By John Riley on May 14, 2021 @JohnAndresRiley
An LGBTQ bar in Miami has received threats and negative reviews on its social media pages after a conservative activist accused it of having children perform in drag shows.
In one Instagram post, a user wrote: “I hope y’all end up like Pulse,” referring to the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando on June 12, 2016 that killed 49 people and wounded 53. The FBI later deemed the shooting a terrorist attack.
In another instance, a Facebook user from Houston, Texas, gave the bar a zero-star review, writing: “Has children involved in their x-rated shows. Having money thrown at the children and telling them to pick it up! Unbelievable!!”
But Thomas Donall, the owner of the Palace, in South Beach, says that the threats and negative messages making false accusations against the bar on social media are untrue — the result of a misinformation campaign being spread by conservatives.
The incident that sparked the conservative outrage was a drag show where a performer was doing a routine dedicated to Madonna. Two young girls, whose parents had brought them to the bar, got permission to interact with the drag queens and began prancing and voguing on stage alongside a drag queen. The children, following the drag queen’s example, began picking up dollar bills from the floor that were dropped by customers as “tips” for the drag queen.
“It was all innocent fun for the girls,” Donall told Miami-based ABC affiliate WPLG. “I mean, they were posing with a Madonna show.”
However, Angela Stanton-King, a former Republican congressional candidate, conservative activist, and supporter of the QAnon conspiracy movement, claimed that she went to the Palace earlier this year and saw the children interacting with the drag queen.
“These people have children in a [expletive] drag show,” she said in a video she shot. She shared the video on Instagram with her nearly 300,000 followers, including footage of a confrontation she had with a Palace employee, during which she said: “I feel offended and disrespected by being a survivor of sexual abuse!”
See also: Virginia Republican says drag queens reading books to children is “child abuse”
Stanton-King has argued that city officials must take action to keep drag queen away from children, adding: “I’m anti-sexual exploitation of children.”
Such rhetoric isn’t new for Stanton-King, a Trump acolyte who was pardoned by the former president for her role in a car theft ring, who has previously spread misinformation on various topics on social media.
Stanton-King has been vocal about her anti-LGBTQ views, equating support for LGBTQ youth who come out as equivalent to pedophilia, railing against her transgender daughter, and even getting into a confrontation with her daughter during an appearance on the Dr. Phil show. She also threatened a transgender activist who appeared on the show — prompting Twitter to suspend her account.
But Donall worries that Stanton-King’s misinformation campaign is going too far, and hurting his business, which was already negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene recently repeated Stanton-King’s claims when she called for the drag queen who interacted with the children at the club (while, in typical fashion for Greene, misstating the club’s location, as well as repeating other erroneous information). This has prompted some conspiracy theorists to complain to Miami Beach City Hall, urging politicians to step in and stop the drag shows.
Donall claims one city official even asked him to change the drag queens’ artistic expression.
A spokeswoman for the city told WPLG she wasn’t aware the city had taken any action against the bar. But Donall says the attacks are taking a toll on his staff.
“It’s really difficult for us and heart-wrenching … I mean it just makes me … really sick to my stomach,” he said.
Read more:
Montana man will not be listed as sex offender for 1994 conviction for consensual gay sex
Even Republicans don’t support Caitlyn Jenner’s bid for governor
Gay penguins form couples at London aquarium ahead of mating season
By John Riley on April 29, 2022 @JohnAndresRiley
A Brigham Young University graduate flashed a rainbow flag inside her robe during the school's graduation ceremony, in protest of the school's strict honor code prohibiting same-sex relationships.
Jillian Orr, who identifies as bisexual, posted a video to TikTok of her sewing the gown, which had looked like a regular graduation robe, but had a rainbow-colored inside lining.
BYU, located in Provo, Utah, is affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religious tradition that opposes homosexuality. In recent years, BYU has come under scrutiny for its honor code, which requires students to refrain from "alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, vaping, and substance abuse" and commit to living a "chaste and virtuous life, including abstaining from any sexual relations outside a marriage between a man and a woman," reports Newsweek.
By John Riley on April 28, 2022 @JohnAndresRiley
Last week, the government of Norway formally apologized to gay men for law that once criminalized same-sex relations -- 50 years to the date after the law was officially repealed.
Under the law, first passed in 1902, 119 individuals, including more than 100 men, were convicted of consensual same-sex activity and imprisoned. The law continued to be enforced into the 1950s, and thereafter was rarely enforced but was never fully repealed until April 21, 1972, when lawmakers decriminalized homosexuality.
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the law's repeal, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre issued an official apology for the law.
By John Riley on April 18, 2022 @JohnAndresRiley
A gay couple who were riding the train with their 6-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter say they were verbally accosted by a man who accused them of being "rapists" and "pedophiles" who had "stolen" the children.
Robbie Pierce and Neal Broverman say they were embarking on a vacation to Oakland, Ca., from their Los Angeles home via Amtrak with their children. When the train stopped at Diridon Station in San Jose, a man sitting across the aisle turned his rage on the family. Pierce later documented his account of what happened in a Twitter thread.
Pierce claimed the man began yelling "Remember what I told you!" to the couple's 6-year-old son. He then added, "Marriage is between a man and a woman. They stole you, and they're pedophiles."
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
Washington's LGBTQ Magazine
Follow Us:
· Facebook
· Twitter
· Flipboard
· YouTube
· Instagram
· RSS News | RSS Scene
Copyright ©2021 Jansi LLC.