Aug. 4 (UPI) — Florida’s Republican Attorney General James Uthmeier is demanding guest lists, surveillance footage and personal information from people who attended a drag Pride event in Vero Beach on June 29, according to Scott Simpson, organizer for Qommittee, a national volunteer network defending drag artists’ rights.
The group says that no laws were violated in the event, and Florida’s statewide “drag ban” has been blocked by federal courts. But state officials are “weaponizing existing laws to bully, intimidate, and surveil our community,” Simpson said.
Simpson’s group has publicized Floridians’ rights and called for organizing.
“This is serious government overreach designed to intimidate drag performers into silence,” he said. “They want performers to stop performing. They want venues to stop booking drag shows. They want our community to stop gathering and celebrating who we are.
“Going to a drag show should not mean you forfeit your anonymity or land your name in a government database,” Simpson said. “We cannot let that happen. Every drag performer and venue in Florida must stay loud, stay proud, and protect themselves while continuing their art.”
This isn’t the first attack on Vero Beach’s drag community. Linda Moore, the vice mayor of Vero Beach, is being investigated by Uthmeier for a “Pride Tea Dance” held last month at the Kilted Mermaid, a wine bar she owns in the town on the Atlantic coast. But it’s unclear what charges Moore might face and questions remain concerning Uthmeier’s legal basis for the investigation.
Uthmeier’s office cited evidence that the event was promoted as being open to all ages and included sexualized adult performers who “wore revealing attire and burlesque outfits while interacting with the children.”
“In Florida, we don’t sacrifice the innocence of children for the perversions of some demented adults,” Uthmeier said in a statement.
But Moore said the bar has hosted it for at least the past five years.
“We have the event every year; it’s our gay pride event, and it is all ages,” Moore said. “It’s a family-friendly event, and then once the drag show actually starts, we tell the parents who have small children that they can’t stay for the show.”
Simpson’s Qommittee website clarifies drag performers’ rights and realities, as well as Florida’s laws on drag shows open to all ages versus shows for adults only. It also tells performers how to protect themselves if they’re targeted by government officials and to keep performing and keep showing up at drag shows.
“This intimidation campaign wants us to self-censor out of fear,” Simpson said. “We will not give them that victory.”