Published on September 19, 2024, 12:37 am

In a recent move, the Biden-Harris administration has ventured into promoting theatre for diplomacy, specifically using this medium to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights across South-Eastern Europe. The controversial decision involves financial support for staging a play that depicts God with bisexual attributes. This decision has raised eyebrows due to its content, which includes an explicit critique of ex-President Ronald Reagan and gives commending representation to communists.

Earlier in September, the State Department authorized funds for a production of Tony Kushner’s 1991 masterpiece “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” in North Macedonia. The department claims this as an initiative to raise awareness around LGBTQ+ issues within the country.

The play interweaves multiple narratives; one such plot involves the ghost of a convicted communist spy, Ethel Rosenberg who antagonizes a dying conservative lawyer named Roy Cohn while another follows a man named Prior Walter battling AIDS and having sexually explicit celestial visions.

Interestingly, these narrations break orthodox representations of angels and portray them as hermaphroditic beings that have contributed significantly to the creation of our universe. As per his Visions, Walter shares these eccentric revelations with Belize, an ex-drag queen attending him as his nurse.

The anticipated funding report reveals that the State Department agreed on $20k towards organizing this play in North Macedonia supplemented by around $10.k in non-federal funding reserved for its production.

However, the presentation does invite criticisms about its representation of real-life people – especially those from Reagan era like Roy Cohn – depicted as homophobic despite being part of the gay community himself; hence holding strong reference and critical commentary regarding Reagan administration’s practices.

Furthermore, neglecting any credit due to Reagan’s governance by delineating him as anti-gay aggression instigator seems controversial resulting from biased perspectives.
As shown in the story arc where Rosenberg guides Louis Ironson – a secular Jew with no adherence to religious mandates – through a call of forgiveness for Cohn, who also happens to belong from Jewish descent, embarks symbolic forgiveness.

Exploring the State Department’s past ventures in culturally focused diplomacy shows that using theatre as a tool is not new. The department did invest around $120k in 2023 to promote communication within local communities about social issues including LGBTQ+ rights and domestic violence via participatory theatre back in Chad – Africa.

The recent grant follows similar humane endeavors by the State Department – this being the second such initiative with North Macedonia. Back in 2023, it aided locals with knowledge and awareness through theatre and dance focusing on global climate change.

Even though there has been no response from the State Department yet regarding their unconventional diplomatic approaches such as these – their message is clear: Culture, be it through music, sports or theater – fuels people-to-people dialogues reaching beyond administrative boundaries extending support towards broader U.S foreign policy goals, and affirming their commitment to instigate conversations around elusive topics like LGBTQ+ rights, hence gaining them relevant global traction.

However controversial their methods might appear; they do garner attention for issues considered taboo otherwise contributing towards progress both socially and culturally adopting a christian worldview approach that encompasses compassion and humanism above all.