Smithsonian cancels drag events as LGBTQ+ employees decry censorship

The Smithsonian Institution has been drawn into the conservative-led “debate” around whether drag and LGBTQ+-themed events are appropriate for children following Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III’s appearance before the U.S. Committee on House Administration last December. Bunch’s comments under questioning from Rep. Stephanie Bice (R-OK) at the hearing, along with what some staff have called a “drag audit” and the cancellation of several planned drag events, have led to concerns about censorship among Smithsonian employees, The Washington Post reports.

At the December hearing, Bice told Bunch that the Smithsonian had hosted six “drag shows” over the past three years and accused the museum and research complex of “exposing children to overly sexual material,” without detailing what was “overly sexual” about the events.

Related:

GOP lawmaker fumes that the Smithsonian is “targeting” children with drag shows at House hearing

And she might succeed in getting events like these canceled.

“I think it’s not appropriate to expose children to drag shows,” Bunch responded. “I’m surprised and I will look into that.”

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“That is a small part of whatever we do, and the reality is that the Smithsonian is trying to make sure it embraces the totality of who we are as Americans,” Bunch added. “But this is not a major part of what we do at all.”

According to recent reports in the Post and The New Republic, internal emails and interviews with Smithsonian staff indicate that Bunch’s comments left them fearful that LGBTQ+ voices and programming will be censored. Two Smithsonian employee groups, the Smithsonian Pride Alliance and the Smithsonian’s Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, Inclusion Collective, have emailed Bunch with their concerns.

In a January 2 response to the Pride Alliance’s leaders, Bunch said that he had tried “to immediately stress that the Smithsonian does not expose children to inappropriate content” in his responses to Bice’s “suggestive” questions.

“Unfortunately, as you can imagine, a hearing setting does not give you ample time to expand,” he wrote. “If so, it would have given me the opportunity to speak more broadly about the merits and goals of our programming and content development and how we equip parents to make choices about what content their children experience.”

He praised the Pride Alliance’s “courageous outreach” and said that he has “always stood as an ally to the LGBTQIA+ communities.”

On January 5, Pride Alliance leaders replied that Bunch’s comments “hurt the staff who work hard on these programs and the staff who feel as though our bit of culture is being left out of the American story, despite contributing so very much to it.” They added that attacks on drag fee like “thinly veiled” attacks on the broader LGBTQ+ community.

In a statement to the Post, Bunch said late last week that he and the Smithsonian’s senior leaders “take seriously the concerns expressed by staff and will continue to do so.”

“As we have reiterated, LGBTQ+ content is welcome at the Smithsonian,” Bunch wrote, adding that he planned to meet with Smithsonian Pride Alliance leaders.

At the same time, The New Republic reported last week that the Smithsonian canceled three 2024 events at which drag performer and environmental activist Pattie Gonia was scheduled to appear following Bunch’s appearance before the Committee on House Administration. According to the Post, Wyn Wiley, who performs as Pattie Gonia, was told that one event had been canceled after a major sponsor dropped out, and another related event was canceled because staff “didn’t have the time or resources to put together a program that met our standards.” The third was reportedly put on hold.

A spokesperson told The Advocate last week that the Smithsonian is developing LGBTQ+ events that may feature drag performers for Pride Month and stressed that the institution has not banned drag events.

But one Smithsonian Pride Alliance member told the Post that they see the cancellation of Pattie Gonia’s appearances as a direct result of Bice’s questioning at the December hearing. “Queer employees and allies don’t know how to proceed. Drag is an integral part of the LGBTQ story,” the employee said. “Staff don’t know what to do.”

“Bunch’s testimony does wrong by all of Smithsonian’s queer employees, current and future queer partners,” Wiley told the Post. “People dream of working for the Smithsonian, and it’s been a safe space and place for joy for so many queer employees.”

According to The New Republic, the Smithsonian has hosted eight events featuring drag performers since Bunch, the first Black person to hold the position, was elected to lead the institution in 2019.

The New Republic also reported that following the December hearing, the Smithsonian began what some employees describe as a “drag audit,” examining past events featuring drag performances. In January, Undersecretary Kevin Gover’s executive assistant requested information on past drag events from museum directors, according to the Post.

“They want to pretend like this is some sort of review and not a ban, but the fact that these performers are suddenly excluded from all Smithsonian programming amounts to censorship by Lonnie Bunch and his team,” one museum worker told The New Republic.