#canceled performances

[remembertheplunge]

Portland Gay Men’s Chorus unites in protest after Kennedy Center cancels Pride performance

Queer choruses across the country are speaking out against the Kennedy Center’s decision to cancel its Pride show featuring the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington.

Feb. 15, 2025

When Mark McCrary first participated in a gay men’s chorus, he cried.

He came out as gay later in life. The chorus offered him a safe space to perform, in a way few places had. 

“For the first time, it was a sense of community,” McCrary said. “I was safe — which lends itself to being a better singer.”

He now works as the executive director for the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus.

FILE - Members of the Portland Gay Men's Chorus sing loud for the cheering crowd at Portland's Pride Parade on July 16, 2023. The group is one of the latest speaking out against the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' recent decision to cancel a Pride show featuring the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington.

Caden Perry / OPB

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts recently canceled a Pride event that included the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington performing with the National Symphony Orchestra. The cancellation spurred backlash from LGBTQ+ choruses across the country. The center’s board unanimously appointed Trump as the chair of the national cultural center for the United States.

In a statement, National Symphony Orchestra Director Jean Davidson denied that the decision to postpone the performance stemmed from its LGBTQ+ content, and that it was “due to financial and scheduling factors.”

But gay men’s choruses are sounding the alarm, including in Portland. McCrary said news of the cancellation came as a shock.

“The optics of all this just look very bad,” he said. “We’re beginning to see a trend toward silencing the queer community.”

Related: Former Kennedy Center president speaks out in first interview since her firing

McCrary said he talks regularly with other choir executive directors, many of whom have started to worry for the safety of their members. Some performances have been picketed by protesters, and some performers have received death threats. The personal safety of their choruses is something they’ve only had to plan for within the past couple of months, he said.

LGBTQ+ choruses — serving gay, lesbian, and trans people, and more — have been a fixture in queer culture since appearing in the late 1970s. At that time, they were very politically active, organizing against widespread discrimination and for increased treatment of HIV/AIDS, said Braeden Ayres, artistic director of the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus.

“It gave us a literal voice,” Ayres said. “I think it’s more important than ever that we speak out against these injustices.”

Related: As Trump takes over leadership at Kennedy Center, some protest through dance

He said he believes many choruses will become more politically vocal in the coming years, as the visibility of LGBTQ+ people becomes a wider issue.

FILE - Gay Men's Chorus during a parade for Portland Pride in 1988. LGBTQ+ choruses have been a fixture in queer culture since appearing in the late 1970s. 

Courtesy of the Greg Pitts Collection

The concert had been in the work for months, but McCrary said it’s taken on new meaning, given the political climate.

“The sense of solidarity now is so much more pronounced because of the things going on, even in the state of Oregon,” McCrary said. “It seems to be terribly prescient.”

Much of the concert has already been planned, but organizers are discussing ways to visually represent the solidarity at the heart of the performance.

Correction: A previous version of this story gave the wrong date for the concert on March 30. OPB regrets the error.

[widowshill]

lowkey after like a week and a half of doing mild research into media archives I believe that most old tv should be public domain by default, considering studio execs were basically wiping their asses with the tapes but now want to posture about their copyright when it's a miracle from heaven any of the footage from that era exists

[mysterycitrus]

Hey what do you think about Dick and his relationship with his queer identity, bc similar to your recent post abt Dick having zero desire to be perceived, whenever I see content about Dick Grayson being out publicly as bi or some other flavor of queer, I personally would consider that ooc, he values his privacy way too much to ever come out to the media

i can only speak for myself as a lesbian but personally id think he has chronic ‘it’s none of your fucking business’ disease wrt all his relationships. like yeah it would depend a lot on who he’s dating but he’d be more….. passively out? he looked at joey as a teenager and was like hmmm…… ill figure that out at some point and then just never did. like the people he actually cares about would know. it’d be a conversation he’d have with his partners — tho since he only seems to date other bi people it’d be a pretty short talk — but he wouldn’t want it to be a public talking point. people conflate being very open about it to be the only way to be comfortable with ur sexuality but honestly i disagree. i think ive formally ‘come out’ to maybe five or six people in my life. for me im just not interested in anyone else’s opinion.

he’ll go to the pflag meeting or go with tim and cass to pride but dicks not gonna announce he’s dating a man imo. i will say however there’s probably a drag queen named dyke grayson in universe that he follows on twitter

[tyttetardis]

Looks like David will be back as Macbeth tonight ❤️

[dreadfuldevotee]

the GG assad snub by amc is crazy especially considering the next season is going to be focused on the guy they submitted for supporting. it's honestly upsetting considering how good assad's performance was

I wish I could say this comes out of left field, but seeing how press has evolved over the course of season 2 (Remember how Assad was on all the pre-season SDCC posters, with his face blown up large on the sides of buildings. To being replaced this year by? Ben Daniels?) It's very clearly about Islamophobia. Articles refusing to print his or Armand's name, disapearing from episode press. It paints a pretty damning picture. And to specifically prop up Sam over him, despite the laughable difference in screentime and frankly- plot importance, leaves a decidedly sour taste in my mouth.

[jinxedshapeshifter]

I decided to listen to the lyrical version of Guilty Love and I'm screaming, it seriously just comes off as Klav singing about breaking up with a girl to be gay with a defense attorney (Apollo)

[holyshit]

.

[sweetreveriee]

Just thinking about how for Luke’s parents every parents worst fear came true. Their son ran away, they haven’t had contact in months, don’t even know if he’s alive or where he is, and then one night they turn on the news and there he is, but it’s not because he’s a star. No. He is dead.

The last words that Luke and his mom said to each other were in anger. And we know that Luke’s dad wasn’t even home when he ran away as we can see him just pulling up in the driveway when Emily runs out.

Luke’s last interaction with his mom is him saying he never wants to see her again, but then up until his last days he regrets saying that and keeps looking for ways to reconnect.

But he never got to, because he died. And how did his parents find out? A news channel.

[omppupiiras]

saw my queen yesterday ❤️ lady in red <3

[wintersoulwitch]

Just noticed something on the DMT website...

21 March is no longer listed as a show night. This is a recent change, because a couple of days ago the Stage/Fright booking calendar looked like this.

The last time they took a date off the bookings calendar was 29 January - Press Night.

Now, this is pure speculation, but... What if they've closed the box office for that day because they're going to film it???

[bulbagarden]

the two of us at the bulbagarden tumblr would like to congratulate the first official appearance of a pokemon character at coachella!

...it's none other than hatsune miku herself!!! you can watch her performance at the link below↓ -lisia

[allthepresidentmen]

jarvis using ai as a way of saying how stupid it is has... complications

[terracebatman]

Asking AI who Pete Davidson should date next.

[st5lker]

omfg i thought everyone pissing their pants abt chappell roan 'cancelling performances' was about one of HER concerts or something youre telling me she was just going to make an appearance at a music festival? and people are like "i just got on a plane and drove out in hurricane weather to see her" why would you drive through a hurricane to a music festival to see one of many performers especially if that performer cancelling is enough to ruin it for you people are so stupid

[joanofexys]

people getting pissed at chappell roan cancelling the day before a concert that she wasn’t even headlining at is lowkey insane. dont go to a festival for one artist. and like sometimes people have to cancel last minute for health reasons. sorry she couldn’t give you two weeks notice. she wasn’t receiving mass death threats and facing a hate campaign two weeks ago. celebrities are not without criticism but lacking any compassion for a woman who has been incredibly open abt her mental health struggles and also about the violation of her boundaries is wild to me.

[miodiodavinci]

i mean this in the fondest way possible but salvador is like some kind of small animal that shows up on your doorstep after being caught in the rain looking as soggy and miserable as possible. if you pick him up and shake him around i feel he would sound like laminated paper wobbling. i love this guy

YOU UNDERSTAND HIM WHOLLY AND COMPLETELY..........

he is simply a pathetic little man and while he Is very much capable of looking cool every once in a while, every instance of that cool is unfortunately completely and perfectly balanced out by his uncanny ability to be emotionally Sopping Wet™