A pride festival in Glasgow has changed it’s mind about allowing drag queens to take part in its celebrations.
The Free Pride Festival held in Glasgow on the west coast of Scotland is an alternative to the city’s main Pride event.
After they announced that drag queens would not be allowed to be included in their event they faced a worldwide back lash.
The decision caught the attention of Michelle Visage, a judge on the TV show ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ who took to Twitter to call it a “bulls**t” decision”
The organisation had previously said that drag queens make a joke of transgender people.
“It was felt by the group within the Trans/Non Binary Caucus that some drag performance, particularly cis drag, hinges on the social view of gender and making it into a joke, however transgender individuals do not feel as though their gender identity is a joke,” Free Pride Glasgow announced in a public statement.
“This can be particularly difficult for those who are not out and still present as the gender they were assigned at birth. While it was discussed whether we could have any trans drag acts perform, it was agreed that as it would not be appropriate to ask any prospective drag acts whether or not they identified as trans.”
Now the organisers have altered their stance slightly, announcing that transgender drag performers would be allowed to perform, but cis-gendered drag performers would still be banned.
In a new statement the group announced that they did not intend to offend trans drag performers.
“The trans caucus and Free Pride as a whole thought protecting the privacy of trans drag performers was the most important thing, but trans drag performers have let us know that letting them perform is more important to them.
“People appeared to understand that we attempted to communicate that trans drag performers’ rights are secondary to other trans people’s rights.
“We did not mean to send this message and apologise to trans drag performers for unintentionally doing so. Unfortunately this also appears to have offended trans drag performers.”
The drama may not be over yet though, with Facebook users highlighting that the event may be breaking Britain’s anti-discrimination laws by banning people from participating in the event on the basis of their gender.
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21-07-2105 Pride Fesitval in Glasgow bans drag queens says they may be offensive to trans people
OIP Staff, stock image: YayMicro –
