LGBTIQ events are still being shut down by cookers - it's time to stand up for drag performers
The Pride in Protest collective and drag performer King Woody have written an open letter to councillors in NSW, calling for action.
This year has featured an absolute rash of drag and other LGBTIQ social events around Australia shut down by a variety of different assholes - self identified nazis, far-right conspiracy groups, Christian extremists, transphobes and terfs.
Drag story time - where drag performers dress in sparkly outfits and read fun books about inclusion and, idk, elephants looking for balloons to children, often specifically children from LGBTIQ families - have been the main focus of these hate groups.
The “concern” that they attempt to hide some pretty classic homophobia and some pointed transphobia behind, involves calling all drag artists groomers and pedophiles. But no surprise, it doesn’t stop there - only last month a rural ball for queer youth was also shut down after threats of violence.
Queer activism collective Pride In Protest and drag performer King Woody have released an open letter in response to the drag storytime events in NSW that have been quietly cancelled during Pride Month.
“Many councils in NSW have quietly dropped their Pride Month celebrations,” the letter reads.
“This cuts performers off from a vital source of income and is a way in which management of councils is forcing our community back into the closet at the request of the far right. Our community should be celebrated, not silenced, and pride events should be something we can experience all year round.”
The letter demands a reinstatement to drag storytime shows and a guarantee that performers are paid regardless if the drag storytime shows are cancelled - which is a reminder that while these shows and the queer community are being used as culture war fodder, one of the immediate effects is on drag performer’s livelihood.
Speaking to this publication, a representative from Pride in Protest told us why this open letter was an important step in supporting the queer community.
“We realised that the widespread cancellation of drag storytime events is detrimental for drag performers who do this for an income. It's fundamentally an worker’s issue. It also highlights the need for an active union to get started that represents these performers.
This expression of solidarity is also much-needed as drag is a performance of gender and queer expression. This sort of targeting towards drag storytime performers is also the vilifying targeting of trans and queer people.”
As part of their efforts, Pride in Protest held their own drag storytime event at the Addi Road Community Centre, which ran smoothly on community-led organisation and security. They believe that “councils felt prohibited from hosting such events in their venues due to police advice”.
“This event and the actions taken by the community to ensure smooth drag storytime events, such as the one in Thirroul, demonstrate the power of engaging in the community and taking industrial action to combat bigotry. It shows how community support can allow these events to continue, rather than relying on police to only cancel them.”
The response by police and government to this spree of intimidation by extremist groups has been anything but unified, with councils being left to fend for themselves and subsequently defaulting to cancellation, and queer community groups being forced to step in.
“Communities and organisations, such as Pride in Protest, should not be burdened with the responsibility of running drag storytimes because of the council's failure to do so… It is the council's duty to utilise its resources and facilities to hold these events for the benefit of families and drag performers.
We highly encourage people to consider these issues and sign our open letter.”
You can sign the open letter here.
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