A spokesperson for CLIP said: "Drag as an artform is a time honoured cultural phenomenon in the British theatre lexicon, from early passion plays and Shakespeare, to Dame Edna Everage, drag performance has been part of our heritage since the 1500s, and just like all performance, there are, within the genre, different types of content that's created for different age groups, this is true of every artform."

Turning Point UK organised four speakers for its protest, including Lawrence Fox and Calvin Robertson, who attended another protest last month about a drag storytelling event at The Honor Oak pub in Forest Hill.

Heh. Fox is SUCH a bellend it almost defies belief.

Oh yes he is.

not 100% their fault tbf if the website said it was still happening

scary times we’re heading into to be honest (and its telling the organiser has had to cancel these events over safety concerns)

I read something the other week about them pitching up somewhere else in south london to protest a drag event and being sent packing by the community.

LOL@twotS

I have no interest in... drag as an artform but it's screamingly funny how hot under the collar the alt-right is getting. Just switch your telly off, FFS.

Mind you, I'm not quite sure why schools would particularly invite a drag performer to read to a class? I'm also not quite sure whether it's actually happened.

Is drag un-PC nowadays? Does this mean we can't chortle at Dick Emery any more? 

Benj - I think it has, certainly to library events targeted at children.  But as with pretty much all of these things, these events were always completely innocuous (drag performers are  business people providing an agreed service in return for money, with the aim of being asked back, for heaven's sake, not foot soldiers in an underground army tasked with indoctrinating small children in, I dunno, the joys of platform heels, one overlong eyelash at a time).

The fact that a couple of fvcking idiots (there are always a couple of fvcking idiots) decided to fvck with the formula and introduce some distinctly non child friendly content into the mix seems to have been taken as a reason to legitimise the bleating of reactionary dickwads who were secretly always a bit uncomfortable around "those" sorts of people, but couldn't say so out loud until now.

An example of one of (I think) one of the first to do this - these events have been going for years, in one form or the other, with no problems (at least, that I had heard of) until, as with so many things at the moment, they got caught up in the ongoing sh1tstorm between the usual suspects.  And now, they are just more collateral damage in the gender war of attrition.

Cru - exactly - see the stuff on TV (Mrs Browns Boys), Dame Edna etc - never previously been an issue

Jamie - of course, those examples would never be considered "drag", I'm sure because their look is completely sexless, all about the grotesque.

But while "modern day" may be more concerned about the aesthetic, there is still nothing intrinsically sexual about it, certainly not in the overwhelming majority of the shows that were presented to children.

I recall some pranksters proposing Henley as a venue for the world pole dancing championship.  Many residents were very supportive.

Rof’s trans haters are enabling the hatred being fomented here. Stop arguing about what you think a man or a woman is and own up to being reactionary bigots petrified by diversity.

From the original link:

"They added: "[Turning Point UK] appear to be opposing our Drag Storytime event for the under 5s, an event that took place in July 2022."

Drag isn't appropriate for kids, subject to cognitive development til they're 25ish. Subjecting kids to hyper-sexualised content puts them at risk of sexual disassociation from their bodies and sexual abuse.

Isn't it obvious why this'd be a safeguarding issue? Isn't it obvious why exposing infants to men masquerading as extreme cartoon-esque, hyper-sexualised ideas of women is harmful to infants in the height of cognitive development?

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/london-library-redbridge-monkey-cost…

Redbridge Council paid Rainbow Dildo Butt Monkey to entertain children. Do you find this ok?

"see the stuff on TV (Mrs Browns Boys), Dame Edna etc - never previously been an issue"

Hyper-sexualised content has long been an issue, hence why some content only runs after certain hours, or runs with warnings about the intended audience, or runs with info about who to contact in the event that it's triggering.

Parents are expected to care about their children, check they aren't being subject to age inappropriate content, and keep them away from hyper-sexualised content and people who intend to cause them harm.

Drag isn't appropriate for kids, subject to cognitive development til they're 25ish.

this must be a parody account

But that is not what is driving the trans haters, trivially and obviously and you can only make a counter argument by citing extreme examples. What is driving the trans haters is fear of the other and reactionary conservatism, and is exactly the sort of illiberal authoritarianism which ends with camps and pogroms. You know that, so stop trying to trivialise the issue with, yes, pantomime examples. 

Rumtroll off on one again. The way they go on I bet there's a few skeletons in the closet. 

Houston television station KHOU reported:

A registered child sex offender has been reading to children at Houston Public Library as part of its Drag Queen Storytime. A group called Mass Resistance, which has been trying to put an end to the program, contacted KHOU about the child sex offender ... A media spokesperson for the library confirmed one of the program’s drag queens, Tatiana Mala Nina, is Alberto [sic] Garza, a 32-year-old child sex offender. In 2008, he was convicted of assaulting an 8-year-old boy."

The event's organizers stated that Garza was able to take part in Drag Queen Storytime because they only began performing background checks in October 2018, shortly after Garza's final appearance at the event. Houston Public Library does its own background checking on all volunteers, but according to KTRK-TV, Garza slipped through the cracks because she gave her name as "Nicky Salazar" and did not provide a date of birth or Social Security number.

Blackface was considered ‘acceptable’, until about 30 years ago. 

Cant folks see that Drag Queen is a very sad form of misogyny that we should all now be resiling from.

Its also fairly grotesque.

And, of course, as is oh so predictable, magnetic for male predators who seek to abuse women and children, and their supporters who think males should be able to behave however they like towards women and children.

And, of course, as is oh so predictable, magnetic for male predators who seek to abuse women and children

A nonexistent drag event? In a pub? I can see how that might be a magnet for thick bigots. 

I don't think a drag event (existent or not) is going to produce the usual interest on rof. If anyone thinks it would, they've misunderstood as usual.

Unsurprised to see Rumpole posting nonsense, bit of gammony rubbish from Marshall. Tom Fun might have a nibble. But not otherwise.

A drag story time event for the under 5s. Can't be any worse than a panto I suppose. The bigots are just puritans really. They talk of harm and abuse but it's our morals they want to protect. 

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-strange-reaction-to-the-death-o…

On Sunday 22 January 2023, Darren Moore was found dead. Moore was a long-standing and well-known drag artist in Cardiff where he lived.  

He was also a convicted child rapist. 

But this chilling fact has been almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media as they report his death. Instead, the commentary and news coverage has been hugely positive about Moore’s life. At times, the coverage has bordered on gushing, with article after article going into great detail about the warm tributes to Moore pouring in from the local community. 

Moore was jailed in March 1999 after being convicted of four counts of rape of a boy aged under 16. 

He was also banned from having contact with children. However, in 2011, he was sentenced for breaching his sex offender’s order, after being caught working with children as a dance and gymnastics coach.  

25 ‘ish’.

🤡

Even the other usual suspects have avoided this thread, no doubt not wishing to openly associate themselves with a far right group.

Most of the other usual suspects have no problem whatsoever with drag, as you would instinctively realise if the culture wars hadn't altered your perception so much Tom.

Dude, not sure we’ve ever had any beef and I used to generally agree with you but I think you were absent from RoF for a while? There have been threads where the ‘usual suspects’ (ie the alt right and some of those radicalised by their narratives) absolutely do have a problem with drag.

FWIW I’m not a fan of it but I don’t have a problem with it.

He’s behind you.

every time I see a drag act I think

a bearded man in a dress. this has been done before.

BUT

it seems to annoy people I loathe

Some ^^^^ usual suspects usualling non shocka

Rof’s trans haters are enabling the hatred being fomented here. Stop arguing about what you think a man or a woman is and own up to being reactionary bigots petrified by diversity.

There are very few trans haters on rof.  They do exist, but are not the same as every person who disagrees with the TRAs.  The hatred is being enabled by lots of people, including those who purport to give a shit about transfolk.

"Drag isn't appropriate for kids, subject to cognitive development til they're 25ish."

Blooming brilliant. Although, hold up - if that is accurate... Rumpole, you wouldn't happen to be quite a bit under 25, would you? Because, that would explain a LOT...

That line is proof that Rumpole is a troll, Cru.