The March for Drag was led by D.C. drag artists. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Local drag artists and their supporters gathered for a march from Washington Circle to the Kennedy Center on March 8 to protest the Trump-Vance administration’s anti-transgender policies and the decisions made by the President Donald Trump-appointed Kennedy Center board of trustees.
The March for Drag began with a rally at Washington Circle near George Washington University.
One of the organizers of the March for Drag was drag king Lord Henry. The local performer addressed the gathered activists at Washington Circle.
“We demand that the Kennedy Center Board reinstate queer programming, including but not limited to drag-oriented workshops and shows and any other equity and DEI initiatives at the Kennedy Center,” Lord Henry said. “We want to force Congress to drop the multiple attempts at criminalizing gender non-conformity, including Trump’s executive order conflating sex and gender and the attack on drag artists through budget amendments, denying funds to organizations supporting and protecting this queer art form.”
“We care deeply about D.C. home rule,” Lord Henry concluded. “If home rule goes away, drag goes away in D.C.”
Other speakers at the event included the drag performers Crystal Edge, Indiana Bones, Cake Pop!, Tara Hoot, Mari Con Carne, Blaq Dinamyte, Mx.Noir, and Ricky Rosé.
“Drag is not just an invaluable form of self expression, but is a means of self discovery,” drag artist Brooke N Hymen told the crowd. “And not only are our livelihoods and artistry as drag artists under attack by the current administration, but the very existence of trans people as well.”
Brooke N Hymen, who identified himself as a trans man to the gathered protesters, continued discussing the effect of Trump’s policies on trans people.
“Beyond the executive orders meant to erase trans people from public life, Trump and his cronies want to define living in a trans body and expressing yourself in a way that aligns with your gender identity as ‘doing drag,’” Brooke N Hymen continued. “So, by attacking drag and attempts to outlaw drag on local and national levels, Trump is simultaneously attempting to outlaw trans people’s very existence.”
Sister Sybil of the D.C. Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence was slated to give a non-religious benediction before the march.
“This evening as we walk down the streets of our capital city, we are walking in the footsteps of our queer ancestors who fought tooth and nail for every right that we have ever attained,” Sister Sybil said.
“And now, one of our oldest and most sacred art forms, the art of drag, is again under attack,” Sister Sybil continued. “Our queer culture is now on the chopping block. And the only political party with any positioning to do anything about it has abandoned us: The Democratic Party.”
“But we have been here before,” Sister Sybil said. “Our culture and our community has never known a time without governmental targeting and neglect based on who we love, how we look, artistic expression, or even who we know ourselves to be, regardless of our birth certificate.”
“We must reclaim our community wisdom,” Sister Sybil told the crowd. “Our queer ancestors gave us tools to protest the indignities of heteronormative oppression. They gave us art, dance, disco, ballroom. They gave us drag as we know it. Most importantly, they gave us a love for our queer culture and a pride for being who we are. They loved and supported each other. They acted up. They organized, marched, lobbied, and tonight, after we are done marching, we must continue to do those things.”
Drag artist Mari Con Carne spoke at the rally in Washington Circle before the march. The local performer said, “As our queer ancestors have shouted out before, our community has always been here, we have always been queer, but they have yet to get used to it.”
“It is time we stop asking for their approval for our existence and it’s time we stop looking at ourselves as something to get used to,” Mari Con Carne continued.
“Our ancestors have always had to fight against a government that actively tries to erase us,” Mari Con Carne said to the gathered activists. “Think of the Stonewall riots, the AIDS epidemic protests and the queer liberation movement. Now it’s time to look up to them and see the fight for queer acknowledgment and acceptance only stopped because we wanted the system to get used to us.”
“It is now time for us to take our queer power and fight back,” Mari Con Carne concluded. “It is now time to defend our trans siblings and is now time that we stop wanting to get used to and begin fighting for acknowledgment and acceptance.”
The activists then marched down New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., chanting slogans and waving flags along the way. There was no police escort or presence in the march, yet activists were met with a small line of Kennedy Center security officers when they arrived near the front of the building.
The crowd stopped on the access road in front of the Kennedy Center and a second set of speeches began. A number of busses and cars attempting to access the venue were temporarily inconvenienced.
Cake Pop!, a well-known local drag performer and DJ, addressed the crowd gathered in front of the Center.
“The reprehensible leadership of Donald Trump and his supporters isn’t just about politics anymore,” Cake Pop! said. “It’s a full-on assault on free speech, on art and on self-expression. The takeover of the Kennedy Center is not just a political move, it’s a direct attack on every single artist, on queerness itself, and on anyone who dares to exist outside of his narrow, hateful vision of America.”
“We are living proof that no matter how much they try to erase us, silence us or shame us, we are still here,” Cake Pop! continued. “We are still fighting and we will not back down, because drag is a protest. Drag is resilience and drag is the very embodiment of joy in the face of oppression.”
Blaq Dinamyte, a drag king performer and president of the activist organization Qommittee, spoke in front of the Kennedy Center when addressing the gathered activists.
“What’s happening isn’t new,” Blaq Dinamyte said. “Throughout history, we’ve seen this before. The Nazi’s ban what they label as ‘degenerate art’ anything that didn’t fit their narrow vision of culture: Art that showed freedom, showed difference, complexity, all banned. Now it’s us.”
“When the government bans art from our national stage, they are not just attacking performers: They are attacking ideas,” Blaq Dinamyte continued. “They target drag because we are liberation. Our art makes a world where you can be who you are: Whoever that is. We are a threat to governments that would want to control how we live and express ourselves. Drag performers have always been at the front lines. Here in D.C., we’re seeing this play out on federal property. These bans hit our communities first, but they never stop with us.”
Following the march and rally, participants were invited to a dance party at the LGBTQ establishment As You Are.
“NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Feb. 10 as part of an announcement of his appointment of Ric Grenell to serve as the interim executive director of the Kennedy Center.
Trump then announced on Feb. 12 on Truth Social that he had been “unanimously voted” Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Kennedy Center.
The Kennedy Center cancelled a performance of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington that was to be held in May.
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