Once obsessed with fighting COVID mandates, far-right groups have settled on a new target: drag performers who read books to children at public events. What's really fuelling all the angry protests?
Laughter fills the halls of the Peterborough Public Library on a chilly February morning, as children and their families gather around to hear a local drag queen, Betty Baker, read stories about friendship. Brightly dressed in an orange wig and a colourful dress she made herself, Baker and friends guide the audience through a series of stories and songs over the 30-minute “Drag Queen Storytime.”
One protester defends the group's actions, claiming they are “protesting a pervert reading to kids.” Says Josh Alexander, one of the protest leaders: “Watching children be exposed to a sexual thing, I’m not going to stand behind that." In many cases, the protesters screaming outside public libraries are the same far-right groups that fought loudly against vaccine mandates during the so-called “Freedom Convoy.” But now that mandates have been lifted, they have seemingly turned their attention to drag storytime events — convinced that the performers are dangerous pedophiles trying to groom children.
Early modern drag performances took place wherever they could, from truck beds at PRIDE events to bars, nightclubs and event spaces. But that changed in 2009 with the arrival of RuPaul’s Drag Race, a hugely popular reality TV show that features drag performers competing in challenges. It has since seen multiple spin-offs, propelling drag to the mainstream on a level never seen before — so much so that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a brief appearance on the Canadian version last year.
Baker, 19, started performing drag when she was 15 and was more recently encouraged by her mom Michelle Fenn to start doing drag storytime. None of her performances were met with any hate until last September. “I’ve never had anything like this happen to me before,” Baker says. “It definitely scares me.”
When she came to Kingston and started performing drag in 2000, things weren’t much better. She wouldn’t walk to the venue or take public transit because the risk was too high. Instead, she would take a cab and get ready in the bathroom at the bar. And once inside, she would always do a risk assessment.
For Baker, Morgan and many others, the shift seems to have come out of nowhere. But it’s been brewing for a long time, Saul says, making it hard to pinpoint the exact moment it began. “In the 70s, when I was cutting my teeth politically, there was a call by the far right to remove gay male teachers from schools, for the same thing that they’re accusing Betty Baker of,” he says. “We’re always accused as gay people of grooming children. We can’t be teaching them, we can’t be telling them stories. We’re always grooming.”
Although the far right’s focus on drag and trans rights is relatively recent, Saul says the broader phenomenon of growing far-right conspiracy theories has been a long time coming. And once you believe one wild conspiracy, you’ve opened the doors to pretty much all others. “You have people who started out just wondering about the moon now thinking drag queens are pedophiles,” she says.
His main concern is children being targeted with “sexually charged drag shows” at all-ages events and being read material that pushes children to be transgender, non-binary or drag queens. “The government we currently have is making a big push for it and we know that the Trudeau government is funding it,” King says, making sure to point out Trudeau’s cameo on Drag Race.
He became something of a recent icon in certain circles for being vocal against transgender students at his high school using their preferred bathroom. Alexander says he was arrested. “We decided we had a good opportunity to stand up for what we believe in and voice our opinions on the over-sexualization of children in our culture,” he says, standing outside the Peterborough storytime event.
“Maybe because it seems like it’s a leftist thing to be like in support of lockdowns and masks and everything and it’s a leftist thing to do this,” Braun says. “Figleaves” are phrases people use to make hateful statements more digestible to the average person. Saul offers an example: I’ve got nothing against trans people, I just don’t want them near my children. “That allows people to feel more comfortable with the messages, and more comfortable sharing [them],” she says. “And I think that move is one that really helps these wacky conspiracy theories to spread.
Instead, Ashley says the backlash is all about protecting children from deviating perspectives that go against the conservative norm. “People are really trying to justify their transphobia,” they say. “This is really just an excuse, in this regard, saying: ‘I’m not transphobic because it’s about the kids.’ Well, the kids have always been used as the justification — that’s not anything new at all.”
Despite all the anger and negativity, Baker has no intention of stopping. As someone who grew up queer, she knows how important these events are. “To have role models to look up to is important. I don’t know if I’m a role model but I would like to be, and I would like to be a part of my community in a way that is positive, in a way that enacts positive change.”
In the end, the Peterborough protesters accomplished next to nothing. Many in the crowd simply ignored the teenagers calling themselves the Save Canada Army, and although there were some tense moments — and near fights — nothing boiled over.
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