Joe.My.God. LGBT News
ABC News reports:
Hundreds of drag performers and allies rallied in Florida Tuesday afternoon against recent legislation that organizers say is attacking the LGBTQ community. The rally drew advocates from across the state to Tallahassee for a march to the state Capitol, where speakers included state Sen. Shevrin Jones.
“First of all, I want to acknowledge your existence,” Jones said in his remarks. “I also want to acknowledge and to affirm to you all, that you are supposed to be here and there’s nothing wrong with you.”
The march comes nearly a week after the Republican-led state Legislature passed a bill banning children from adult live performances, which LGBTQ advocates say targets drag shows. SB 1438, known as the Protection of Children Act, would allow the state to fine, suspend or revoke the food and beverage licenses of businesses that admit children to any “adult live performance.”
Orlando’s NBC affiliate reports:
Around 100 members of the drag queen community left Orlando early Tuesday morning to join hundreds of other drag queens from across the state in a rally at the Florida State Capitol.
The group met at the Southern Nights club on Bumby Avenue and boarded two buses close to 6:30 a.m. to make the trip. The rally is in response to a bill called the Protection of Children bill filed by Republican lawmakers that would ban what it calls “adult live performances” if children are in the audience.
“I think it’s insane. I don’t understand how the target is on our backs now because for so long we’ve done so much good for the community. Drag spearheads the majority of charity events here in Orlando,” Axel Andrews, a performer making the trip, said. .
The Hill reports:
Darcel Stevens, a drag queen and LGBTQ rights activist from Orlando who helped organize Tuesday’s rally, said in a statement shared with media ahead of the protest that the current slate of legislation under consideration in Florida is “cruel, unjust [and] full of hypocrisy.”
“Drag Queens are not just entertainers, we’re valued contributors to society — small business owners, parents, teachers, nurses, first responders and much more,” Stevens said Tuesday in the statement. “Floridians know we pose no threat.”
More than 300 drag performers and allies gathered in Tallahassee on Tuesday afternoon to protest a slew of bills that take aim at the LGBTQ+ community, now moving fast through Florida’s statehouse. https://t.co/uql3qk69BT
— Tampa Bay Times (@TB_Times) April 26, 2023
Gia Rivellini holds a sign that reads “drag shows are safer than churches” while chanting inside the Florida Capitol.
Hundreds rallied in Tallahassee “to protest against continued attacks on the LGBTQIA+ community by Gov. DeSantis and other Republican state legislators.” pic.twitter.com/xBzfzUBOI3
— Alicia Devine, Photojournalist (@alicia_c_devine) April 25, 2023
Today, hundreds of drag performers and allies rallying in Tallahassee to protest anti-LGBTQ+ bills! Thank you @DarcelStevens for organizing.@ShevrinJones @AnnaForFlorida #DragIsNotACrime pic.twitter.com/nHH5em9ha9
— Linda Stewart (@LindaStewartFL) April 25, 2023
Hundreds of drag queens and allies held a protest in Tallahassee to voice their outrage at the ongoing attack on the rights of the LGBTQ community by Republican lawmakers in the state.
“Drag is not a crime,” protesters chant inside the Capitol rotunda. https://t.co/vN4h8Jpinv
— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) April 26, 2023
About 200 drag queens and LGBTQ+ advocates flooded Tallahassee streets Tuesday afternoon.https://t.co/qZnwDa3nN4
— ABC 27 (@abc27) April 25, 2023