Death threats and hate mail: America's drag queen culture wars hit hard in Europe
euronews.comAida H Dee -- the first drag performer to read stories to kids in a British library -- received several death threats last summer while they were touring 70 libraries across the UK with her Drag Queen Story Hour UK events.Aida, aka Sab Samuel -- who has won several awards in recognition of her role in promoting the love for literature among children -- was repeatedly subject to harassment from a small number of protestors who tried to disrupt her reading events in the hope they would get cancelled.Luckily, Aida H Dee's fans outnumbered the protestors, but similar disruptions and threats led to the cancellation of children's storytime events hosted by drag artists in Scotland and Finland last year.
In December, a Drag Queen Storytime event in Dundee, Scotland, was cancelled after the drag artist and arts centre’s staff hosting the reading were subject to harassment and abusive threats.
In Finland, last July, police had to intervene to remove protesters trying to disrupt a storytime event hosted by a drag queen for children aged six to 10 at the Oodi Central Library in Helsinki.
Far-right protesters claimed they were demonstrating against "grooming" -- a term which is now widely recognised as an anti-LGBTQ+ slur when used in this context.
