Family trawling events across Canada, many organized by municipal libraries, have been the target of a deluge of hate speech and threats during Pride Month, prompting multiple police investigations and renewed concerns about the security of the LGBTQ community.
More than half a dozen libraries and drag artists, from Saint John to Victoria, reported being flooded online and over the phone with homophobic insults and, in some cases, threats of violence.
Drag Story Hour events are popular in many libraries across the country and usually include a drag performer who reads children’s books on inclusion. They are often done in collaboration with local LGBTQ associations and have only caused minor controversy in the past.
But amid rising anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies in the U.S. and a conservative movement in Canada increasingly influenced by right-wing politics south of the border, drag events of all ages have turned into points of anger.
The town of Dorval, a suburb of Montreal, received a wave of complaints in early June as soon as it announced that its library was organizing an hour of storytelling with the well-known local performer Barbada.
“We received hate mail. We received threats. We received it,” said Sébastien Gauthier, a city spokesman.
Drag performers Jessika Rabid, on the left, and Farrah Nuff, on the right, were among two dozen fans who showed up to protect a drag narration for all ages in Calgary last week. (Dan McGarvey / CBC)
In the comments, library staff were accused, among other things, of aiding pedophiles and threatened with lawsuits. Your personal information was also disseminated online.
“We also received more worrying threats to the activity per se, people threatening to come and do this and that during the event,” Gauthier said.
Montreal police patrolled the June 11 event, which had no incidents, and has opened an investigation into the threats.
“I’ve worked in the city for almost 20 years. I’ve never seen anything like this,” Gauthier said.
A drag show for all ages in Victoria was canceled in mid-June after the cafeteria that was scheduled to host received a bunch of threatening phone calls.
“Our show has been running for the past three years with no complaints or concerns from anyone in the community,” said a spokesman for For the Love of Drag, the group that was scheduled to perform.
The spokesman asked CBC News to retain his name due to security concerns.
Online hatred of Canadian libraries comes amid rising anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policies in the U.S. Earlier this month, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho police arrested 31 men for conspire to rebel at a Pride event. (Northern country offline / Youtube / Reuters)
“It’s scary to remember that there are people out there who would like you not to exist, who would want to hurt you, especially during Pride Month,” the spokesman said in an email exchange.
A police investigation did not treat the incident as a hate crime and no charges were filed, but a restraining order was issued against one person, the spokesman said.
Libraries in Pembroke, Ont., Pickering Ont., Orillia, Ont. and Calgary also confirmed they received a large volume of negative feedback for organizing their own Drag Story Hour events this month.
Ontario provincial police said they have an active investigation into the Pembroke event, but declined to provide further details.
Groups linked to convoys
The increase in hatred seems to have several sources. In Saint John, for example, past candidates and aspirants to the People’s Party of Canada were among those who circulated misleading images on their social media accounts to suggest that a story-time event at a local library early on this month was not age-appropriate.
One image was from a 2019 burlesque show in the US, the other was from an adult drag performance in April.
The posts sparked a long series of hate comments against the performer, Alex Saunders, whose character is Justin Toodeep.
“We read a couple of books about a prince and a gentleman who fell in love and then a couple of books about different types of families you can see,” Saunders said of the June event for all ages.
In several cases, groups and social media accounts affiliated with Freedom Convoy encouraged their fans to protest the Drag Story Hour events. (Evan Mitsui / CBC)
Saunders says they sent more than 40 pages of screenshots of the comments to Saint John police, including one saying it was time to “light the torches” and another calling for Saunders and another performer to be burned alive. .
Saunders says they were told there was insufficient evidence of a direct threat to file charges.
“[It has been] very scary and weird and I’ve really been trying to put a brave face on my community, but I had a full-blown crisis, crying, I didn’t want to leave home, ”Saunders said.
Alex Saunders, also known as Justin Toodeep, helps organize an hour of drag stories with the free Saint John Public Library on June 5th. (Offered by Alex Saunders)
The Pickering Public Library said it received a wave of homophobic and transphobic comments, both over the phone and online, following an article and video report from True North, a right-wing media outlet founded by the former MP Conservative Candice Malcolm.
On the True North Facebook page, posts about the event received more than a dozen homophobic comments, many accusing the performers of dragging pedophilia, a long-standing trope on anti-LGTBQ rhetoric.
In several cases, groups and social media accounts affiliated with Freedom Convoy encouraged their fans to protest the Drag Story Hour events.
Stand4Thee, an anti-fax mandate group that supported the blockade in Ottawa, has made several calls over the past month for members to contact libraries that organize drag events.
In posts on Telegram, a social messaging app, the group says the events “indoctrinate our children” and are “disgusting perverted filth.” His posts were shared on the Convoy to Ottawa 2022 channel, one of the largest groups in the app used by convoy fans.
Members of Calgary Freedom Central, a Telegram channel with nearly 9,000 subscribers who helped gather truck blockades in Ottawa and Coutts, Alta., This winter, used insults as they tried to mobilize opposition to an event last week. to a Calgary branch. Public Library.
Members suggested a physical confrontation to show performers that they were “not welcome” in Calgary. Another user suggested confronting parents who brought their children to the event.
As in many of the other online forums, comments on Calgary Freedom Central often invoked the term “groomer” to describe the drag artists or library staff who hosted the events.
The insult, which stems from the unfounded stereotype that LGBTQ people are involved in pedophilia, is increasingly popular among right-wing groups in the U.S., where several events at the time of history have been disrupted by this month’s protests.
When the LGBT community in Calgary learned of the negative online talk, about 25 community members and their followers showed up at last week’s history hour event to avoid interruptions.
“I want to make sure kids and performers are as protected as they can be,” said Farrah Nuff, a drag performer who attended the event at the Nicholls Family Library.
Despite having been subjected to threats, the heads of the municipal libraries that host these events insist on their importance and assure that they will not be intimidated.
Bessie Sullivan, director general of the Orillia Public Library, said she never contemplated canceling the event, even though the people who called were, among other things, threatening to fire her.
“They made me angry,” Sullivan said. “So actually what we did, as it increased, I added a second story.”
Pembroke library staff say they sent a lot of threatening calls and emails, some promising that dozens of protesters would disrupt their story-time event.
Karthi Rajamani, general manager of the library, was concerned enough to contact the police and give additional security training to their staff. But, like Sullivan, he never considered canceling the event.
“Libraries are community leaders. We should be examples of inclusion and diversity,” Rajamani said.
In the end no one showed up to protest in Pembroke. The event was well attended and, Rajamani said, residents applauded the library for moving forward. Several other librarians expressed similar sentiments.