The Kennedy Center Cancels Pride Month Schedule

Numerous WorldPride festival events have been withdrawn as the Trump administration continues to influence the Center’s programming

The Kennedy Center has canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights for this summer’s WorldPride festival in Washington. 

Initially planned for June 5–8, 2025, several programs in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule were canceled or moved to other venues, AP News reported. While the center’s website for the event is still accessible, no concert dates at the venue are listed. 

These recent cancellations join multiple others by the center since its leadership turnover with President Trump as chair, including the Gays Men Chorus of Washington, the children’s musical Finn, and The International Pride Orchestra. 

Held biennially, WorldPride is running from May 17 to June 8 this year with performances and celebrations across the capital city, however, amid 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.”

Pride events like a display of parts of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, will now be moved to the WorldPride welcome center in Chinatown, Crenshaw said. 

Additionally, veteran arts and culture journalist Monica Alford, who presented the first drag brunch on the Kennedy Center rooftop in 2024, was organizing an event on June 8 for Tapestry of Pride before the cancellations. 

Having long regarded the center as a “home base” and “a safe space for the queer community,” Alford added that the center’s cancellations are “doing our community a disservice — not just the queer community but the entire community.”