. Clark’s 19-year friendship with Kameny was unknown to many of Kameny’s collaborators in politics and gay activism.

In an exclusive interview with the Washington Blade last week, Clark said he came to know a private side of Frank Kameny as the two developed a grandfather-grandson relationship that Clark says uplifted his own life and complimented Kameny’s tireless and rough-and-tumble role as a fighter for LGBT equality for more than 50 years.

Kameny died Oct. 11 at his home in Northwest Washington at the age of 86. Several years before his death friends and associates founded the Kameny Papers Project, which arranged for the papers documenting his life’s work as a recognized architect of the gay rights movement beginning in the early 1960s to be given to the Library of Congress, where they are available to researchers and scholars.

Gay historian David Carter, author of the nationally acclaimed book “Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution,” is writing Kameny’s biography.

Clark told the Blade he has long admired Kameny’s work on the local and national stage in the struggle for gay equality. But he said he shunned the whirlwind of political and movement events and activities that Kameny relished, calling himself “a very private person.”

Clark said he met the gay rights pioneer by phone at the age of 15 when he called the Gay Information hotline that Kameny operated out of his home in 1991.

At a time when he was struggling to accept his sexual orientation coming from a strong religious upbringing, Clark said Kameny gave him support and advice through a series of phone conversations that helped him cope with coming out to his family.

“If it would not have been for Frank maybe I would have been one of those kids committing suicide because I’m gay,” Clark said.

At Kameny’s invitation, Clark said he moved into the basement apartment of Kameny’s house in Northwest Washington in 1997 at the age of 20. Clark said he moved out in 1999 to live with his boyfriend in Virginia before returning to the house between 2002 and 2003, where he remained until Kameny’s death.

Following are excerpts of Clark’s Feb. 21 conversation with the Blade.

Washington Blade: Where were you living in D.C. before you moved in with Frank Kameny?

Timothy Clark: With my grandmother.

Blade: When you met him through the gay hotline he operated, did he help you come out as gay?

Clark: Yeah. When I first called him that’s what that was about. I saw that and he just guided me through that year.

Blade: Over the years that you knew Frank Kameny, did he visit any of your relatives and family members?

Clark: Yes, yes, yes. Frank went to Christmas dinners, Thanksgiving dinners, a cookout when my cousin Milton graduated from high school. Frank was a part of my family. Frank was like a grandfather to me. My grandfather passed away when I was little, but Frank was literally like a grandfather to me. We had our ups and downs, but that’s what families do. That’s what a family does. You go through things like that.

Blade: When you moved into his house, did he make it a rent or a roommate situation?

Clark: No, that’s what I want people to understand. It was a family thing. Even when I would offer things to Frank, Frank did not accept it. We just had a bond. I remember one time that I went to the Safeway. I was shopping and I got Frank – he always ate Stouffer’s for lunch and he always ate Healthy Choice for dinner. I bought Frank the groceries and I will tell you he literally went to the ATM and he was trying to give me the money back. I don’t know what it was about me but he was always like that. He never asked anything from me. I mean I was there for him. Of course, I made his breakfasts and his dinner. And I always cooked – we had – every other Sunday he would come down for dinner with me. I would cook a big dinner. Me, him and my friend Jessica, we would eat together.

Blade: You were like a family member?

Clark: That’s exactly what Frank and I were. It would always be to me as long as I’m here. It wasn’t a tenant. And well Frank even got – can I say it? [He looks at his lawyer, Glen Ackerman. Ackerman says to go ahead and say it.] In the last year or so in his life people were making accusations about me and saying things about me and saying that well, you should be charging him rent and who is this person? And then two cops came to the house and asked Frank was he being extorted. And Frank was really — Frank sat on that couch and said I have not worked all of my life for people in the community to treat him like that. I thought that was very disrespectful because the cops wanted to meet me. Actually, a guy from [D.C. Council member] David Catania’s office came over. He was a black guy my age. He came over and we talked. He didn’t even understand it but he said these things were going around and he wanted to talk to me to better understand that. But Frank was very, very upset by that. He felt as though that should not have taken place.

Blade: Did Frank make it clear to people that you were not a problem and he wanted you to be there?

Clark: Of course, of course.

Blade: Concerning the people who were raising concerns about you, some said they worried that Frank was supporting you financially with money he needed to meet his own household expenses.

Clark: How?

Blade: Some of his friends who didn’t know you said they wondered whether you were working and able to support yourself.

Clark: No, no, no, no. I will answer that. First, my work situation has nothing to do with anybody but me. Frank did not spend his money on Timothy. That’s one thing that I can tell you. When my grandmother passed, I was left money. You can call anyone in my family. I’ve always been well taken care of. I was in a relationship and still am sort of and have always been taken care of. And Frank knew everything about my relationship where everything was coming off.

And Frank did not take any money and spend it on me. I was living with Frank. I don’t have a passport to go out of town. I’m scared of flying. The only place I went was Myrtle Beach. I talked to Frank when I went there. Frank was not spending any money on me. Everything I got, I got through me — my computer, my bed, everything.

I can’t tell you where Frank’s money went. I do know — and he’s probably rolling in his grave — but I do know when I was into his family history and all that, but I know that Frank had money and things in stocks but when the stock market crashed a few years ago, that’s what he told me. As he always used to say, I’ve never been a financial whiz — things like that. I can’t tell you where his money went.

But I can tell you that it wasn’t to keep me because I do not sell myself to anybody. And that’s what that would have been if Frank was taking care of me. There was none of that going on. I have respect for myself. I may battle with my religion and being gay but one thing I would never do is sell myself to no man and no woman. I already have to answer for being gay but not that. I would never, ever use anybody that way because I would never want anyone to do that to me — never.

That’s the only thing that I get upset about. I would never sit back and use Frank, con Frank, do anything like that to him because I have respect for him because if it would not have been for Frank maybe I would have been one of those kids committing suicide because I’m gay. I would never have done that to him at all — at all.

Blade: Most people who knew Frank Kameny politically didn’t know you. Did you ever go to political events with him or was that always his thing?

Clark: His thing. I mean Frank always wanted me included, even one of the last events with the drag queens who gave him an award. He wanted me to go. I just — I’m not that kind of a person. I’m private. Now that he’s gone I feel bad that I never went to anything.

But it was things like when he had a birthday party this past year, his last birthday party, I think it was somewhere near Logan Circle somewhere and he wanted me to go. But I didn’t go. But when he came home like the next day I got a cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. I had two bottles of champagne and I made a little dinner and Frank came down with Jessica and me and celebrated.

Frank was like, he said this is what he was looking forward to. He loved my cooking. That’s why I never went to these things. Frank always said I wasn’t gay enough, that I didn’t care about the cause. He did, but that wasn’t my thing. Frank finally got me to go to the Gay Pride.

Blade: Do you mean the gay pride parade?

Clark: Yeah, the parade. That’s never been my thing. But he finally got me to go.

Blade: Do you think some of the rumors about you started because Frank Kameny was a famous person of sorts and just like other famous people, the public wants to know about the people who are part of their lives? He was known nationally as a preeminent leader for gay rights.

Clark: Right, and so was Whitney Houston.

Blade: That’s right, and everyone wants to know what her ex-husband is doing.

Clark: Yeah, her ex-husband. Frank and I were not lovers. Let’s get that straight… Let me just say something. I think what it is — when those people wanted to meet me — I do not talk about Timothy. I can give you my mother’s telephone number right now and you can ask her things about me. I do not talk about my personal business with anybody. And I think that’s what upset a lot of them.

Blade: Your lawyer has said you will be selling Frank Kameny’s house that you’ve inherited. What are your plans after that? Once the house is sold and this probate process is completed, are you planning on staying in this area? Have you made any decisions on that?

Clark: I’m going to Charlotte. I’m getting away. I’m moving away so I have time to really grieve and really have time to think about the memories I have of Frank. I have not been able to do that.

Blade: What are some of the things you remember of Frank Kameny?

Clark: I will never forget the last time I went to Myrtle Beach and Frank said what are you getting ready to do? Frank had called me because we always talked at 12 o’clock. I said, ‘Frank I’m paying my tab. I’m at the club.’ He said, ‘Timothy, you get back to your hotel. You don’t know those people down there — drinking and galloping around.’ I said, ‘Frank, I am 35 years old.’ I said, ‘Don’t you call me long distance telling me what to do.’ And that was one of my last fun memories of Frank.

Blade: Are you saying he obviously cared for you?

Clark: Yeah, and he fed my dog for me. He called me and said the dog has been fed. You see Frank and me we really got a kick out of each other. That’s what I can talk about. I got a kick out of Frank. I loved him to pieces.

Blade:  Did you mention earlier that you did things together but they were non-political going back to when you first got to know him?

Clark: It was way back and I was still living with my grandmother. My aunt knew somebody at Ticketmaster and she got four tickets to see Patti LaBelle. I said Frank we’re going to see Patti LaBelle. He said I’ve heard of her, but Frank was into Mozart. I said Frank I want you to come. I was sitting here and Frank was sitting here and my aunt was sitting there. I took him to see his first Patti LaBelle concert. And it was so amazing.

So we went to see Patti LaBelle a couple of times. He and I went to Blue’s Alley in Georgetown. Me, him and Jessica, we went to see Eartha Kitt. And then after the show you could go upstairs and Eartha Kitt was there and she said to him, nice to meet you. And he said I’m Frank Kameny, gay activist. I said, ‘Frank not here. She’s not interested in that.’ We just laughed. So he got to shake Eartha Kitt’s hand. Frank and I did things together. The only thing he would not take part in was my gospel concerts. Other than that — he didn’t believe in that — but other than that, me and Frank did a lot of things together.

Me and Frank really shared things together. I know how Frank liked his food, his coffee — full sugar cubes; fill the coffee thing right up here and all the milk. I would make his food about 12 o’clock so about 1 o’clock it was near cold — but we shared things together.

Now, like I told you, we talked about political things, too, like about Obama, how he felt about living to see Obama be president, even though I wasn’t an Obama supporter — I was for Hillary — and things like that. That was us. We would argue about things, about the marriage thing. I said you know Frank sometimes gays want too much. I said we’re getting that much but let’s just let Obama get in and do things. And he argued me down about it but that was us. We shared.

Frank would come down in the basement because I wouldn’t come upstairs — it was a mess he wouldn’t allow me to clean up. I cleaned up and he would get mad. He said it was a mess but it was his mess and he knew where things are. But he would come downstairs and we would watch TV.

Blade: Glen Ackerman, your lawyer, mentioned that you recently moved out of the house after Frank’s death. Was there some kind of problem?

Clark: I had never witnessed anything like that day when Frank passed away. It just scares the living crap out of me. And it’s like just to be there — even though the memories are good, there’s nothing bad, but it’s the fact that I found him like that. It just breaks my heart. I don’t know. It doesn’t sit right with me. It doesn’t feel like home anymore. You know what I mean? There’s no peace any more.

Blade: Your lawyer said you were also troubled over a letter that someone hand-delivered to the house. Was it an anonymous letter?

Clark: Yeah. It was pushed through the thing [mail slot on front door]. It was just right there. And that’s just horrible for anybody to say, no matter what your opinion is, to say that. It said, ‘The nigger got everything.’

Blade: Did it have your name on it?

Clark: No, but whoever it was must have known that situation what’s going on.

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District of Columbia

Dancing protesters denounce Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover

‘This is an attack, not only on free speech, but on artists’

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Protesters demonstrated at the Kennedy Center on Thursday night. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Waiting in the windy cold of a 45-degree February day in Washington, Tara Hoot stood in Washington Circle wearing a canary yellow dress, heels, and a rainbow feather boa. Hoot was waiting, along with about 100 others, although most of them were wearing layers of clothes, for a protest to begin.

“I am here because, well, I’m angry at the situation we find ourselves in,” Hoot told the Blade amid a growing crowd of pro-drag and pro-LGBTQ protesters who gathered behind her. “I’m just so annoyed that this sitting president is attacking a marginalized population. It’s a distraction for the country when everything’s falling apart. The cost of eggs is up there, and inflation is rising, and he’s here attacking a marginalized population in D.C.? It’s like, go do your job, right? It’s immoral what he’s doing, and it’s weak to attack the marginalized population. He’s just showing his own weakness.”

Last week President Trump promised followers that he would remove anyone that “do not share our vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” specifically targeting drag performers at the Kennedy Center. On Wednesday he made that goal a reality by removing the 18 Democratic members on the formerly bipartisan Kennedy Center board, replacing them with Trump loyalists. 

This raised questions of the legality of removing the board, and his seeming attempt to silence First Amendment rights. As a result, the Kennedy Center issued a statement following Trump’s post. 

“Per the Center’s governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Center’s board members,” the statement read. “There is nothing in the Center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”

Of the newly appointed board members, all have stood behind the twice impeached president as he continues to slash the federal government. These loyalists include Richard Grenell, a gay man who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany in his first term; Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and Patricia Duggan, a philanthropist and top GOP donor.

The newly appointed board then elected Trump as chair. 

When asked what Hoot, a local drag icon who has performed at the Kennedy Center, would say to the current board, she was quick with an answer.

“Well darling, they missed their chance!” Hoot said. “I was running for board president of the Kennedy Center, the people’s princess, I would say. Art is gorgeous and diverse and beautiful, and it’s a way that we all tell our stories. The board needs to keep the heart of the Kennedy Center in mind, no matter who their board chair is. They actually need to have a spine and push back when these ideas that art has to be one thing or another, the board needs to push back and keep the Kennedy Center a people’s place for art.”

Brooke N Hymen, a self-described “professional crossdresser” and trans person explained that to them, the changes in public attitude is more than a silencing of free speech, but an erasure of trans people. 

“I find that attacks on drag are not just an attack on my heart, my livelihood, but also a veiled attack on trans people,” Hymen said. “They want to code trans people and what they do in their daily expression as drag as a way to ban trans people. So if we don’t stand up against these attacks on drag, trans people are the first people that will be harmed.” 

Hymen went on to say there are clear and simple ways that the board could offset these actions that directly and negatively impact the LGBTQ community.

“More drag programming, more queer artists, more queer musicians, and more queer casts,” they said. “Tara Hoot was running for board of the Kennedy Center. I don’t know how possible that is under Trump, but I think that it’s a lovely sentiment and something that we should all push for.”

Putting Hoot back in the Kennedy Center was also on the mind of other participants of the protest dance party. John Borstel, a former arts administrator, also said that appointing someone like Hoot to the board would be beneficial—if only to ensure that someone would speak out at the Kennedy Center.

“Get out and let the bipartisan board back in,” Borstel said. “Get out and get people who know the arts back in. Let Tara Hoot in here! The drag queen who’s performed at the Kennedy Center. She’s been outspoken about this. She’s gone on record where the Biden appointed and ousted board members won’t even make a public statement about what happened. They’re afraid for themselves. We’ve got drag queens speaking out. The bureaucrats won’t speak up.”

His sentiment regarding the lack of response from former Kennedy Center officials was echoed in his grievances with other established members of the arts community who didn’t show up at the protest. It did make him proud in a unique way though. 

“I have never been prouder than I am tonight, to be a gay man, to be queer, because it’s the queers who have come out to protest it — but it’s affecting everybody,” Borstel said. “He’s going to cut it all down. Everybody should be out here. I worked in the arts sector for over 30 years here. Where are those folks? But the queers are here. And they’re dancing!” 

Bennett Shoop (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Bennett Shoop, one of the protest organizers with the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, told the crowd at Washington Circle—just before their march down New Hampshire Avenue to the front of the Kennedy Center—that drag is deeply intertwined with Washington’s history and that ignoring it means erasing that history.

“Drag is really important to D.C. and it’s important to D.C. history,” Shoop said to the diverse and growing crowd of people listening. “William Dorsey Swann was the first drag queen in the United States, an enslaved person who called themselves “the queen of drag,” who threw drag balls right here in this city. Drag is a D.C. institution, one that Trump has decided is going to be one of his top targets for his fascist administration. But it’s not just about drag performers at the Kennedy Center. This administration wants to remove all kinds of gender non-conformity and LGBTQ people at large from public life, just like the Nazis did at the Hirschfeld Institute when they burned all of those books.” 

“This is D.C.,” he continued as the crowd cheered him on. “D.C. is the queerest city per capita in the United States. We may not have representation in the federal government, but we do have a fighting spirit…He could pass all the executive orders and do all of the fascist takeovers that he wants, but queer and trans people will still be here. You know, we will still dance, and that dance will long outlive them.”

One of those members of the LGBTQ community who resisted oppression through dance and protest, Shoop explained as he concluded his speech, could be credited with sparking the modern gay rights movement.

“Let us never forget that it was none other than drag king Stormé DeLarverie who inspired the Stonewall uprising that led to the gay liberation revolution of the ‘70s. Drag was a part of our revolution then, and it must be a part of our revolution now. I just want to end with a quote from the namesake of our school, Claudia Jones, who once said ‘that a people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.’ So like our predecessors, let this be the genesis of ours.”

Following speeches by the other organizing groups, the group of 200 or so walked in the middle of the road toward the Kennedy Center singing and occasionally stopping to dance. Onlookers from apartments along the road opened windows waving at the group, occasionally screaming words of support from stories up.  

One of those marching in protest was Jennifer Ives of Germantown, Md. She was bundled up in a coat and hat while holding a sign, dancing along the protest route.

“I’m here because I want to support the trans and gay communities,” Ives told the Blade. “I believe that soldiers should get their hormone treatment, their therapy, their pills. I believe that Trump should get out of the Kennedy Center. I believe that right now, there’s an assault on the trans community, and we just can’t stand for it. So we gotta protest, and we gotta dance.”

Another participant, dressed in full drag—from voluminous black and red hair to a sparkly, tinsel-covered suit and thick white heels—emphasized that no matter what executive orders are signed or what bans pass through state legislatures, LGBTQ people have always been here and always will be.

“The main reason is to show that even though these actions have been taken, and though they want to strip us of our power, that we’re still here,” said drag performer Rhiannon LLC. “I think an important thing that stuck with me after the election, even though we lost, Kamala Harris, her main message was, we’re not going back. And if we let that message die, then we kind of go along with it. So to be here and to be out, it’s awesome.”

They continued, saying that if they had the ability to say one thing to the Kennedy Center board, it would be two words: “Have integrity. Although Trump may be there for the next four years, you are there after. These actions will follow you, and your job right now is to support the arts. So support the arts.”

One of the last speeches of the night was delivered directly in front of the Kennedy Center, its marble walls and gold columns providing a final backdrop for the protest. Pussy Noir, another local drag legend, was handed a mic to wrap up the night. 

“This is an intense time for all of us,” said Noir, who currently has a residency with the Kennedy Center REACH program and performs in drag across the city. “I don’t know if you know this about me, but I’m the main drag queen that brought drag to the Kennedy Center, and with many other drag queens in this city, helped establish it as a real art form.”

Noir took a moment to look out at the crowd, their faces illuminated by the glow of the Kennedy Center, before finishing with a message of resilience and solidarity for all drag artists — those currently protesting in front of the Kennedy Center and those performing in hole-in-the-wall gay bars across the country.

“So no matter what anyone says, If you are a drag performer, you are an artist. If you support drag, you are supporting artists. Right now this is an attack, not only on free speech, but on artists, on small business owners, and I think that’s something that everyone in this country can understand. We must be supportive of each other and kind to each other. More than anything, that is the only way that we can fight this.”

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Virginia

Va. House approves Ebbin resolution to repeal marriage amendment

Proposal passed with Republican support

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(Bigstock photo)

The Virginia House of Delegates on Thursday approved gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria)’s resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The resolution passed by a 58-33 vote margin. State Del. Chris Obenshain (R-Montgomery County) is among the Republicans who supported it.

“Glad to report that SJ 249, my constitutional amendment to protect marriage equality, has passed the House of Delegates with bipartisan support,” said Ebbin after the vote.

The House last month approved a similar resolution that gay state Del. Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax County) introduced.

Voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin last year signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.

The General Assembly in 2021 approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment. It must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.

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District of Columbia

Protests against Trump executive orders to take place in D.C. on Thursday

Demonstrations will happen outside attorney general’s office, Kennedy Center

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The Kennedy Center (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Trump-Vance administration has taken an aggressive stance against the LGBTQ community by passing executive order after executive order that restricts the ability of transgender people to exist. In response, LGBTQ activists in Washington will take to the streets on Thursday to protest the slew of actions the White House has undertaken.

In back-to-back protests, demonstrators will rally against a federal ban on gender-affirming care for minors, followed by a protest at the Kennedy Center condemning a newly imposed ban on drag performances at the venue.

The first protest of the day will take place outside the D.C. Attorney General’s Office (400 6th St., N.W.) to oppose Trump’s executive order banning gender-affirming care for minors. Originally scheduled for the previous day but postponed due to snow, the protest will run from 12-2 p.m. Organizers aim to pressure D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb and Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Wayne Turnage to join 15 other states in issuing official public guidance against the order and declaring it unlawful. 

Under the D.C. Human Rights Act, passed by the D.C. City Council in 1977, discrimination based on gender identity and expression is explicitly prohibited. The law defines gender identity and expression as “a gender-related identity, appearance, expression, or behavior of an individual, regardless of the individual’s assigned sex at birth.” Trump’s executive order, officially titled the “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation” order, directly violates this act by banning all forms of gender-affirming healthcare for trans youth, effectively preventing them from accessing medical care necessary for their transition.

The 15 other states’ that objected to the order include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

This protest was organized by the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America Bodily Autonomy Working Group, which focuses on “the fight for queer, trans, and feminist liberation and against systems of patriarchal capitalist oppression that devalue women and LGBTQIA+ people, under the guidance of reproductive justice.” 

Organizers encourage protesters to bring friends and signs to get their voices heard. 

The second protest of the day will take place in Washington Circle in between the Foggy Bottom and West End neighborhoods to protest Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center. Trump removed all 18 members that former President Joe Biden appointed to the Kennedy Center board and has started installing Trump loyalists into their roles. 

The sudden board shake-up was first announced on Truth Social, Trump’s social media platform, as a response to what he called the board’s lack of “vision for a Golden Age in arts and culture.” Many found this statement puzzling, given that Trump has openly admitted he has never attended a performance at the nonpartisan arts center.

The “Trans & Queer Dance Party and Protest,” which will begin at 6:30 p.m. in the circle only a few blocks from the Kennedy Center, is an attempt by six DC based organizations to show the Trump administration that “as D.C. residents, we say the Kennedy Center is our house, and we’re not going to let fascists tell us what to do or censor our artists.” The collaborating organizations encourage supporters of art, drag, the Kennedy Center, and the LGBTQ community to show up in “our best (warm) looks” to let the administration know that D.C. will not be silenced.

Richard Grenell, a gay man who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany in his first term, was given the title of “interim executive director” of the Kennedy Center, tasked with realigning the arts center to better fit Trump’s agenda. The announcement initially caused confusion because before this announcement, there had never been an acting director, but a president elected by the board.  

His agenda so far includes banning any performances in the famous performing arts center, including “Dancing Queens Drag Brunch,” “A Drag Salute to Divas,” and “Dixie’s Tupperware Party,” which were put on at the Kennedy Center and aimed at adults. 

This protest was organized through a collaboration of six local left-leaning organizations. They include the DC Dyke March, Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, Occupation Free DC, Good Trouble Cooperative, and Claudia Jones School. 

For more information on the trans gender-affirming care protest, visit https://actionnetwork.org/events/schwalb-trans-rally or https://mdcdsa.org/. For more information on the Kennedy Center dance party protest, visit any of the organizers’ Instagram pages.

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