Drag Performer Protest Campaign Spreads Beyond Kennedy Center into Impacted States and Cities

Jun 18

21 performers from states facing bans launch petition with Qommittee and MoveOn demanding end to attacks on Pride and drag

Drag Performers: Click Here to Co-Sponsor

NATIONAL – One week after drag performers supported by Qommittee protested President Trump's Kennedy Center performance in full drag, the effort movement is expanding into the states and cities where performers face the most severe threats. Twenty drag artists from Idaho, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah have launched a national petition with Qommittee and MoveOn demanding that elected officials stop attacks on Pride celebrations and drag performances across America. Incidents targeting drag performers and Pride events in recent years include bomb threats, armed protests, harassment campaigns, and death threats sent to individual artists testifying at state legislatures. Read more about the Kennedy Center protest in Entertainment Weekly, the Advocate, and the New York Times.

The petition, "Stop Attacks on Pride, LGBTQ+ People, and Drag: Protect Free Expression Nationwide," has already garnered over 17,600 signatures from constituents of Qommittee and MoveOn and calls on governors, state legislators, and local officials to reject restrictions on Pride and drag events, stop targeting LGBTQ+ people through discriminatory laws, and hold accountable those who threaten performers and venues. “These attacks are designed to silence LGBTQ+ voices and erase trans and gender-nonconforming people from public life,” reads the petition. “When governments can ban one form of art, no creative expression is safe.”

Drag Defense Handbook

The campaign comes after the launch of Qommittee's Drag Defense Handbook, a 43-page guide providing step-by-step instructions for performers facing harassment and threats. The handbook, created with input from performers who survived attacks including Molotov cocktail bombings and FBI-investigated harassment campaigns, covers crisis response, digital security, First Amendment protections, and alternatives to law enforcement. Read more about the Handbook on NPR, Billboard, and The Hill.

Featured Quotes from Artists

Maxine LaQueene in the Texas State Capitol

Maxine LaQueene, Austin, Texas
Qo-founder of Qommittee and "The Suspiciously Large Trans Woman of Austin Texas.” LaQueene also spoke at the Austin, Texas “No Kings” event this past weekend.

About her drag: "Maxine LaQueene is The Suspiciously Large Trans Woman of Austin Texas! My drag is trans excellence, it is activism and charity focused. It's all about being a community leader while expressing my feminity through the artform!"
"The attacks on drag aren't just attacks on performers—they're attacks on free expression, on LGBTQ+ people, and on anyone who dares to be different. By coming for drag, they're testing how much hate they can get away with before coming for the rest of us. But when they try to silence us, we get louder. When they try to erase us, we become more visible. When they try to divide us, we stand together."

Miss Cali Je - Reading Time with the Queens in Pocatello, Idaho

Miss Cali Je, Pocatello, Idaho
President of Reading Time with the Queens and a Qommittee Peer Supporter

About her drag: "Miss Cali is the president of Reading Time with the Queens. She loves to create costuming and programming that she would have enjoyed as a queer kids."
Why she’s sponsoring this petition: "Drag has the power to change the world for the better, to create more inclusive and loving environments for everyone. The fact that some want to ban drag says more about them than it does about the art of drag. This is the type of programming we needed when we were younger."