The Texas Democratic Convention was held in El Paso and ended on Saturday. The convention featured speakers such as transgender activist Charlotte Clymer, gun control activist David Hogg, and "full-time" drag queen Brigitte Bandit.
Bandit – who hosts a drag show titled "Big T**s Bigger Dreams" and promotes the "Big D***s Bigger Dreams" drag show – declared to have "worked with children for over a decade" at the Texas Democratic Convention.
Bandit – who regularly posts sexually explicit photos on Instagram – has hosted several drag queen story hours for children, read to kids at a face-painting drag story hour with arts and crafts at the so-called all-ages "Family Dragtivity Day" in Austin, and is seen on video performing a show in front of several very young children.
Bandit argued that children are safer at a drag queen story hour than at their own schools.
Bandit – a biological male – spoke about the necessity for hormone blockers for trans youth at the three-day convention.
"Hormone blockers that are medically necessary for more than just trans youth," Bandit said. "Gender-affirming care is life-saving. We have a duty to protect our most marginalized communities. Trans kids deserve to grow into healthy adults."
Bandit concluded, "Free Palestine, long live Texas drag, protect trans kids, and happy Pride Month, everybody."
Bandit sued the state over Texas Senate Bill 12, legislation attempting to protect children from sexually oriented performances on public property. The bill was ultimately shot down by a federal judge in September and deemed to be "unconstitutionally overbroad and vague," according to the Texas Tribune.
Bandit reacted to the bill's demise by leading the crowd at a drag queen showcase in a chant against Republicans: "F*** Ted Cruz! F*** Greg Abbott! Trans Texans belong here! Drag queens belong here!"
In a 2023 profile by the Austin Chronicle, Bandit told the outlet, "I remember as a kid really struggling to learn the gender binary. I really struggled with understanding, like, okay, who's a boy and who's a girl? I remember the very first time I saw a butch lesbian – it blew my mind, it blew my mind! I think I've always understood that gender is something that's taught."
Bandit told the outlet about working with children since the age of 15.
"I've just been around kids in different ways throughout my life. It's comfortable for me. It's natural. I've always liked it," Bandit said.
Bandit's first performed in a drag show at age 26.
Bandit wears a breastplate for the onstage identity, and stated, "I have these big fake t***ies and I do outrageous stuff – just campy, goofy, big, colorful s**t."
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An activist drove onto a sidewalk while honking incessantly in an attempt to silence a single senior citizen who was protesting a drag queen story time at a public library.
Larry Heather, who was protesting outside the Nose Hill Library in Calgary, Canada, was at times a lone protester opposite the library with a sign against "male nudity in female change room[s]."
The driver, allegedly a drag queen himself, parked on the wrong side of the road, against traffic, for approximately half an hour honking his horn at Heather. The driver was seen driving up onto the sidewalk at different times, as well.
"He's one of the performers, obviously not working today but defending his compadres and a very unhappy man," Heather told Media Bezirgan.
"He would disturb the peace of this district with endless horn honking, which they actually gave tickets for to the freedom convoy people," the man explained.
The senior also told media that the driver pointed at him as if he were threatening to run him over.
"It's indicative of the great guilt in his soul," Heather continued. "Such is the spirit of these performers, these radicals ... and they wouldn't be acting this way unless their so-called business wasn't being crimped very severely."
EXCLUSIVE:\nAn anti-drag protester in Calgary, Alberta, commented on his experience confronting a counter-protester who invaded the sidewalk and pointed his car toward him, \xe2\x80\x9cas if he were threatening to run us over.\xe2\x80\x9d\n\nThe driver, allegedly a drag queen, parked on the wrong side of\xe2\x80\xa6— (@)
No police presence was initially reported; however, when an officer appeared in the area, the driver reportedly sped off through a school zone away from the scene.
Despite no reported enforcement against this driver, Calgary Police set a disturbing precedent in 2022 when they ticketed drivers in the city for honking in support of anti-lockdown protesters.
In one instance in March 2022, police issued 14 summonses for excessive use of a horn after two anti-mandate rallies were held on a Saturday. At the same time, bylaw enforcers issued 23 tickets for excessive horn-honking.
A dozen activists protested in support of the library's drag queen story hour event, displaying signs that read "protect trans youth" and "my existence is not political" written on transgender flags.
A group called Queer Citizens United called for the protest and asked citizens to "stand up to hate."
Evidently, the group called responses to the event "homophobic & transphobic" protests by "hate groups."
"Do not engage with their bigotry, wear clothing to obscure your features. Do not engage with cops," the notice read. It also advised activists to "play copyrighted music" and remain "calm, aware," and "firm."
\xf0\x9f\x9a\xa8 CALL TO ACTION \xf0\x9f\x9a\xa8\n\n\xf0\x9f\x93\x85 December 19 at 9:30am\n\n\xf0\x9f\x93\x8dNose Hill Library \n1520 Northmount Drive NW\n\nWe've seen some evidence of a larger tha usual protest being planned and are requesting extra support to defend this program. \n\nPlease join us if you can!\n#nospaceforhate #stophateyyc— (@)
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A southern California drag queen story hour was prevented from taking place Wednesday after protesters blocked the entrance of the San Fernando Library and repeatedly hollered "leave our kids alone!" at the wig-wearing performer Pickle, who stood on the sidewalk seemingly dumbfounded by the pushback.
The San Fernando Sun reported that that "50 right-wing demonstrators ... illegally blockaded the entrances to the library."
Here's another clip that shows at least six uniformed officers standing right in the midst of the raucous crowd, and yet police didn't appear to intervene one bit. Content warning: Profanity:
— (@)
It's worth noting that a leftist militant earlier this year sucker-punched a videographer in the head outside a drag queen story hour in West Hollywood, and a sheriff's deputy standing just feet away did nothing in response. So one might conclude that law enforcement is at least behaving with some consistency.
County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office organized the drag queen story hour to help celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month, the Sun reported, adding that Horvath was at the library and saw the protest in person.
To say that Horvath was displeased is an understatement, as she fired off a rant on social media following the event's cancellation.
"Protestors claimed they want to keep children safe while they pounded on doors, shouted obscenities & slurs toward my staff and library staff, and used strollers to blockade moving vehicles," she posted on X. "The hypocrisy is astounding."
Horvath added, "These disgusting tactics and efforts to incite violence prevented Pickle and Library patrons from even entering the building. I hope no one does to their families what they did to their neighbors today."
She concluded with the following:
Libraries will not be breeding grounds for indoctrination of hate and contempt toward our fellow neighbor.
I apologize to the families who were excited, but could not get in; to Pickle, a respected drag artist and West Hollywood’s Drag Laureate, who was determined that the program be held; and to the dedicated Library staff who have to show bravery by just showing up to work.
The protestors’ message and actions today will not win in our continued fight for LGBTQ+ rights and equality. We will continue to build communities where every person is treated with dignity and respect – and diversity is celebrated, not attacked or shamed.
Pickle was understandably sour over the protest as well, telling the Sun: “It is a person’s right to protest and demonstrate. It is not a person’s right to prevent public programming from occurring. It is not a person’s right to physically prevent a protected class of citizens from entering a public library. And it is the responsibility of the county, it is the responsibility of the Sheriff’s Department, to ensure that those freedoms are protected. That did not happen today."
San Fernando Police Lieutenant Pete Aguirre told the paper that the department was “advised of the protest with sufficient time to bring in resources” and that roughly 10 officers were present in preparation for the demonstration, along with a few county sheriff's deputies.
Aguirre added to the Sun that the “primary objective" of law enforcement was "to ensure no one got assaulted, no one got injured. And in that end, we were successful. Secondary to that was opening the thruway to ensure people could get in and out.”
The paper said that "despite an illegal blockade of public space, no violence ensued, and no arrests were made."
Alyssa Sonora, an organizer of the protest and cofounder of the San Fernando Valley Alliance community action group, told the Sun that due to drag queen story hours "we have to have these conversations with our kids at such a young age. It’s frustrating. We weren’t ready to have these conversations with them."
Pickle was unmoved, telling the paper that "drag is an art form, like ballet or acting or singing — an art form that encourages expression. The work that I do is not only appropriate for children, but it is tailored to meet their educational goals to encourage them to read. It sets a very dangerous precedent to imagine that a person should not be allowed to read stories because of the way they look.”
Sergio Amalfitano, a local business owner who showed up in support of the event, told the Sun that "if you say that you don’t want to bring your kid to a drag queen story hour, by all means, don’t. But if you want to, you should be able to. The thing that was scary was the protesters. They were literally filming a little girl, and they were telling the mom that she deserved to have that child taken away. And they were telling the mom that she was a pedophile. And this little girl was crying in her mom’s arms. I had to stand physically in front of this grown man trying to film this child, to block him from filming her.”
According to the Daily Mail, Pickle posted on Instagram that "I will certainly not be intimidated by a mob, and I am thoroughly disappointed that I and other patrons were physically prevented from entering a public library and that the program was cancelled. I will be pursuing a thorough investigation of what happened today and will not stop until responsible parties are held accountable."
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'These are the kinds of books that are fun, imaginative, but they're reinforcing the worldview and the values that parents so desperately want.'
Cancel culture pack leader Nellie Bowles' new persona is a 'hemming-and-hawing moderate' willing to poke fun at anyone.
Libraries are 'good places that do all kinds of things that people on the right don’t like,' ALA President Emily Drabinski said.
Leaders from more than a dozen conservative organizations are calling on states to ditch the ALA.
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