Eric Posey, of Post Falls, Idaho, embraces a supporter in court after a jury awarded him more than $1.1 million in damages in his defamation lawsuit against conservative blogger Summer Bushnell, May 24, 2024, in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho. Posey said he suffered harassment and death threats after Bushnell falsely accused him of exposing himself to minors during a performance in 2022.
(Kaye Thornbrugh/Coeur D’Alene Press via AP, File) “Drag is joy, but it’s under attack. Our very existence, our self-expression, our art—all of it is being threatened. And we’ve had enough.
” That’s the opening salvo of Qommittee, a group of drag performers banding together to protect and promote their art form, as it announced its formation ahead of June’s LGBTQ+ Pride Month. “We’ve always had to fight tooth and nail for our place in this world,” the group said in a news release Wednesday, May 29. “But now, we’re also battling a tidal wave of hate—doxxing, harassment, death threats, armed protests, bombings and even shootings.
” Qommittee consists of about 10 drag performers nationwide who have experienced, directly or indirectly, threats, harassment or violence related to their art form. One had a venue firebombed in Ohio; one performed at Club Q in Colorado Springs and helped victims the night of the shooting there that killed five people; and one worked at Club Q and at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, where a gunman killed 49 people in 2016. Qommittee says it hopes, among .