June 25, 2025, 11:31 a.m.
Before the first Pride Month under President Trump’s second term could come to an end, Senate Democrats created some colorful mischief at the red-, white-, and blue-lit Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Trump took over as chairman of the performing arts center after removing Democratic appointees from the center’s bipartisan board in February. He promised to usher in a “Golden Age in Arts and Culture” and cease “woke” performances and drag shows.
In an act of rebellion, Democratic Sens. John Hickenlooper (CO), Brian Schatz (HI), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jacky Rosen (NV), and Tammy Baldwin (WI) wielded their congressional powers to host Love is Love, a celebration of LGBTQ+ culture through song, spoken word, and drag, alongside Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller on Monday evening in the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center’s REACH expansion.
The performance, directed by couple Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley, was weeks in the making, but announced on the morning of its one-night show. Seller produced the concert after canceling a 2026 run of Hamilton at the Kennedy Center earlier this year. The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C., who saw a scheduled concert at the center get canceled in February, would finally get their day in the spotlight.
Kennedy Center President Rick Grenell, who wasn’t in attendance, called the center’s sole Pride event a “political stunt” in a social media statement as the show began in the rainbow-lit Justice Forum. Nevertheless, Democrats persisted.
The impromptu variety show had its occassional hiccups, but still drew laughs and cheers from roughly 70 attendees and their Democratic hosts. Hickenlooper became a running gag in the show as the “junior governor” of Colorado. Fun Home writer Lisa Kron told Warren that “lesbians love you.” Baldwin laughingly recorded Tony-nominated actress Beth Malone’s performance of the lesbian-centric “An Old-Fashioned Love Story” from The Wild Party on her iPhone. Unfortunately, Schatz missed out on the fun.
Several performers did have choice words for the Kennedy Center’s chairman. Seller, reading the words of playwright Moisés Kaufman, said “the man who now directs this cultural compass … has shown open disdain for the arts.” Hedwig and the Angry Inch writer John Cameron Mitchell wished for a locust invasion upon the “commander-in-brief.” Kron, reciting a monologue by playwright Harvey Fierstein, referred to Trump as “that Philistine currently ripping up the White House Rose Garden.”
The hour-and-a-half show ended with a finale from the company, performing a modified, MAGA-unfriendly rendition of “One Day More” from Les Misérables—one of the president’s favorite Broadway productions.
“Don’t mess with homosexuals because we’ve seen your kind before,” the ensemble belted. “One more day, one more gay, one gay more!”
— Nicholas Anastácio
nanastacio@nationaljournal.com
