B.C. MLAs unite in support of drag performers
Posted April 4, 2023 1:36 pm.
Last Updated April 4, 2023 4:15 pm.
As protests at events with drag performers continue to pop up in B.C. and around North America, MLAs at the provincial legislature came to a united front on Monday to condemn such actions.
Spencer Chandra-Herbert, MLA for Vancouver-West End, brought forward the motion aimed at supporting those who perform in drag and condemning protestors who threaten violence against them. His sentiments were echoed by 10 other MLAs in the legislature spanning across various political parties.
“Hopefully, it sends a message to those who might consider going and trying to shut down or make threats to people who happen to want to perform in drag,” he told CityNews on Tuesday.
Spencer Chandra-Herbert, MLA for Vancouver West-End, put forward a motion condemning hate against drag performers in B.C. (Source: Legislative Assembly of British Columbia)
The MLA reflected on a time when he was in high school when he was getting bullied for acting feminine. He says with the encouragement of a friend, he showed up at the school’s Halloween dance dressed in drag.
“It was kind of liberating,” he recalled.
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Chandra-Herbert says that the dance, paired with his friend attending school dressed in drag for a month straight, quashed the bullying he was receiving at the time.
His prior experiences, along with some U.S. states drafting laws to outright ban drag performers, he says, motivated him to put forward the motion for politicians to unite against hate for those who dress in drag.
“At one point in this province, you could get fined for wearing too many items of the other gender’s outfit,” he noted. “It bothers me that people seem to want to take us back there, and I’m not willing to go there.”
As for drag storytime events, where opponents claim the content isn’t suitable for children, Chandra-Herbert says that argument doesn’t hold water.
“When I was a kid, I went to storytime with people dressed up as tigers, people dressed up as knights, as kings … it’s magical, it’s fantasy,” he explained. “If you go to a drag storytime, it’s a storytime with people dressed up reading Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Children will see these people as wonderful characters, just as if you went to Disney and saw all these characters dressed up.”
He adds it’s important for children of parents who are 2SLGBTQIA+ to see that government condemns hate toward the community.
Having support ‘means the world’ to local drag queen
While the move in the B.C. legislature is largely symbolic, it still goes a long way for at least one drag performer.
Chris Bolton, who performs as “The Unstoppable” Conni Smudge, says having the solidarity of politicians means a lot, especially because nobody dissented on the motion.
“It means the world to me to have that support,” he told CityNews. “If you go back to even 10 years ago, there was still a bunch of right-wing, conservative politicians that were having problems with same-sex, LGBTQ individuals, and I think we’ve come a long way.”
The “Unstoppable” Conni Smudge during a drag queen story time event in North Vancouver. She’s set to lead a similar event in Coquitlam on Saturday that’s expected to be attended by protestors. (Photo screenshot via Youtube / North Vancouver City Library)
While he appreciates having the vocal support of the legislature, he notes that it’s unfortunate that such a declaration had to be made in the first place.
“It seems so backward thinking that we have to make these sort of flagpole statements,” he said. “We’ve come so far, but it’s sort of like declaring ‘I don’t think that we should trip old ladies when they’re crossing the street.'”
Bolton says he’s been doing drag in B.C. for over 20 years. He says the events have always had their share of opponents but believes anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the United States is being circulated in Canada, leading to more negative attention on drag events.
Smudge’s storytime event in Coquitlam in January was one of the events Chandra-Herbert referenced while he delivered the motion on Monday.
In the days leading up to the event, anti-drag protestors made it known that they would be on hand at the Coquitlam Public Library. However, the event was met by even more pro-drag counter-protestors who came in support of Smudge.
Legal protections for drag events not on the table
The day after Chandra-Herbert brought his motion forward in the B.C. legislature, his NDP counterparts in Ontario pitched an idea to have legal protections for drag performers against protestors at events.
The proposed law would see temporarily designated zones outside certain addresses where such events take place that would prohibit hate against 2SLGBTQIA+ people, with those violating it subject to a fine of up to $25,000.
Chandra-Herbert says while he’s open to further measures to protect drag performers, the intent of his motion was to send a cultural message.
“I’m willing to hear all opinions on all ways to do this. Of course, you always have to make sure that we’re keeping people safe. But you also have to always try … to protect that freedom of expression. It’s a challenge but it’s one that we decided to take on in the legislature in a way through pushing for cultural change,” he said.
“It’s just as important, sometimes, that we as leaders demonstrate who we are with and who we are standing with and supporting. So that if there’s anyone questioning, they see clearly that this is where as a society, we’re at.”
Meanwhile, Bolton says he’s always open to sitting down with people who are against drag events so he can present them with the facts.
“You can’t just ‘other’ them as well and say that they’re all horrible people,” he said.
He adds that he doesn’t feel like there need to be any legal protections for drag artists, noting that people should have the right to protest — as long as they know what they’re protesting.
“If they want to come and hold some signs up and stand there and show defiance that they don’t like what we’re doing after they see what we do, then fill your boots,” he said.
-With files from The Canadian Press
