Drag queen shares inspiring story of standing up to a bigot at family Pride event
she wrote on Facebook. “I did not. My second instinct was to scream back at him. I did not. I have been doing theater for children for over 25 years.
As a performer I am always hyper-aware of my audience and what I consider to be APPROPRIATE, especially when it comes to young people.”Mindful that the young audience members might learn from whatever she did next, Joki instead began singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, Judy Garland‘s iconic song from The Wizard of Oz.“It’s a song my Nana used to sing to me, probably the first song I ever learned all of the words to,” Joki wrote. “It has always been a source of comfort for me when I needed it, and in that moment it was there for me once again.”Joki said the man grew more enraged and began to come closer to her, screaming to the crowd of children that she was a “monster.”” I was terrified, but I was determined not to show it,” Joki said.
Then, something amazing happened. One-by-one, her fellow drag performers joined her onstage to link arms and sing the song alongside her.
Then, the crowd joined in, singing in unison.“Together we drowned his message of HATE with our message of HOPE. He had a megaphone, but I had a family,” Joki wrote.
