#Dragphobia

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Alex Bollinger at LGBTQ Nation:

A new bill in Iowa would make attending drag performances with one’s own kids a felony punishable by up to five years in jail, and it just moved out of an Iowa House of Representatives subcommittee. The language of the bill is so broad that it could include any performance involving a transgender person, even if it’s not a drag performance, opponents argue.

House Study Bill 158 would make it illegal to take a minor to a drag performance, even if that performance is family-friendly. Parents could be charged with a class D felony if they take their kids to a drag story hour, and businesses could be fined $10,000 for allowing minors to attend such a performance. The bill isn’t about lewd drag performances; it’s about any performance where a performer wears “clothing, makeup, accessories or other gender signifiers” that are “different than the performer’s gender assigned at birth.” The bill says this applies to any show that includes singing, dancing, reading, or performing “before an audience for entertainment.” Maxwell Mowitz of the LGBTQ+ organization One Iowa told the subcommittee that the bill could make it illegal for people to bring children to hear him speak because he’s transgender, the Iowa Capital Dispatch reports. “I’m a transgender person,” he said. “I was assigned female at birth, but I dress and live as a masculine person. So this bill targets me. This bill also defines performance as reading: Today, I’m reading testimony in front of a group of people, from the perspective of a trans person.” “It seems to me that the language of this bill could be bent to make it illegal for a minor to attend an event in which I am speaking, including this very subcommittee, simply because I live ‘in drag,’ as a different gender than the sex that I was assigned at birth, which is drag according to this legislation.” He said that this could affect whether kids are allowed to see artworks that involve cross-dressing, including movies like Mrs. Doubtfire and Mulan and plays like Twelfth Night.

This is anti-drag extremism: Iowa HSB158 is a bill that punishes adults attending drag performances with one’s own kids a felony punishable by up to five years in jail.

See Also:

Iowa Capital Dispatch: Bringing a minor to a drag show would be a felony under Iowa bill

[starlattethesqueakwal]

Barbie’s line could've easily been "Humans are very easy to manipulate..." or "Earth-creatures are very easy to manipulate" (y'know because she's hell-born) but noooooooo they just HAD to say "teenagers" because taking advantage of minors = funny? -_-

Yeah... its bad.

It especially hurts that Viv fetishized a groomer from the show because I am a grooming victim myself. So seeing that episode have both dragphobia AND grooming fetishization was such a "ew" moment.

[previouslyafangirl]

Book Review: The Unbinding of Mary Reade

(Image Description: Book cover for The Unbinding of Mary Reade. A pirate ship sailing through a stormy sea and dark skies)

Rating: 5/5

So a few hours before I accidentally deleted my blog I wrote a review for this book I really proud of. I'll try to recreate it, but probably won't try to recreate my other book reviews just because I don't remember them as well.

I loved the pacing of this book, and the way McNamara handled the back and forth in time. It was clean, easy to follow, quick paced, and felt purposeful. One of my favorite aspects was the way Mary reclaimed her body and her autonomy. This book also played on the double standards of the time and emphasized the subtle and not so subtle ways that people fought back. Most importantly, this book did an excellent job illustrating and discussing the gray area in morality. Pirates did bad things, I won't excuse slavery, murder, and rape. But I can understand the good aspects to the lifestyle or why some of them felt they had no real options. Today too may people want an easy answer that's clear and absolute and that just isn't possible. Good people do bad things sometimes and the opposite is true too. We have to learn how to wade through that confusion. Like my mom says "You have to learn to sit in the ick sometimes" It's refreshing to read a fairly recently published book that illustrates that as well as this one does.

Trigger Warnings below:

Trigger Warning: Rape, Sexual assault, domestic abuse, death, murder, guns, violence, homophobia, hangings, dragphobia, period accurate slurs, racism, slavery, pirates, religious bigotry probably more this is just off the top of my head.

[susansontag]

so what we tend to have is ordinary people, especially parents, having concerns about sexual content at particular all-ages drag shows. these are picked up by right-wing press (because they’re the only ones willing to run such a story?) who sensationalise it and use it to demonise what they I suppose term ‘the left’ and also likely gay men. then liberal press and orgs like the tools they are create stupid terms like ‘dragphobia’ that inevitably will make them a laughing stock. right-wing press uses opportunity to smear libs for not caring about children etc. rinse and repeat

[dead-twink-storage]

Dragphobia is such a hilarious concept whithin the larger sphere of homophobia because it's akin to having a friend of a friend of yours shout nigger at the top of his lungs in a black ghetto getting you both jumped and curbed stomped but demands that everyone feel sorry for him and ignore that he's the sole reason your busted bleeding skull is smattered all over the pavement.

[msclaritea]

This is completely useless shite. This chick, Palmer Haasch has worked at Entertainment Insider, Thrillist, Polygon and GLAAD, a Hard Left-leaning LGBT Media Watch group who deliberately crapped on Kamala Harris during an interview she gave during the presidential elections, completely opposite to how Elizabeth Warren, who regularly engages in Voter Suppression tactics, was treated.

Why the FUCK is this particular group continuing the give air and publicity to a bunch of creepy, female stalkers who've made Benedict's life hell?

Haasch has to be boosted by her co-workers and an innocuous blog, Dergolem, who's keeping track of a lot of Benedict news, and is connected to nearly every p.r. troll belonging to Hunter, in addition to big blog pages, like this NFT guy.

GLAAD is also pushing the myth of Dragphobia being on the rise, especially galling when the same group continues to support Drag 4 Kids events. Drag is an adult, male entertainment, and a profession.

Even worse that GLAAD would keep defending D4K, knowing full well that some of these events are using graphic dance and language, that is then filmed and posted by Libs of TikTok, thus causing rightwingers to give LGBT communities more anguish.

This situation is a different version of what's going on in Britain right now, with citizens clashing with Transgender activists who keep using hardline tactics: verbal abuse, physical assault, vandalism. They publicly were just given support by Greta Thunberg, who everybody with common sense now sees is a major fraud, a disruptive brand, basically being handled. Recall her stunt with the German train company:

One of the other groups brought up that is causing trouble? Extinction Rebellion, the shady activist group that Hunter and crew most definitely forced Benedict to show support for.:

It actually took a comment on social media to remind me how there were BLM activists that would show up to events, using hardline language, and tactics like vandalism. Those few actions were blown up by right-wing press as a reason people shouldn't give support to black causes. All of these groups are together, engaging in sabotaging real civic action and civic groups, creating divisions where there were none and helping the Right AND corporations keep power over our governments.

[toonmanaz]

#NEW! The one where we don't tolerate #racism and #dragphobia! Click here for today's comic 👉🏾 http://CompanyManComic.com & http://Patreon.com/CompanyManComic #HUMOR #COMICS #FUNNY 🖕🏾@govbilllee @scottadams👍🏾#DragTennessee #Bildert

[theusarticles]

LGBT group warns 'dragphobia' is on the rise, conservatives blast post on Twitter

LGBT group warns ‘dragphobia’ is on the rise, conservatives blast post on Twitter

A prominent LGBT group warned this week that “dragphobia” is on the rise in the U.S. as public outcry continues to grow against drag shows in public places that allow children in the audience.  “There is clear and present danger against our community and threats… we really haven’t seen it at this level in over a decade, if ever,” GLAAD president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said on the “Takeaway”…

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Annelise Hanshaw at Missouri Independent:

For the third year in a row, Missouri Republicans are trying to place restrictions on drag performances. The effort has stalled in years past, clearing a House committee last year but never coming up for debate in the Senate. That changed Wednesday, when a Senate committee held a public hearing on legislation sponsored by state Sen. Rick Brattin, a Harrisonville Republican, that he argued was “geared towards protecting children from displays of sexual content.” The bill would make it a class-A misdemeanor to participate in an “adult cabaret performance” in a public area or other space where children might see. A repeat violation becomes a class-E felony. State Sen. Nick Schroer, a Republican from Defiance who chairs the Senate’s judiciary committee, discussed possible fixes to the bill’s definitions following opponent’s testifying that community theater could be impacted. The issue is a definition of “adult cabaret performance” that includes “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest or similar entertainers.”  Including “or similar entertainers,” opponents said, is too vague and may draw police to plays where women play male roles or a non-sexual performance by a transgender person.

Missouri’s at it again with their insane bill proposal (SB295) to ban family-friendly drag shows on the false basis of “protecting the innocence of children.”

See Also:

KTVI (Fox2now): Mo. bill could criminalize drag show performances in front of kids

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Russell at LGBTQ Nation:

President Donald Trump took to his social media platform Truth Social on Friday, February 7, to announce plans to fire members of the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees and install himself as chairman. Then, on Monday, he named Richard Grenell – an out gay man currently serving in the newly created role of “Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions” – as the interim head of the Kennedy Center. He promised that Grenell’s leadership would lead to “NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.” In his Friday post, Trump said that current chair David M. Rubenstein and the unnamed board members “do not share our Vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture” and appeared to cite recent drag programming as the reason behind the move. “Just last year, the Kennedy Center featured Drag Shows specifically targeting our youth — THIS WILL STOP,” Trump’s post read. As NPR notes, the Kennedy Center hosted several drag brunches at its rooftop restaurant last year as well as a free Drag Salute to Divas event at its Millennium stage and a production of drag performer Kris Andersson’s solo show Dixie’s Tupperware Party — all of which were reportedly aimed at adults. But according to them, the center also hosted “Dragtastic Dress-up,” which invited “LGBTQ+ youth under 18 and their parents/caregivers” to “learn the history of drag” and watch “incredible performers strut their stuff.” In recent years, Republicans have stoked a moral panic around drag story hour events as well as all-ages drag brunches and Pride festival performances, falsely characterizing all drag as “sexually explicit” and accusing performers and parents who take their children to such events of “grooming.” [...] On Monday, Trump posted to Truth Social that he is naming Grenell as interim executive director of the Kennedy Center. “I am pleased to announce that Ric Grenell will serve as the Interim Executive Director of The Kennedy Center. Ric shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture, and will be overseeing the daily operations of the Center. NO MORE DRAG SHOWS, OR OTHER ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA — ONLY THE BEST. RIC, WELCOME TO SHOW BUSINESS!” he wrote. In a statement responding to Trump’s announcement, Qommittee, a national network of drag artists and allies, accused the president of targeting drag performers “because we’re LGBTQ+. Period.”

Donald Trump taps quisling gay man and MAGA zealot Richard Grenell to be the Kennedy Center’s interim head.

Trump’s Kennedy Center purge was fueled by anti-drag and anti-LGBTQ+ extremist prejudice.

See Also:

The Advocate: Trump taps gay MAGA loyalist Ric Grenell as interim head of Kennedy Center

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

Viewers in media markets across the U.S. were confronted with an ad targeting LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights during the World Series this week that was so vile that stations aired a disclaimer before it. The ad is sparking backlash for its inflammatory language and graphic content. Funded by Constitution Party presidential candidate Randall Terry, the ad aired on local Fox affiliates like Kansas City’s WDAF and triggered an on-air content warning from stations obligated to broadcast it under federal rules. Some ABC affiliates have also run the ad with a disclaimer. In the ad, a speaker identifying as a Black pastor accuses Democrats of exploiting Black voters and promoting policies harmful to children, LGBTQ+ rights, and families. The speaker claims, “They have drag queens reading filth to our children, grooming them for sexual exploitation, mutilating their genitals, pushing same-sex marriage, killing our babies by the millions, [and] seducing us to destroy our families for a welfare check,” before concluding, “Don’t vote for Kamala [Harris] or any Democrat.” The ad includes graphic photos of disfigured fetuses.

[...] Terry, a longtime figure in anti-abortion activism, has a history of militant tactics that have raised concerns among civil rights groups. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Terry’s organization, Operation Rescue, was at the center of violent and disruptive tactics during the 1980s and 1990s. Operation Rescue organized aggressive blockades and protests at abortion clinics, resulting in numerous arrests and contributing to an environment that encouraged violence. The SPLC noted that Terry’s rhetoric and actions helped galvanize a faction within the anti-abortion movement that adopted increasingly aggressive and violent tactics, with clinic blockades and harassment evolving into acts of arson and murder. The SPLC reports that Terry’s influence played a significant role in the movement’s most extremist, dangerous phase, which placed healthcare providers and patients at risk. Recent data shows voters increasingly reject “mean-spirited” and divisive anti-trans ads. According to a Data for Progress survey, 54 percent of likely voters believe anti-trans ads have gone “out of hand,” and 74 percent say transgender people deserve dignity and respect. Voters in the poll expressed that their primary concerns remain focused on economic and health issues, not divisive cultural attacks.

TV networks such as Fox were forced to air an ad from Constitution Party Presidential candidate Randall Terry, and due to the ad featuring graphic content that had vile anti-LGBTQ+, anti-trans, and anti-abortion themes, the networks put a disclaimer.

See Also:

LGBTQ Nation: Anti-LGBTQ+ presidential candidate airs grisly anti-trans & abortion ads during World Series

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Greg Owen at LGBTQ Nation:

A woman on vacation in Hawaii lost it when she discovered three drag queens sitting in the lobby of her hotel. Beth Bourne, a local chair for the anti-LGBTQ+ Moms for Liberty chapter in Davis, California and an employee at the university there, came across the three drag artists at the Alohilani Resort Waikiki where she was staying.

The three performers were shooting a promotional video for an upcoming pageant when Bourne spotted them seated in the lobby on Sunday morning. After an earlier encounter, Bourne returned with phone in hand to record the premeditated confrontation. A video shot by one of victims, Honolulu drag queen Marina Del Rey, has gone viral. “Call the police!” the woman shouts at the hotel manager, who, along with other hotel employees, patiently tries to guide Bourne away from the drag artists. Wielding her phone like a weapon, Bourne is apoplectic as she describes the “misogyny” she’s witnessing and how the artists’ appearance is “degrading.”

“I paid to be a customer at a hotel where I thought that you believed that women were real!” Bourne rants as hotel guests gawk. “Because you put on makeup, because you put on high heels, because you have a Barbie outfit on, you don’t think this is degrading? This is misogyny!” Bourne, dressed in a black pajama top and matching shorts, continues her screed, pacing back and forth around staff and the queens she’s accosting. “If you give me back my money right now I will leave the hotel. But I will not have my children come down from the 30th floor and see what’s happening here! This is completely degrading. I wanna know what your names are because I’m going to share them,” Bourne threatens the artists. “Are you dressed up?” she asks one performer. “Are you a man? Are you a man pretending to be a woman?”

[...] The backstory to Bourne’s attack is a sad one. It turns out one of Bourne’s own kids recently came out as trans and nonbinary, pushing Bourne over the edge into her anti-trans activism — and tearing her family apart in the process.

Far-right Moms For Liberty chapter leader and UC Davis employee Beth Bourne caused a ruckus in the Alohilani Resort Waikiki in Hawaii with her anti-drag and anti-trans bigotry recently by harassing 3 drag performers in the lobby and shouting out vile dragphobic and transphobic remarks.

Bourne’s extreme anti-trans activism led to alienating her nonbinary kid Lily to the point of driving Lily out of the family home.

See Also:

The Advocate: California Moms for Liberty chair’s shocking attack on drag queens goes viral

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Donald Padgett at The Advocate:

A drag queen story hour at a Massachusetts library was canceled after the library received a bomb threat. A subsequent investigation by police revealed the call to be a false alarm, but the authorities are taking the threat seriously, local ABC affiliate WCVB reported. Police estimated around 100 people showed up outside Somerville Library on Saturday, with supporters vastly outnumbering protesters. Organizers planned to continue with the story hour until they received the bomb threat. The building was evacuated and searched, and organizers and community members decided it was best to cancel the event. “Hate has no place here in Somerville,” Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said. “When any one of us is hurt, we’re all hurt, so it’s just not acceptable.” One of the groups reportedly protesting the drag queen story hour on Sunday was Super Happy Fun America, a Massachusetts right-wing political advocacy group founded in 2019. The group praised the efforts of protesters but denounced and disavowed any connection to the bomb threat.

Far-right anti-LGBTQ+ group Super Happy Fun America gloated over the cancellation of a planned drag queen story hour at Somerville Library caused by a bomb threat.

This is what groups like Super Happy Fun America, Gays Against Groomers, and Libs of TikTok have helped incite over the past few years with their anti-drag extremism.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Molly Sprayregen at LGBTQ Nation:

The Arizona House’s speaker, Ben Toma (R), has punished Democrats for hosting a Drag Story Hour by banning the entire party from using House meeting rooms. The story hour took place on April 30 in the House basement and was hosted by nonbinary Rep. Lorena Austin (D) in partnership with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona.

On X, Toma claimed that Austin “deliberately misled House leadership to reserve a conference room to host a drag story hour with Planned Parenthood” and that “use of House facilities for radical activism to promote dangerously perverse ideology will not be tolerated while I am Speaker.” “As a result,” he concluded, “I’ve ordered that Democrats have lost the privilege of accessing House meeting rooms until trust can be restored.” The Arizona Senate Republicans posted video of the event, along with a warning that it may not be suitable for children, despite the fact that nothing in the video is inappropriate. The post claimed the event was meant to “encourage parents to transition their kids.” “Your taxpayer dollars are hard at work to push child indoctrination and woke ideology onto our citizens. The madness must stop.” The video, however, merely shows a person in drag reading about trans activism and telling adults to listen to their children when they tell them who they are.

Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R) let his dragphobia out by punishing the entire House Democratic caucus, such as barring them from using House meeting rooms.

This is all because of a Drag Queen Story Hour hosted by State Rep. Lorena Austin (D).

See Also:

PinkNews: Arizona House Democrats blocked from using meeting rooms after Drag Story Hour held: ‘Disgusting abuse of power’

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Daniel Villarreal at LGBTQ Nation:

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), the nation’s first out gay immigrant congressman, recently blasted House Republicans — and anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) — over the party’s proposed amendment banning drag performances on military bases. Garcia made an impassioned speech against it, noting that drag performances have occurred on military bases during wartime without issue, and that at least two Republican presidents have acknowledged that drag can be fun.

The amendment is one of several anti-LGBTQ+ amendments Republicans are trying to add to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a massive annual military spending bill. The anti-drag amendment was proposed by Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK). Republicans are also seeking to remove any military funding for gender-affirming surgeries and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to help make the military more diverse and welcoming to people from different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. “On behalf of the LGBTQ families, gay people who serve in our country, and frankly, anyone who just likes to have fun, I rise in strong opposition to this amendment,” Garcia said at the start of his speech. “There are a lot of threats to the health and well-being of our service members: oison water on military bases, toxic mold in military housing, PTSD, and suicide. So I see that a top Republican idea to protect our troops is actually to ban drag shows.”

[...] “My Republican colleagues want us to believe that gays are trying to murder us,” Garcia continued. “They want to believe that drag is harmful or immoral or wrong. This is completely ridiculous. Now, I hate to break it to my Republican colleagues, but LGBTQ people have fought and died for this country since the American Revolution, even if they were forced to hide their true selves.”

[...] “Drag is art, drag is culture, and drag is a form of comedy. Drag is not a crime and it’s not pornography,” Garcia continued, referencing recent Republican attempts to ban drag as a “sexual performance” that threatens children. “Now, real obscenity is when one of our colleagues, the gentlewoman from Georgia [Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene], shows photos of revenge porn in our oversight committee,” Garcia added, referencing the time that Greene showed a picture of Hunter Biden’s penis in a congressional hearing. “So if we want to end porn in government facilities, let’s ban that.” “We know that inclusion in our military is good for our country,” Garcia said in his conclusion. “We want to welcome anyone who wants to serve, and I’d invite my Republican colleagues to join at a drag show in the future. You’ll see that drag is not a threat. I’m convinced that some of you would really enjoy it. It’s my deep concern that this amendment is legitimizing an extremist narrative that drag performances are somehow harmful or threatening. Drag is art.”

Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) gave a well-researched and truthful speech on the House floor calling out the GOP’s dragphobia in a response to an anti-drag amendment from Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) that would ban drag shows from military bases, ignoring the long history of drag in the military before right-wing anti-drag show extremists began to make fake outrage hay about public drag anywhere.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Christopher Wiggins at The Advocate:

A drag performance at a New Mexico high school prom night has resulted in outrage, death threats against the performer, and more. Some parents of Atrisco Heritage Academy High School students were upset after the April 20 end-of-year dance after learning that it involved a performance by local drag artist Mythica Sahreen, whose real name is Dylan Payan. Albuquerque Public Schools confirmed that the school’s principal was replaced, and several employees were placed on administrative leave as they investigated the event. According to Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT, Payan said he received full clearance from the school’s administration, including the student body, prom officers, and the activities coordinator, indicating the performance was officially sanctioned. Payan is facing severe backlash, including death threats, which he reported to local law enforcement, according to KOAT.

“I’m getting death threats. I’ve already had to report this to the sheriff’s department. It’s okay to have your opinion. It’s okay to express it, but there’s an appropriate way to do that. The fact that I’m being belittled, harassed, and targeted — that my life for the past 36 hours has quite literally been destroyed, and I don’t know where this end is going to be right now. It’s hard, and I’m scared,” Payan said.

The performance has divided community opinion, with some praising the inclusivity and others questioning the suitability of such an act for a high school setting. In response to the fallout, APS appointed an acting principal. The event at the Albuquerque Convention Center featured Payan performing in drag, engaging with students in a way some parents later described as more fitting for a nightclub. These concerns were echoed by some community members on social media, where videos of the performance drew significant attention. The far-right anti-LGBTQ+ account Libs of TikTok, run by Chaya Raichik, escalated the situation by posting a video of the performance on April 24, describing it as a “provocative sexually explicit routine for kids” at Atrisco Heritage.

The consequences of anti-drag show extremism in action at Atrisco Heritage Academy High School in New Mexico: A principal got replaced after the performance.