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Kennedy Center cancels LGBTQ+ Pride events to align with new priorities after Trump fired center’s leadership

Kennedy Center cancels LGBTQ+ Pride events to align with new priorities after Trump fired center’s leadership

The Kennedy Center has canceled a week’s worth of events celebrating LGBTQ+ people for the World Pride festival in Washington, D.C., amid a change in focus and the Trump administration firing the center’s leadership. Multiple artists and producers involved in the center’s Tapestry of Pride schedule said their events had been quietly canceled or transferred to other venues. The Tapestry of Pride was planned for June 5 to 8 before the cancellation. Washington’s Capital Pride Alliance disassociated itself from the Kennedy Center in response to the canceled events. “We are a resilient community, and we have found other avenues to celebrate,” the alliance’s deputy director June Crenshaw told The Associated Press. “We are finding another path to the celebration … but the fact that we have to maneuver in this way is disappointing.” TRUMP FIRES KENNEDY CENTER BOARD MEMBERS CITING DRAG SHOWS, APPOINTS HIMSELF CHAIRMAN The Kennedy Center’s website still has a section for Tapestry of Pride with a general description and a link to the World Pride site. No other information is provided on the website. The cancellations come in the wake of massive changes at the Kennedy Center, including President Donald Trump firing both the president and chairman in early February. Trump replaced most of the board with loyalists, who subsequently elected him the new chairman of the institution. The World Pride event is held every two years and this year’s event runs from May 17 through June 8 with performances and celebrations planned across the nation’s capital. But concerns arose about what kind of reception attendees will receive due to Trump administration policies targeting transgender people and comments about Kennedy Center drag performances. “I know that D.C. as a community will be very excited to be hosting World Pride, but I know the community is a little bit different than the government,” said Michael Roest, founder and director of the International Pride Orchestra, which had its June 5 performance at the Kennedy Center canceled just days after Trump’s took control of the institution. Roest told The Associated Press he was in the final stages of planning the performance at the center. He was waiting on a final contract when Trump revealed on Feb. 7 the leadership changes and his plans to amend the institution’s programming. The center then became unresponsive, he said. On Feb. 12, Roest said he received a one-sentence email from a Kennedy Center staffer saying that they “are no longer able to advance your contract at this time.” “They went from very eager to host to nothing,” he told The Associated Press. “We have not since heard a word from anybody at the Kennedy Center, but that’s not going to stop us.” After the cancellation, Roest said he was able to move the International Pride Orchestra performance to the Strathmore theater in nearby Bethesda, Maryland. Roest said he was never given an explanation for why the performance was canceled so late in the planning stages. He said his orchestra would no longer consider performing at the Kennedy Center and that most queer artists would likely make the same choice. “There would need to be a very, very public statement of inclusivity from the administration, from that board, for us to consider that,” he said. “Otherwise it is a hostile performance space.” Crenshaw said some other events, including a drag story time and a display of parts of the AIDS Memorial Quilt, would be transferred to the World Pride welcome center in Chinatown. SEATTLE PRIDE FACES BUDGET SHORTFALL AS CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS DWINDLE AMID ANTI-DEI SHIFT Monica Alford, a veteran arts and culture journalist and event planner, was set to organize an event on June 8 as part of Tapestry of Pride, but said she also experienced an abrupt end to communication within days of Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center. Alford has a long history with the Kennedy Center and organized the first-ever drag brunch on its rooftop last year. She said she viewed the institution as her “home base” and “a safe space for the queer community.” She also said she was disappointed to lose the partnership she had with the Kennedy Center. “We’re doing our community a disservice — not just the queer community but the entire community,” she told The Associated Press. She said she was still finalizing the details of her event, which she said was “meant to be family-friendly, just like the drag brunch was family-friendly and classy and sophisticated.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Judge temporarily blocks Trump order ending collective bargaining rights for most federal workers

Judge temporarily blocks Trump order ending collective bargaining rights for most federal workers

A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump that would cancel collective bargaining rights for most federal workers.  U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman blocked the Trump administration from implementing the order following a lawsuit from the National Treasury Employees Union, which represents about 160,000 federal employees. The union claims in the lawsuit that the order would violate federal workers’ labor rights and is unconstitutional, adding that it would lose two-thirds of its membership and half of its dues if they order is allowed to go through.  The order exempted more than a dozen agencies from the requirement to bargain with unions, including the departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, and Health and Human Services departments. TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER ON VOTING BLOCKED BY FEDERAL JUDGE AMID FLURRY OF LEGAL SETBACKS  It affects around 75% of the nearly one million federal workers represented by unions and expands an existing rule that exempts national security agencies like the FBI and CIA from collective bargaining requirements. The U.S. Treasury Department also filed a lawsuit against the NTEU following the order to invalidate a collective bargaining agreement involving IRS employees.  FEDERAL JUDGE PARTIALLY BLOCKS TRUMP’S EFFORT TO DENY FUNDING TO PRO-DEI PUBLIC SCHOOLS The order is part of the administration’s efforts to lessen the size of the federal government, by making it easier to discipline and fire workers and change working conditions.  The temporary injunction will remain in place pending the outcome of the NTEU lawsuit.  Friedman said he would issue an opinion explaining his ruling in the next few days. He also gave attorneys on both sides a week to propose how the lawsuit should move forward.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House for comment.  The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.