by Laurel Duggan
Several LGBT activists dismissed concerns about NYC Drag March participants chanting “We’re coming for your children” after a viral video of such an incident drew blowback this week, according to NBC News.
A video of NYC Drag marchers chanting “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children” garnered 5 million views on Twitter this week and considerable criticism from conservatives. A Tuesday NBC article claimed the phrase had been used at Pride events for years and that it’s intended to destigmatize the LGBT community and take the sting out of accusations of “grooming” children into various sexual identities.
“The person who said this in a march isn’t the person who came up with this idea — the person in the march is saying, ‘Go ahead, call me this; why do I care?’” Karla Jay, chair of New York’s Gay Liberation Front and a professor emerita at Pace University, told NBC. “The person is trying to destigmatize this and claim their own power. You can’t blame the victims here, and that’s what the right wing is doing.”
Jay told the outlet that chants at Pride marches were meant to be heard by the surrounding crowd, not by people watching it on video after the fact.
Brian Griffin, the original organizer of the NYC Drag March, said he usually chants even more provocative and obscene slogans during marches, such as “Kill, kill, kill, we’re coming to kill the mayor,” along with jokes abut sex toys and pubic hair, according to NBC.
“It’s all just words,” he said. “It’s all presented to fulfill their worst stereotypes of us.”
Hucklefaery Ken, another event organizer, called the chant a “bad joke” and said it was being used to serve a “parasitic, predatory political propaganda and policy.”
“We won’t tolerate harm towards any child and advocate for the protection and encouragement of every child to be able to live their true, authentic lives free from fear and persecution,” Ken told NBC.
Drag performer Fussy Lo Mein was critical of the “coming for your children” slogan and claimed to have chanted something else over it, according to NBC.
“It doesn’t represent everybody — it represents that individual. I thought it was a dumb idea, and I started chanting on top of it with alternate verses,” the drag performer and activist said.
NBC’s article drew widespread criticism online, including a Twitter community notes fact check noting that the article provides no evidence of the chant being used in years past.
“I wasn’t aware it was a common chant. This makes it worse,” journalist Andy Ngo wrote.
“Probably not the best strategy if you want to convince skeptical parents over to your side. But that presumes persuading people is the goal,” Roger Severino, vice president of the Heritage Foundation, commented.
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Laurel Duggan is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “NYC Drag Marchers” by Timcast News.
