Residents in Moore County, N.C, are under curfew at the moment as Duke Energy attempts to repair the damage caused by a targeted attack on two substations that knocked power out to mostly rural communities. The attackers used guns to take out the power at the first substation at 7 p.m. on Saturday, then quickly targeted a second. It left some 40,000 people without power.
Some of the people thrust into sudden darkness were drag queens performing a show for a welcoming audience of fans at the beautiful Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines, N.C.
While Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields says there is not yet a clear motive for the attack on the power grid, rumors swirled almost immediately that it was an attempt to terrorize the drag performers and shut down the show.
It’s not completely unthinkable.
The organizers of the show had been receiving death threats for weeks, and “far-right activists” and local Christian school leaders had been characterizing the performance as an attempt to “peddle their abomination” to children. Parents had been campaigning the town council, the theater, and its sponsors to cancel the show, and had shown up to protest in person.
Naomi Dix, the Durham-based drag artist who hosted the show, says right-wing conservatives mischaracterize queer artistry as sexual to serve “the hidden agenda that they have, which is not wanting queer people to have events in general.”
A similarly frightening scene played out the same day in Ohio at a drag storytime event at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus. Members of local chapters of the Proud Boys, the Patriot Front, and White Lives Matter Ohio showed up near the venue in tactical gear, face masks, and brandishing guns. The men were filmed chanting "life, liberty, victory" and "reclaim America." Some were seen giving the Nazi salute.
The church was hosting a "Holi-Drag Storytime” for kids of all ages—a once common event—which was organized by a local community school. It was canceled.
Drag was, until recently, a mostly underground art form, but in the last twenty years or so has found new fans for its affirming visibility and unalloyed joy. (RuPaul probably helped, too.) But it’s relatively newfound popularity as a family-friendly form of entertainment—kids love fantasy, storytelling, and costumed performers, right?—has put it in the crosshairs of extremists who accuse drag queens of sexually “grooming” children.
It's a familiar anti-LGBTQ trope and now, a dangerous political talking point.
But drag queens, who are no strangers to culture wars, bigotry, and harassment, are not budging. “There is a bigger backlash against drag queens, there is a bigger backlash against the LGBTQ+ community and people of color, no matter what group you are in,” says Bella Naughty, a drag queen who came to confront angry protestors outside a library hosting a Drag Queen Story Hour in suburban Maryland. “We are in it not just for drag, but for the greater picture.”
And true to form, the show at the Sunrise Theater went on, even in the dark.
When the lights went out, Dix asked the audience members in the packed theater to use the flashlights on their cell phones to illuminate the room. Then, she sang “Halo” by Beyoncé as the crowd sang along.
“It was a beautiful moment,” she said.
Ellen McGirt
@ellmcgirt
Ellen.McGirt@fortune.com
This edition of raceAhead was edited by Ashley Sylla.
