Trans woman wants drag acts banned from Pride festival

A transgender woman in Calderdale is calling for the area’s Pride festival to ban drag acts or publish a disclaimer about them.

Rose White, 64, claims that drag acts promote negative stereotypes about trans people and encourage hatred, the Halifax Courier reports.

In a letter to Pride organisers, she wrote: “Drag queens – homosexuals dressed as women – and drag kings, women dressed as men, performing as stereotypical crossdressers promote, foster and reinforce the belief among the audience that any bloke in a frock must be a homosexual.

“The council needs to prevent anything that reinforces out-of-date stereotyping.

“If these people are allowed to perform in the town in the Pride, they must have a prominent sign stating ‘We are homosexual men – not transexuals’.

Pride organisers brushed off Ms White’s complaint, saying that ‘disclaimers’ would be a violation of privacy.

Organiser Matt Gosridge responded: “We wouldn’t ever want to attempt to restrict or control in any way the people that attend the event. Calderdale Pride is all about inclusivity and freedom of expression.”

• Nov 29 2023

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