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Armed protesters gathered outside a theater in Texas on Tuesday to protest a Christmas-themed drag show they claimed was “grooming kids” and should be restricted to those 18 and older.
The group This Is Texas Freedom Force (TITFF) led the demonstration to protest the show called ‘A Drag Queen Christmas’ at the Aztec Theater in San Antonio, Texas.
The traveling show features alumni from RuPaul’s Drag Race and has been on the road for two months before Christmas. The show is not intended to be for children, nor for all ages, despite TITFF’s claims.
Opposition protesters arrived to support the show, and police were also deployed at the planned demonstrations.
This is the second time this month that protesters have threatened a drag event in the city.
Warning: graphic language
Nina West (left) hosted the traveling show ‘A Drag Queen Christmas’ as protesters gathered outside the Teatro Azteca. They are pictured with actress Sophie Turner in 2019.
The group that arrived for the planned protests was from the group This Is Texas Freedom Force. The FBI has identified the far-right group as extremist militants.
The protests were organized with the TITFF, who made unsubstantiated claims that the traveling show was “grooming children”.
Posting on their Twitter, the group said: ‘This all could have been avoided, make the show 18+. Even the opposition claims that the show is not aimed at children, so why allow them in? Oh, that’s right, because it’s about preparing the children, they want children there.’
Another group carrying banners reading ‘united against anti-LGBTA terrorism’ stood across the street demonstrating with megaphones.
Around 7 pm, protesters supporting the drag show and demonstrating against it filled the streets surrounding the Teatro Azteca in San Antonio.
Todrick Hall was a special guest on the ‘A Drag Queen Christmas’ tour. They are pictured performing at Brighton Pride, UK, in August 2022.
The protests are not believed to have turned violent at any time. However, groups and individuals were seen confronting each other.
A man carrying a canvas painted with a pride flag was seen clashing with protesters led by the far-right group. A San Antonio police officer drove him back to where his group was demonstrating.
A protester in support of the drag show was heard chanting: “When trans lives are under attack, what do we do?”
Fellow protesters responded: ‘stand up, fight back’.
The group was then heard repeatedly yelling, ‘Trans lives matter.’
Both sides of the protests were armed. One of the supporters of the drag event said Texas Public Radio who came to the counter-demonstration with a rifle to match the intimidation of the far-right group.
He said: ‘I know they use guns to try to intimidate people on the left, and they can’t do that if we’re also armed. I’m not here to try to shoot anybody or anything like that, but if you want to try to intimidate, well, we can deal with it, and to me this is an expression of that.’
By around 7 p.m., protesters supporting the drag show and demonstrating against it had filled the streets surrounding the Teatro Azteca in San Antonio.
A man protesting the show ‘Drag Queen Christmas’ told reporters: ‘We don’t allow children in strip clubs. We don’t allow them into comedy clubs. We don’t allow them into R-rated movies. He is 18 years old and over. Drag Queen shows should be the same way.
“We have people there who are performing and men who are skimpily dressed in women’s underwear and things like that, that’s no place for a child.”
It is unclear if the drag show ever claimed to be for children.
Journalist ford fischer reported that among the group of protesters were people from the white nationalist organization Patriot Front. They chanted ‘strong families, strong nation’.
Once the drag show ended around 10:30, the protests came to an end without conflict.
But this isn’t the first time protests have threatened a drag show.
Earlier this month, another theater in San Antonio canceled drag shows for the foreseeable future. the Starlighter said that “we were making them feel unsafe in our own space.” and have been ‘harassed and threatened’.
They said that for the safety of their drag queens, staff, and patrons, they would cancel their drag events for the rest of the year.
In the US, this has become a contentious issue, with numerous clashes.
In New York, clashes broke out in connection with a violent confrontation at the New York Public Library with protesters who boycotted a children’s drag reading event on Saturday, December 10.
On camera is a New York man (front left) inciting protesters, hurling insults and slanderous gestures at parents holding signs with messages such as ‘Leave our children alone’, ‘Turn it off’ and ‘ Respect Children’, at the New York Public Library on December 10
A violent confrontation broke out at the New York Public Library, in which a man (front left) clashed with protesters boycotting a children’s drag reading event on Saturday, December 10.
The drag event, like many others across the country, drew some unwanted criticism. In this case, members of a local conservative group were dissatisfied with the holding of the event.
The protesting group rallied as the children were safely separated into another room.
A man was seen inciting the protesters, while hurling insults and defamatory gestures at parents who carried signs with messages such as ‘Leave our children alone’, ‘Turn it off’ and ‘Respect children’.
The confrontation eventually turned physical, after the man ripped a sign from a protester’s hands and placed his hands on a plainclothes police officer.
A few feet away, a woman led a small child away from the chaos, and the man was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, harassment, attempted assault, and obstruction of government administration.