Across Canada, drag queens face protesters as they organize reading activities for children. These protesters are sometimes violent. Police interventions occur frequently. However, the drag queens interviewed by CBC refuse to give in to intimidation and vow to keep going to “make sure queer kids stay alive.”
Clashes have occurred since last summer from Mississauga to Calgary and Sainte-Catherine in the Montreal suburbs.
Protesters like Pastor Ben Inglis of Hill City Baptist Church in Peterborough say drag queen storytelling activities are destructive to families and our country.
A professor at the University of Alberta who specializes in misleading information says he is afraid of the angry comments from these protesters.
Leave our children alone
Adorned in false eyelashes and colorful wigs, Fay and Fluffy performed before a lively audience of children at an outdoor amphitheater in Mississauga on August 16. They warmly greeted the crowd: everyone is welcome here! Afterwards they sang songs and read stories.
Then, as they read a story, more than a dozen protesters appeared and surrounded the audience of about 50 people. They shouted slogans. A banner held by two of them read: “Stop the sexualization of children.” One protester wore a T-shirt with a message accusing drag queens of recruiting children for sexual purposes. Another protester had “There Are Only Two Genders” written on his shirt.
Open in full screen mode
Toronto artists Kaleb Robertson (Fluffy) and JP Kane (Fay) as drag queens.
Photo: courtesy of JP Kane and Kaleb Robertson
Police and security personnel monitored the situation carefully. When the activity was over, Fay and Fluffy were quickly escorted off the stage, closely followed by protesters who chanted, “Leave our children alone.”
Fluffy tearfully said, “This is the first time I’ve felt the way I felt right now while Fay was comforting her.”
Your worst nightmare
In Peterborough, 19-year-old Isaac Maker, who reads stories to children at the local library under the nickname Betty Baker, says he has received death threats and is called a child advocate and pedophile.
He adds that demonstrators often come to class, but there are usually more counter-demonstrators than anti-drag queens.
Many of them [croient] that educating children about homosexuality inherently prepares them and turns them into gays and transsexuals, which is their worst nightmare.
Open in full screen mode
Betty Baker reads and sings to children every month at the library in Peterborough, Ontario.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Mia Sheldon/CBC
It was Pastor Inglis who organized the first demonstration against Betty Baker last fall.
He believes these activities normalize being transgender.
“I would love to see the time for drag stories run out and these activities erased from public memory,” he said. We believe this is destructive to children, families and our country.
Bullying and harassment
Last winter in Calgary, Christian preacher Derek Reimer crashed a drag queen storytelling event called “Reading With Royalty” hosted by the Calgary Public Library. Reimer is said to have pushed parents and shouted transphobic and homophobic insults at children present.
He has since been arrested and charged with hate crimes.
Reading With Royalty has been running for six years. However, according to spokeswoman Mary Kapusta, it was the first disruption of its kind.
The level of bullying and harassment we felt and witnessed did not make us feel like this was a safe place for children.
Ms. Kapusta explains that the Reading With Royalty activities are aimed at young children and are really beautiful, fun and joyful. However, she said the library had to adjust the organization of activities so that staff, artists and families felt safe. For example, it is possible that police officers are on site.
In March, Calgary city council members voted in favor of a new bylaw banning protests within 100 meters of the entrance to a public library or recreation center.
On August 4, the first class since the February incident took place at the Seton Library in Calgary. According to the new regulations, about six demonstrators stood far from the entrance.
Open in full screen mode
In Calgary on August 4, protesters had to stay more than 100 meters away from the site of the reading activity.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Mia Sheldon/CBC
Inside, local artists Aida Cupcake and King Neptune put on a show for a crowd of kids.
A large group of LGBTQ supporters, including Calgary’s Rainbow Elders, a group of seniors in the LGBTQ community, sat outside the library. They outnumbered the demonstrators. Several said they were there to make sure families and artists felt safe.
“Drag queens do not court your children, no matter the purpose,” said Steven Morton, also known as Aida Cupcake. They want to make sure queer kids stay alive.
From anti-vaccination conspirators to anti-drag queens
One of the frightening trends I’ve seen is that this is – and I’ll be careful not to generalize too much – a community driven by misinformation, by anger, and that sense of “community membership.” seems to be coming, said Timothy Caulfield, a law professor at the University of Alberta who specializes in misleading information.
The pandemic and the anti-vaccine movement somehow gave them cohesion: They had their groups on social media… But when COVID subsided, it was almost as if they were looking for another topic to express their anger, and they found drag activities.
According to Mr Caulfield, the rhetoric used by these groups is effective.
If you disagree with them, tell them they’re wrong, or say it’s misinformation or that they’re spreading hate, they immediately defend themselves and say, “Well, you don’t want to protect our children.”
Increase in hate crimes
According to the LGBTQ advocacy group GLAAD, more than 160 drag queen activities have been targeted by such protesters in the United States since 2022.
The number of hate crimes against LGBTQ people in the country is also increasing. According to Statistics Canada, the number of sexual orientation-related hate crimes reported by police in Canada increased by 64% between 2020 and 2021.
A recent study by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a U.K.-based think tank specializing in hate, extremism and disinformation, found that far-right groups, religious activists and conspiracy theorists have gained momentum worldwide during the pandemic.
According to the study, this trend is strong in the United States. Several states, including Montana and Tennessee, are attempting to completely ban drag queen performances for children.
With information from CBC News