“Reading afternoon by drag queens quietly moved forward to evade protestors”

Thanks to an intervention by the organization, the reading afternoon of drag queens in Rotterdam went off without a hitch. In view of the announced protests, the organization decided to silently bring forward the reading by a few hours.

Instead of at 2 p.m., the reading started at 10:30 a.m. When several hundred activists, including dozens of opponents of the event, arrived at Theater LantarenVenster in the afternoon, the activity had already ended. The theater says it has brought the performance forward in order not to expose parents and children to the protests.

A small number of demonstrators were nevertheless already present at the theater. The two drag queens left the theater hand in hand after the reading. They got an egg thrown at them. Activists who supported the drag queens received them with cheers. The police have arrested someone. It is not clear whether that is a pro or counter protester.

In the run-up to the reading afternoon, threatening phone calls came to the theater from various quarters. The conservative gay interest organization De Roze Leeuw wanted to demonstrate, as did the youth department of the Forum for Democracy. Supporters of BIJ1 wanted to hold a counter-demonstration.

The theater then announced that measures had been taken to ensure that the afternoon went smoothly and safely.

In recent times, the LGBTI community, including drag queens, has been the victim of violence on several occasions. In Groningen, employees of a drag show bar were assaulted. And in Eindhoven, a rainbow flag was ripped from the COC building. The demonstrators abused those present in the building and tried to set the flag on fire.

Drag queens are also under fire in the United States. That was the case at the beginning of this month Tennessee at the last minute a law suspended that drag shows prohibits. If that law had been passed, drag queens would no longer be allowed to perform in public places or near children.

Ma’Ma Queen, one of the most famous drag queens in the Netherlands, talks about the increasing criticism and incidents in the life of a drag queen in this video: