Last year around this time, I warned readers that Americans might be facing one of the most dangerous LGBTIQ Pride months ever. What seems to have been the most violent attack planned on a local Pride event was thwarted by police before it could take place – 31 members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front were found hiding with riot gear in a U-Haul truck near the venue in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Even so, my informed intuition was correct.
Extreme anti-LGBTIQ, anti-drag, and anti-trans protests were proliferating and escalating last year, and with this year’s Pride Month approaching, LGBTIQ advocacy organisation GLAAD has confirmed there were 166 incidents specifically targeting drag events between the beginning of 2022 and April 25, 2023. This includes “a sharp uptick beginning in Pride season 2022 and continuing through the midterm election cycle”.
Among these incidents were bomb threats and death threats. A public library in suburban Illinois cancelled a drag bingo event, for example, after receiving an envelope containing a bullet and the message “more to come.”
