There was a noisy protest with a heavy police presence at an all-ages drag event in Calgary on Sunday morning.
Protesters who were against the event were met by LGBTQ2S+ supporters. The two groups were face-to-face outside the Rec Room where the event was set to be held at 10:30 a.m.Some came with signs saying: Save the Children. Others placards read: We Are Your Children.
“I am trans and I was a trans child too,” said counter demonstrator Comrade Borscht. “Drag events are safe queer spaces. Especially for queer children it can be very comforting to see people like them around —people who have gone through some oppression and discrimination and they were challenged with it. But in the end, they are thriving and having fun and dancing to some silly songs.”
Police say there were around 30 protestors at the event compared to around 100 counter protestors.
One person was removed and arrested but not charged.
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There were over 20 officers on scene — some using mountain bikes as a barriers between the two groups but the Calgary Police Service said the gathering was relatively peaceful.
Those supporting the drag event said they were happy to see many people come out to support diversity and inclusion.
Anna Murphy was at the event and said she would like to see elected members of the community come and show their support.
“I think we see it when we have our leaders show up, so whether that is our municipal leaders, our provincial leaders, our federal leaders stand up and be bold in their ally-ship. So we need people like our premier and our ministers to stand up and recognize that they need to fund quality affirming healthcare. They need to show up not only having wonderful words but they need to show up and they need to put policies in place. They need to come out and support businesses like the Rec Room that are putting their ally-ship into action,” Murphy said.
Some protestors said there are concerned people are trying to push ideologies onto children.
“Parents are concerned about children being exposed to things that are beyond their developmental age to handle,” said Kim, a protestor who only gave her first name.
She was carrying a sign that read: “Stop sexually exploiting children.”
“We are kind of a mixed group. I think you’re going to have extremists on either side. They want to stir up strife. I’m not here to stir up strife. I’m here to represent a large number of people who have concerns around having kids involved in this,” Kim said.
Those in the drag community said it’s not about sexualizing children but rather expressing who you are.
“The people who are putting on drag events consider that children might be there and they do their best to make sure that it’s just silly dancing and silly songs, rhinestones, and big hair — crazy stuff,” Borscht said.
The Instagram account YYC All Ages Drag raised concerns about the protest in a post earlier this week.
“Public action urgently needed! We need as many people as possible to show up with signs and flags and drown out the hate with LOVE! Sunday, Jan 15! Their protest starts at 10:30am at the Rec Room (901 64 Ave NE) so let’s be there for 10am! Share this to your stories, and to any social media you have!,” the post read.
A similar showdown happened in December at an all-ages drag brunch event in Inglewood.
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