Drag king Freddie Hercury performs at an occasion in Homer, N.Y., in 2023. The artist confronted a web-based bomb menace within the run-up to a Satisfaction efficiency in 2024.
Natalie Curry
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Natalie Curry
Satisfaction is a busy time for drag artists — and never at all times a straightforward one. Final 12 months, drag king Freddie Hercury stated they acquired a bomb menace on Fb forward of a gig in Niagara Falls.
“And I used to be like, ‘OK, um, properly that does not make me really feel nice,'” Hercury stated.
Hercury reached out for assist to Qommittee (pronounced “committee”) — a community of drag performers and allies who goal to assist individuals in simply these conditions.
“They have been instantly responsive,” Hercury stated. “And actually simply walked me via the method of how I needed to deal with it.”
Hercury reported the menace to the FBI. The gig went forward with no incident, Hercury stated.
Qommittee focuses on drag performer security
Qommittee has allotted a variety of safety recommendation to pull artists over the previous 12 months since their founding in 2024, and has now, with assist from legal professionals and different specialists, distilled it into the Drag Protection Handbook.
“This handbook is a collaborative assortment of experiences from drag artists throughout the nation who’ve skilled hatred or menace — and what they’ve completed to face up and make these secure areas,” stated Veranda L’Ni, a drag queen primarily based in Cleveland, who was a part of the workforce that helped put the handbook collectively.
Divided into seven sections — disaster response, on-line harassment and digital safety, violent menace response, First Modification protections, protections towards defamation, employment discrimination, and psychological well being sources — the handbook comprises greatest practices for coping with every part from on-line doxing to bomb assaults.
Veranda L’Ni, one of many members of the workforce behind the ‘Drag Protection Handbook,’ performs on the Drag Satisfaction Showcase in Cleveland in 2022.
Bob Perkoski
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Bob Perkoski
L’Ni herself has been a goal: a person from a neo-Nazi group threw a Molotov cocktail right into a church to forestall her from main a Drag Queen Story Hour in 2023. Nobody was harm. The wrongdoer, who admitted to desirous to “shield youngsters” together with his actions, was arrested and sentenced to 18 years in jail.
“There are steps available,” L’Ni stated. “Issues like ensuring that you just display screen seize every part, ensuring every part is documented, ensuring you could have safety round you and realizing your First Modification protections.”
Voices of dissent
The organizers of the handbook tried to include suggestions from artists who learn drafts of the doc and have been frightened that these earlier variations did not do sufficient to acknowledge that some drag performers aren’t snug with going to the authorities in a disaster, amongst different criticisms.
“If you’re a intercourse employee, in case you are undocumented, you probably have a felony file, it is not going to be that simple to work with police or the courtroom system,” stated Julian Sanchez, a drag king and activist in Lengthy Seashore, Calif. “You are going be focused, doubtlessly, after which abused inside the system.”
Based mostly on this suggestions, the revealed model of the handbook consists of “A Word On Legislation Enforcement,” which addresses police violence towards marginalized communities. And Sanchez ended up contributing a piece titled “Options to Legislation Enforcement.” It lists options like neighborhood violence intervention applications and supplies a Qommittee electronic mail deal with for individuals who would love assist with discovering choices past the usual authorities.
Qommittee can be planning to subject an up to date handbook subsequent 12 months that is extra targeted on neighborhood organizing efforts in response to threats.
An essential useful resource
The discharge of the handbook comes at a tough second for drag artists.
The Trump Administration has issued a number of anti-LGBTQ government orders since taking workplace in January; 588 anti-LGBTQ payments have been launched across the nation within the 2025 legislative session up to now, with with 57 handed, in line with the American Civil Liberties Union. In 2020, for context, there have been about 120 such payments launched. Three have been handed.
A lot of this new laws targets transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, proscribing trans college students’ restroom rights in faculties, for instance, and curbing gender-affirming healthcare.
Assaults towards trans individuals are additionally on the rise: greater than half of the 932 anti-LGBTQ incidents tracked this previous 12 months by the advocacy nonprofit GLAAD have been aimed toward transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals — a 14% improve over final 12 months.
However assaults particularly focusing on drag performers have been in decline over the previous 12 months in line with GLAAD, which reported 83 incidents between Could 1, 2024 and Could 1, 2025 — a 55% falloff over the earlier 12 months. It is the primary 12 months since 2022 to point out a lower.
GLAAD can be presently monitoring 17 anti-drag payments across the nation.
GLAAD attributed the falloff in assaults on drag artists partly to the drag neighborhood getting smarter about security and safety.
“The menace stays, and handbooks like this acknowledge that and are working to mitigate it,” stated Sarah Moore, GLAAD’s senior supervisor of reports and analysis. “The drag neighborhood is aware of greatest what they want and are working collectively to maintain one another knowledgeable and secure. Quite than again down, they acquired inventive, standing as much as bullies.”
Jennifer Vanasco edited this story for broadcast and internet.
