FAIRFAX, Va.—The first-ever pride month event hosted by a major northern Virginia city triggered controversy over its hosting of drag queen performances where children were allowed to tip the performers.
At Fairfax City’s old town hall on June 3, children and adult spectators handed out bills to drag queens or men in female dresses and makeup. The independent city, home to over 24,000 residents, is located near Virginia’s most populous Fairfax County of over a million residents, many of whom work in the nation’s capital.
When the current first-term Mayor Catherine Read won her election last November, she promised to have a pride event. As she kicked off a dance party on Saturday featuring pop-up drag queen performances, she spoke about her view of drag’s importance to pride, a cultural concept that celebrates the LGBT community.
“Drag belongs to the LGBTQ community,” she told the audience. “To have a pride event and not have drags, to me, is like taking away the artistic expression of an entire community. And that’s not right.
“I welcome talented, wonderful drag performers. I can’t imagine having a pride [event] without them.”
Some residents disagreed and held a protest outside the event venue.
Stacy Langton, an organizer of the demonstration, said she wasn’t there to protest the pride event. “What we are objecting to is the drag queens with children a part of this,” she told The Epoch Times.
“Mayor Read specifically told me there would be tipping,” she said, adding that she had a particular problem with children tipping the performers. “That means they are handing cash to an adult male for a sexually suggestive dance. That’s wrong.
“There’s no way it’s right from a moral standpoint.”
Read said that Langton has her First Amendment rights, so city officials created a “safe zone” for the protesters outside the event venue. “She has asked us questions about the performers and background checks,” Read told The Epoch Times. “I think we have answered within the scope of what we need to do as a local government.”
“We’re here to have a party, to have a celebration, not to prove a point, and not to win a case,” she said, adding that parents have the right to bring their children to this “un-age-restricted performance.”
Before the performance began, the host reviewed a few ground rules with the audience. One of them was not to interact with the protesters outside. “The mayor said we want to starve their effort of oxygen, and I think that is an admirable course of action,” said the host in the mayor’s presence.
When asked about the “oxygen” comment, Read responded, “That doesn’t sound like something I would say. But if somebody has me on video, that’s fine.”
“I don’t know what their point is; I really don’t know,” she added, referring to the demonstrators against the drag performances. She said that it was her opinion that these protesters do not represent a majority view in the city.
George Mason University, a public institution with its primary address in the City of Fairfax, sponsored the pride event. In the vendor exhibit room, the university promoted its LGBT studies minor and a graduate certificate in women and gender studies.
