Harmonica Sunbeam reads books to kids at a 2023 event Photo: Anne-Marie Caruso/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via IMAGN
Jersey City drag queen Harmonica Sunbeam had planned on reading books, singing songs, coloring pictures, and taking pictures with kids as part of Brookdale Community College’s “Bring Your Child to Work Day” event for employees. But even though the event had been planned for months in advance, the college canceled it the night before without giving Sunbeam any explanation, NJ.com reported.
“While the Drag Queen read-along was intended to promote inclusivity and acceptance, we recognize and acknowledge the diverse viewpoints within our workforce and have opted to respect the comfort levels of all involved,” Laura Oncea, a Brookdale Community College spokeswoman, said in a statement.
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Parents and guardians who attended “Bring Your Child to Work Day” were required to accompany their kids to the day’s various events, which included campus and garden tours, a leadership workshop, painting, and the 10 a.m. drag queen story and crafts hour. Oncea called the event “stigma-free, diverse, and inclusive campus atmosphere.”
However, Sunbeam worries that her participation may have been canceled due to recent conservative claims that drag is a form of “adult entertainment” that “sexualizes” children. She has hosted story and crafts events in the past, but a similar event that she had planned to host in 2023 was canceled after bomb threats. In that instance, police closed off a local park and found the threat was fake.
”For me, it’s sad and scary,” Sunbeam said. “What once was a very fun thing and educational and informative has now become like a situation of, ‘Oh my gosh, will something really horrible happen.’”
A June 2023 report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) found over 200 anti-drag protests occurred in the U.S. between between June 1, 2022, and May 20, 2023. The report said that, in many of the protests, “online hate speech … manifested in offline activity.”
The protestors at drag events have included anti-LGBTQ groups, local extremist and white nationalist groups; parents’ rights activists; anti-vaccine organizations; and Christian nationalists, NBC News reported.
In many cases, social media accounts accused drag queens and their supporters of being “pedophiles” and “groomers.” Opponents of drag events threaten to attack performers, venue operators, and attendees and to publish their names, addresses, and workplaces online to encourage violence and harassment in an attempt to ensure that all-ages drag performances never occur again.
However, the report also found that organizers of drag events only canceled 6% of the events, and that counterprotestors often outnumbered anti-drag protestors in public.
“Communities are starting to push back and stand up for their queer siblings,” said Clara Martiny, the lead author of the ISD report. “While it’s important to be vigilant, it’s important to be aware and have safety measures in place, and it’s important to support your local queer communities, I don’t think that this means we have to stop everything we’re doing.”
