The attacks against drag brunches and related events continue around the country—resulting in people going to great lengths to allow the shows to take place.
A group of people armed with AR-15-style assault rifles stood guard outside a Texas drag-queen brunch location on Aug. 28 to defend people enjoying the show from armed right-wing extremists bent on disrupting it, The Advocate reported. Eventually, the two sides clashed.
The Roanoke, Texas event was called "Barrel Babes Drag Brunch," according to FOX 4 News.
In a post to the distillery's Facebook page prior to the event, Anderson Distillery & Grill owner Jay Anderson said the brunch, hosted by his son (who goes by the drag name Trisha Delish), would contain no sexual content or erotic behavior.
Dallas-area freelance investigative journalist Steven Monacelli documented the events on Twitter, The Advocate noted. Monacelli also captured an image of a right-wing extremist menacing the assembled crowd by intimidating them with a baseball bat wrapped in razor wire.
"Roanoke TURNED OUT to support our show!!" Delish wrote. "We hit capacity and our kitchen is completely sold out of food from our amazing patrons. I can't stop tearing up every time I think about how packed the audience was."
Drag-show disruptions have recently occurred throughout the United States and even England. After a series of events that encompassed everything from vandalism to meetings with village officials to a visit from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, LGBTQ+-owned Lake in the Hills, Illinois, business UpRising Bakery and Cafe finally held its all-ages drag show on Aug. 7.
