{"id":572646,"date":"2023-05-01T17:59:41","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T14:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-big-idea-defend-drag-shows\/"},"modified":"2023-05-01T17:59:41","modified_gmt":"2023-05-01T14:59:41","slug":"the-big-idea-defend-drag-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-big-idea-defend-drag-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"#The Big Idea: Defend Drag Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n We need a way to protect LGBTQ+ Canadians\u2014especially drag performers\u2014from harm. An Ontario traffic law could work.\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cI\u2019d love it if these bubbles started popping up across the country, in drag capitals like Toronto and in small towns alike. I\u2019d love it even more if we didn\u2019t need to use them.\u201d (Illustration by Pete Ryan)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Kristyn Wong-Tam <\/b><\/span>is a member of provincial parliament and the critic on 2SLGBTQ+ issues for the Ontario New Democratic Party.<\/em><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t do heels very well. I never have. I came out when I was a teenager, and my introduction to the world of drag largely happ<\/a>ened in nightclubs and at parties in downtown Toronto. There I was, an awkward kid with limited life experience, watching queens like Michelle Ross entertain their admirers at Komrads dance club, strutting like Amazons across a shining floor to the tunes of Donna Summer. One of my most powerful drag memories is of watching RuPaul perform at the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation in 1993. I was in a 10-person lineup for the porta-potty when the early beats of \u201cSupermodel (You Better Work)\u201d came on; everyone deserted the queue to watch Ru own the stage in her wig, American flag\u2013inspired bodysuit and sky-high boots. Back on earth\u2014and in runners\u2014I was giddy.<\/p>\n

LGBTQ+ rights have come a long way since then. (RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race<\/em> just finished its 15th season.) But certain folks want us to go back to the Dark Ages. In recent years, trans and non-binary individuals\u2014who make up a tiny fraction of the population\u2014have found themselves the targets of a ramped-up global disinformation campaign by conservative religious fundamentalists to sway public opinion toward hatred. Not all drag artists are trans, but their joyful, gender-blurring acts have nonetheless become a wedge issue, and the performers themselves have been wrongly vilified as \u201cgroomers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canadians sometimes like to think of ourselves as different from our American neighbours, but the anti-trans sentiment flying around state senates has germinated here all on its own. Between 2020 and 2021, Statistics Canada documented a 64 per cent increase in reported hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community\u2014and those are just the ones we know about. Attacks on drag performers and events have also swept the country: a Calgary drag-on-ice event scheduled for February was shut down over safety concerns. Drag storytimes in Peterborough, Ontario, and Coquitlam, B.C., received torrents of online backlash, as did a recent \u201cWinter\u2019s A Drag\u201d event hosted by a distillery in Elora, Ontario.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a0Far-right religious groups protest my drag storytime events. Here\u2019s why I won\u2019t stop.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A performer named Crystal Quartz, who is based in Guelph, Ontario, opened my eyes to how these protests unfold in real life. Not only was she being doxxed\u2014her home address was published online\u2014Crystal had to contact the police in every jurisdiction where she\u2019d booked shows to make sure she\u2019d be protected. Venue owners often had to call in extra security. Last winter, I travel<\/a>led to Hamilton for one of Crystal\u2019s performances and saw the reason for myself: a dozen angry protesters, clad in balaclavas and army fatigues, yelling and waving upside-down Canada flags a few metres away from young families heading into a restaurant for a fun, glittery lunch. I\u2019ve seen a lot of protests in my life, but that experience was entirely jarring.<\/p>\n

In early April, I introduced a private member\u2019s bill, the Keeping 2SLGBTQI+ Communities Safe Act, in the Ontario legislature as a way to protect this community. One clause would set up an advisory committee to establish a long-term strategy to deal with anti-LGBTQ+ hate. Until this bill, there was nothing on the books that covered sporadic, one-off events\u2014like drag brunches and storytimes\u2014which typically move between venues. So the bill\u2019s other, shorter-term clause would allow \u201ccommunity safety zones\u201d to protect drag performances across the province. Ontarians might recognize this term from traffic signage that threatens to double their speeding fines in school zones. But in the past, this provision has also been used to establish safe perimeters around abortion facilities and vaccine clinics, which drew protests during the pandemic. We\u2019d essentially be borrowing this old tool for a new purpose.<\/p>\n

In the interest of preventing any more vitriol from reaching patrons, the act (if passed) would give Ontario\u2019s attorney general<\/a> the power to establish temporary community safety zones 100 metres in front of and around the venue doors. Anyone who commits anti-LGBTQ+ intimidation, harassment or hate speech within that bubble would be subject to a fine of up to $25,000. (The upper limit of that penalty would likely be applied in cases of criminal assault, not the simple honking of horns.)<\/p>\n

The attorney general could work with emergency services and local law enforcement\u2014who are used to monitoring potential public disturbances online\u2014to set the address and timelines for the bubbles and announce them via media<\/a> advisories that cost taxpayers nothing. There would be no burden on business owners to call in extra police services, which pulls resources from nearby cities. When the performance is over, the bubble zone would be lifted. At the very least, the mere existence of these zones could act as a deterrent.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0A rainbow house beaming with Pride in the face of anti-LGBTQ hate crimes<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I also want to make one thing clear: this legislation would not stop Canadians from exercising their right to free speech. In the days following the bill\u2019s announcement, my staff told me it was covered by Fox News<\/a> and Breitbart<\/em>. (My team acted as a buffer between me and the backlash for a few days.) Online commenters did not seem particularly interested in an important nuance of the bill, which is that it protects citizens\u2019 rights to congregate and to protest. Basically, bring your signs (within reason) and MAGA swag, but if this bill passes, you\u2019re not crossing that invisible line.<\/p>\n

Private member\u2019s bills don\u2019t typically pass because many are tabled by opposition or independent MPPs. If the attorney general pushes it through, however, the Keeping 2SLGBTQI+ Communities Safe Act could pass within weeks. If he doesn\u2019t, it could take years. As scary as things are out there, government officials are looking for solutions on how to keep LGBTQ+ people safe. In fact, some cities already have their own community safety zones, just under a different name. I\u2019d love it if these bubbles started popping up across the country, in drag capitals like Toronto and in small towns alike. I\u2019d love it even more if we didn\u2019t need to use them.<\/p>\n

Drag means different things to different people. To bachelorette parties, it\u2019s a fun evening-ender. To chain restaurants, it\u2019s a novel way to fill seats outside of peak service times. A lot of drag performers will tell you that they\u2019re just entertainers looking to make a living; others see themselves as cultural storykeepers for the queer community, peppering their routines with political commentary. Some parents aren\u2019t into the idea of drag storytime. They\u2019re welcome to stay home for that hour or two.<\/p>\n

The point of these safety zones isn\u2019t to force people to embrace drag. It\u2019s to show that these events, and the people who run them, deserve safety\u2014even if the pastime isn\u2019t for everyone. Take my four-year-old son, for example. Right now, he can\u2019t sit through a full meal, and mascots in Paw Patrol costumes scare him, so drag brunch isn\u2019t his scene. But my wife and I are both queer, and soon we\u2019ll bring him to one, as we\u2019ve done with Pride events since he was born. We want him to know we live in a beautiful, diverse world. I hope one day he leaves a drag event thinking the same thing I did after seeing RuPaul in Washington all those years ago: There are so many of us. They can\u2019t do anything to stop us.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n