SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Tomorrow kicks off Pride Month, and the political climate has many drag performers worried about safety. NPR's Chloe Veltman reports one group has released guidelines to help people stay safe this June and beyond.
CHLOE VELTMAN, BYLINE: Freddie Hercury is a drag king in Buffalo, New York. They channel the spirit of Queen's charismatic frontman Freddie Mercury on stage, as in this performance captured on Facebook.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I WANT TO BREAK FREE")
FREDDIE MERCURY: (Singing) I want to break free.
(CHEERING)
VELTMAN: Pride is a busy time and not always easy. Last year, Hercury received a bomb threat on Facebook ahead of a gig in Niagara Falls.
FREDDIE HERCURY: I was like, OK. Well, that doesn't make me feel great.
VELTMAN: Hercury had just heard about a new network of drag performers and their allies whose aim it is to help people in just these situations. This group is called Qommittee, spelled with a Q, not a C. Hercury reached out to them.
HERCURY: They were immediately responsive and really just kind of walked me through the process of how I wanted to handle it.
VELTMAN: Hercury reported the threat to the FBI. The gig went ahead with no incident. Qommittee has dispensed a lot of security advice to drag artists over the past year and has now, with help from lawyers and other experts, distilled it into the "Drag Defense Handbook."
VERANDA L'NI: This handbook is a collaborative collection of experiences from drag artists across the country who have experienced hatred or threat in what they've done to stand up and make these safe spaces.
VELTMAN: Drag performer Veranda L'Ni is based in Cleveland and helped put together the handbook. It contains best practices for dealing with everything from online doxing to bomb attacks. L'Ni herself has been a target. A man from a neo-Nazi group threw a Molotov cocktail into a church to prevent her from leading a drag queen story hour in 2023. No one was hurt. The culprit admitted he wanted to, quote, "protect children." He was arrested and sentenced to 18 years in prison.
L'NI: There are steps to be had, making sure that you screen capture everything, make sure everything is documented, making sure you have security around you, knowing your First Amendment protections.
VELTMAN: According to the LGBTQ advocacy nonprofit GLAAD, there have been more than 80 attacks, both online and physical, specifically targeting drag performers in the U.S. over the past year. The number is actually a big drop from the previous year, less than half. In a statement, the organization attributed the decline in part to the drag community getting smarter about safety and security. Chloe Veltman, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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