Hate Group Targeting Local Area Drag Story Hours And Video Posting

[Kahaih]

Going back to the OP, the question was not are we for or against DQSH but how to neutralise the protesters.

I disagree.

The subject/question presented isn't about stopping protesters in general. The circumstances are very specific.

 

[Kahaih]

. . . .

And ironic that it was the drag queens that finally fought back at Stonewall and other venues all those years ago to get all the 'macho' homos the rights they now enjoy.

I'm not so sure about this.

Other versions say it was the young male prostitutes living on the streets who started the Stonewall riot.

Either way, I don't believe for one minute that every protester involved was in drag. And certainly not everyone involved in the marches thereafter were drag queens. Most likely the drag queens were a relatively small percentage, just more easily identifiable and more dramatic/shocking for the newspapers, police reports, and the storytellers.

I've never been to a real live drag show, but from what I've seen in videos and photos, there is a somewhat small group of performers, and a much larger audience-- most of which are not in drag.

 

[Essex Boy]

The subject/question presented isn't about stopping protesters in general. The circumstances are very specific.

I was referring to this particular group of protesters. Maybe I didn't make that quite clear.

You obviously don't know what drag time story hour is all about.

Enlighten me.

As I said, Brits love drag, they are just afraid of drag queens and crossdressing.

Love drag but afraid of cross-dressing? What does that mean? And where does the idea that we're afraid of drag queens come from?

It isn't fishnets and sex.

I didn't mention sex.

 

[pigface]

As Joan Rivers said of Boy George: "just what Britain needs - another queen who can't dress"

 

[rareboy]

I was referring to this particular group of protesters. Maybe I didn't make that quite clear.



Enlighten me.



Love drag but afraid of cross-dressing? What does that mean? And where does the idea that we're afraid of drag queens come from?



I didn't mention sex.

I hope you'll excuse me, but honestly, I can't be bothered to enlighten anyone here any more.

I'm not here to shift entrenched biases and perspectives. It just doesn't matter to me.

I would just ask though, that in your lack of understanding or appreciation, you don't belittle or trash anyone who might have come to HT who understood the positive power of drag. We've lost a few of them over the years who found JUB HT a hostile space for them.

I am happy to make room in my own life for anyone's self-expression if it brings joy to others.

 

[Essex Boy]

^
Well, that's the end of the conversation then. If anyone feels like raking over my posts to look for entrenched biases and perspectives, or to sniff out any belittling or trashing, here they are in order:

No. 10

No. 14

No. 16

No. 23

 

[NotHardUp1]

We've lost a LOT of people over the years from Hot Topics, not of only one stripe. It's Hot Topics. Heated discussions were the norm. Conservatives were harried until they left. Bisexuals were belittled as liars. Muslims were mocked. The religious are yet scorned.

The forum isn't against running people off or making them feel lesser.

And, it's Hot Topics. Posters are expected to have at least a bit of a thick hide before joining the fray. Without the fray, it's really NOT Hot Topics.

To the assertion that Brits like drag better than drag queens, I might agree with that. Drag is old and venerable in the UK, like Punch & Judy. It's almost Vaudevillian. Drag long was a knowing wink at being outrageous, outlandish, but within boundaries. Monty Python is the extension of the tradition, still staying within the walls mostly, just as Dame Edna did. Little Britain is another, more modern take on it.

But, American drag queens have a different culture and it is a different type of performance. Raunch is much more a thing, and the acts often have a sharp edge, aimed squarely at the heteronormative, the religious, and the conservative. It's monologues are often intended to offend, and to revel in it.

Further, I don't think the long history of drag in England was associated with gay men. It was a lampoon, and a bit of fun, not an outlet to crossdress because of some deep-seeded psychological need. It was a ready and cheap laugh among students, soldiers, and among some literary and theater circles. Considering women were not allowed on the stage for a very long time, it's perfectly natural that drag evolved.

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

It's worth remembering that drag queen story hour became a thing in the wake of the (relative) mainstream success of RuPaul's Drag Race. To people outside of the right-wing bubble, drag just didn't seem terribly threatening, and story hour seemed like it made sense as a sort of outgrowth of RuPaul's "Everybody say love!" I don't remember any criticism from anyone who actually attended any drag queen story hours that what was being read was age-inappropriate -- and the children's parents are right there with their kids, anyway.

To my knowledge, the books read to the kids never get more provocative than things along the lines of Heather Has Two Mommies or And Tango Makes Three (the children's book about the gay penguin couple that raised a chick at the Central Park Zoo). For now, though, I wish they'd stick to stuff like A.A. Milne: it would be very effective to be able to show, on video, right-wingers flipping out about someone in a spangly dress reading Winnie-the-Pooh.

 

[NotHardUp1]

A decade ago, we all laughed at the accusation that there was a "gay agenda."

Now, a good number of out gays see that there is a gay agenda, at least in some climes.

Watering drag down to make it kid-friendly is about as natural as sending in go-go boys with assless chaps worn over pajama bottoms. It can be explained away endlessly, but it's very existence is an arm of a campaign to advance sex-related topics to younger children.

It's done in the name of acceptance, but it is resulting in escalating fear among many heteros. Among a population that already viewed gays as one step this side of pedophiles, they have seen their fears justified as children are asked at very young ages what their gender identity is, when no such question or confusion would be apparent within the child, literally introducing the topic of gender confusion to children who haven't likely even experienced sexual attraction.

Whereas the hetero fears were unfounded before, they can no longer be dismissed as unreasoning paranoia. A parent should indeed be allowed when and how to introduce the concept of sexuality, sexual identity, and the existence of rare variations, including transexuals. And I include trans because only two decades ago, the most common reference we ever heard of them was in cultures where prostitution by "shemales" was already established, including "chicks with dicks" and men with breast augmentation but not lower genital transition.

Sanitizing drag for presentation to children is essentially denaturing it, like a mocktail served to non-drinkers Drag is simply not for children, just like bars are not.

 

[purina]

I enjoyed having a Shirley Temple at a nightclub sometimes as a kid. I'm grateful I was never coerced into having a Roy Rogers instead.

 

[pigface]

We've lost a LOT of people over the years from Hot Topics, not of only one stripe. It's Hot Topics. Heated discussions were the norm. Conservatives were harried until they left. Bisexuals were belittled as liars. Muslims were mocked. The religious are yet scorned.

The forum isn't against running people off or making them feel lesser.

And, it's Hot Topics. Posters are expected to have at least a bit of a thick hide before joining the fray. Without the fray, it's really NOT Hot Topics.

To the assertion that Brits like drag better than drag queens, I might agree with that. Drag is old and venerable in the UK, like Punch & Judy. It's almost Vaudevillian. Drag long was a knowing wink at being outrageous, outlandish, but within boundaries. Monty Python is the extension of the tradition, still staying within the walls mostly, just as Dame Edna did. Little Britain is another, more modern take on it.

But, American drag queens have a different culture and it is a different type of performance. Raunch is much more a thing, and the acts often have a sharp edge, aimed squarely at the heteronormative, the religious, and the conservative. It's monologues are often intended to offend, and to revel in it.

Further, I don't think the long history of drag in England was associated with gay men. It was a lampoon, and a bit of fun, not an outlet to crossdress because of some deep-seeded psychological need. It was a ready and cheap laugh among students, soldiers, and among some literary and theater circles. Considering women were not allowed on the stage for a very long time, it's perfectly natural that drag evolved.

That is a very accurate summary.
Those not familiar should look up "Hinge and Bracket", drag with class and decorum, and outstanding talent.

 

[rareboy]

A decade ago, we all laughed at the accusation that there was a "gay agenda."

Now, a good number of out gays see that there is a gay agenda, at least in some climes.

Watering drag down to make it kid-friendly is about as natural as sending in go-go boys with assless chaps worn over pajama bottoms. It can be explained away endlessly, but it's very existence is an arm of a campaign to advance sex-related topics to younger children.

It's done in the name of acceptance, but it is resulting in escalating fear among many heteros. Among a population that already viewed gays as one step this side of pedophiles, they have seen their fears justified as children are asked at very young ages what their gender identity is, when no such question or confusion would be apparent within the child, literally introducing the topic of gender confusion to children who haven't likely even experienced sexual attraction.

Whereas the hetero fears were unfounded before, they can no longer be dismissed as unreasoning paranoia. A parent should indeed be allowed when and how to introduce the concept of sexuality, sexual identity, and the existence of rare variations, including transexuals. And I include trans because only two decades ago, the most common reference we ever heard of them was in cultures where prostitution by "shemales" was already established, including "chicks with dicks" and men with breast augmentation but not lower genital transition.

Sanitizing drag for presentation to children is essentially denaturing it, like a mocktail served to non-drinkers Drag is simply not for children, just like bars are not.

What nonsense.

I remember the same stuff being run up the flag pole when the homos started having Pride parades.

oooooh. Think of the children.

The last I checked...no one is forcing kids and their parents at gunpoint to listen to someone in a dress read a story in a library.

The saddest part of all of this is when reactionary pearl clutchers buy into the narrative.

 

[pat grimshaw]

We've given our personal opinions and anecdotes.

I guess we need the OP to return to tell us if they're pertinent and relevant to his situation.

 

[pat grimshaw]

…There are about 8 of them, wearing white masks…

But what kind of masks are they? Covid masks or Klu Klux Klan masks?

Wearing masks and hoodies seems to have become standard dress for public rallies over the last five years.

I saw them at rallies in the MId-West when citizens were protesting the Social Isolation restrictions, when BLM was smashing up Portland, when juvenile delinquents in Londonistan slash each other with machetes, when that parent in Ottowa was wearing a niquab and goading her daughter to stomp on the rainbow flag, and in France when those those suspiciously-young residents were rioting at having to wait an extra two years for their old age pension.

 

[runnerguy1977]

It interesting to read the range in replies. I have a clear bias. I have attended several drag queen story hours. They are hosted by public libraries and usually police or queer-friendly organizations are present to show support and deter protesters. The drag queens are inclusive and family-friendly. They read picture books about inclusion and acceptance. They make jokes that both parents and children understand. It's a celebration of being unique and being yourself. There is not vulgarity or inappropriateness in relation to performing for families.

Below is one link to the hate group's recent anti-drag protests that will lead you to several of the their other videos. Having witnessed them in action the videos are deceptive because they take the videos and leave. They are not brave, most of them are wearing masks and they do not usually interact with people. Their rhetoric is against drag queens but they are clearly against the queer community at large. As a community member I'm disgusted that they can speak about a group of people in such an uninformed way. They paint sweeping generalizations. I appreciate the suggestions around contacting the city and finding out what the legalities are. I have already reached out to the specific library branch. With the incident I witnessed, I contacted the police and filed a report. The police advice was to not react to the protestors as it could escalate. Take a look at their videos and please share your insights. I'm also curious if anyone understands why they are using the Ontario provincial flag in addition to the their self-designed flag.