Georgetown Students Protest Trump’s Anti-LGBTQ Kennedy Center Policies

Students at Georgetown University are protesting recent changes made at the Kennedy Center, including a ban on drag shows and the cancellation of several World Pride events. 

The Kennedy Center, lit up in rainbow colors for Pride Month in years past. Not so this year.

Early in his term, President Donald Trump made several personnel and programmatic changes to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including naming himself president of the Center’s board and altering programming to eliminate diversity initiatives.  The Georgetown Voice reports that as a result of Trump’s leadership,several Pride-themed events were consequently cancelled, including a collaborative performance by the Gay Men’s Chorus and the National Symphony Orchestra and the touring children’s musical Finn, widely interpreted as a queer allegory. Additionally, Trump banned all drag performances. 

Numerous drag performers and members of the local Washington,DC community–including students from Jesuit institution Georgetown University–are pushing back against these changes and affirming the power of art to reflect reality, especially queer reality. 

Georgetown student Gisell Campos , co-president of GUPride, echoed these sentiments: 

“When institutions bigger than Georgetown not only separate themselves from drag but actively condemn it, it sends an alarming message to the queer community – it tells us they do not want our identities in their spaces, even if our intention is to spread joy and indulge creativity.” 

Stacie Brensilver Berman, Clinical Assistant Professor in New York University’s Steinhardt’s Department of Teaching and Learning and a leading scholar on LGBTQ+ history in education, remarked:

“Definitely for the LGBTQ community, but for so many marginalized communities – the arts have been a way of finding yourself. The Kennedy Center has long been a hub for that in D.C. Something that was a jewel is now something people are moving away from. Anytime there’s a chilling effect on the arts, I feel like that speaks so much to larger concerns in our society.”

Drag performers are emerging as among the most outspoken critics of Trump’s recent changes, utilizing their platforms to educate and advocate. One drag queen, Lil Miss Hot Mess, stated:

“We know what we’re up against, we know what we’re doing, and we know where our strengths are. The way that you address that is not to fight back in a violent way, or to give into their tactics, but to hold your ground – dig your heels into your own values, principles, and sense of self – and be steadfast and don’t give in.”

Inspired by drag performers’ resistance and motivated by the power of queer performance and art, many queer students at Georgetown have united against Trump’s recent actions. “Performance art has tight connections to the queer community,” said Campos. “The queer community has a lot to say, and performance art says a lot. It’s a circle of power and resistance that will only continue to turn. We’ve made it work before, and we will continue to do so.”

Within the efforts of these students and drag performers, the Holy Spirit can surely be seen at work: bringing life, strength, beauty, and joy, and stirring their hearts to advocate for justice. 

—Phoebe Carstens, New Ways Ministry, June 18, 2025