Rotterdam: Over 200 people demonstrate against reading afternoon for children with drag queens

An afternoon of reading for children with drag queens (men who choose a female alter ego) at the LantarenVenster theater in Rotterdam was quietly moved up a few hours on Sunday. Organizers said this was done to avoid exposing parents and children to protesters who had spoken out against the event.

The afternoon of reading was announced for 2 p.m., but was moved to 10:30 a.m. By the time several hundred activists, including dozens of opponents, gathered outside the theater, the event had already ended.

The two drag queens who had read came out of the theater hand in hand, after which an egg was thrown in their direction. Activists who sympathize with the reading afternoon welcomed the two drag queens with cheers.

To prevent confrontations, the police had positioned themselves between supporters and opponents of the reading event. It remained quiet at the theater, except for a few minor disturbances. For example, the police stopped a group of proponents of the reading afternoon who wanted to walk to counter-demonstrators of the extreme right-wing organization Voorpost. A police spokesman said no arrests have been made. "We did ask a few people to leave, partly for not following directions from the police."

Dozens of threatening calls had been received in the run-up to the afternoon of reading, LantarenVenster reported earlier. Among others, the Pink Lion Foundation and the youth wing of the Forum voor Democratie (JFVD) party had announced they were coming.

The Pink Lion Foundation said it is not against drag queens. However, the foundation fears that the reading afternoon will reinforce the dislike of drag queens and thus homosexuals because children are involved. As a result, drag queens would no longer be safe.

The event already became the focus of a heated debate last week, with accusations that reading afternoons with drag queens would sexualize children. But these accusations were vehemently denied by drag queen Ma'MaQueen, who co-organized the reading afternoon for years now.

"I'm broken," the drag queen told Nu.nl, who was a contestant on the first season of Drag Race Holland in 2020. "I keep my back straight and my head up, but it does hit me. The passion I have for what I do has turned into a fighting spirit, and that's a different feeling," she said one day before the reading event.

On Sunday, proponents and opponents of the reading afternoon remained at LantarenVenster until a few hours after the event, although the number of demonstrators gradually became smaller. The FVD youths left around 3:15 p.m. At the request of the police, the other opponents of the reading meeting left fifteen minutes later.