A new report shows Texas saw more protests against drag shows than any other state this year. According to Equality Texas and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) there have been at least 23. There were at least 141 nationwide.
Equality Texas CEO Ricardo Martinez says no other state had more than ten. He fears these protests could become dangerous. "There is a correlation between the hate that is spoken by some legislators against our community." He calls that dangerous and irresponsible.
Some of the examples in Texas he says included neo-nazis wearing swastikas and transphobic signs at a Pflugerville restaurant, armed protests raising arms in nazi salutes disrupting drag bingo in Katy.
He says there were also protestors, who have a history of photographing children without consent protesting drag performances at a restaurant in Houston. A drag show at a San Antonio concert venue had to be canceled citing threats against performers and their staff.
Martinez says there's a formula being used by those who attack the LGBTQ community. "They replicate it time and time again. You saw it back with Anita Bryant, you saw it during the AIDS epidemic, you saw it during marriage equality. They are taking things about our community that
people don't understand and inserting disinformation. That is creating an outage."
He says business owners and performers are feeling the heat. "The chilling effect of having someone saying you're going to be thrown in jail, the threats of violence directed to you and your family, the possibility of doxxing, that's enough to make anybody feel really unsafe. We contribute to the richness of the fabric of Texas. This is not the Texas that we are. We are the friendship state...we have to push back against this type of extremism. If we don't, this conditions people to believe this is not normal...it is normal for us to be dehumanized."
He adds 30 anti LGBTQ bills have been pre-filed for the upcoming Texas legislative session.
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