And they still wanted to do it,” Dale said, fighting back tears. “We wanted to ask these kids first and foremost, because it affects them, and their confidence and their lives. On Thursday afternoon, festival organizers made the decision to postpone the kids’ performance. “It’s: ‘We’re going to show up at this festival,’ ‘We’re coming after you,’ ‘I hope you know you have a target on your back,’ and ‘You’re going to be found in a tree,’” Burrows said. Riley Burrows, a full-time drag entertainer from Boise who was co-producing the Drag Kids event, began getting death threats on social media. Four Democratic state lawmakers pledged their own financial support, and released a joint statement criticizing what they called “the false, dangerous claims from Idaho GOP Chair Dorothy Moon that stoke violence.” New business sponsors stepped up to fill vacancies.īut the political maelstrom was growing more intense by the hour, and five kids were stuck in the middle. Others, though, rallied to support Boise Pride. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare announced it was pulling $38,000 in funding along with resources focused on tobacco-cessation and HIV/AIDS prevention.Ī conservative pastor from California began rallying like-minded congregations, asking members to tell the Ada County Sheriff to arrest any festival organizer who “contributes to the delinquency of minors.” A group known for armed protests told followers to show up Sunday. A few did, at least partly - removing their logos from festival fencing and canceling plans for booths. Moon and the Idaho GOP sent out statements directing constituents to ask the festival’s corporate sponsors to pull support.
“Idaho rejects the imposition of adult sexuality & adult sexual appetites on children.”
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“The sexualization of children is wrong, full stop,” the Idaho GOP wrote on Twitter. The event garnered national attention from far-right websites and podcasts, and by Tuesday organizers realized this wasn’t the “normal” amount of opposition, said festival president Michael Dale.
But others, including Idaho Republican Party Chairwoman Dorothy Moon, expected a lurid scene where children would “engage in sexual performances with adult entertainers.” PHOTOS: Political pressure over 'Drag Kids' event rocks Boise Prideįestival organizers envisioned a short performance where kids could put on sparkly dresses and lip-sync to songs like Kelly Clarkson’s “People Like Us” on stage. But this year, a roughly half-hour program on the three-day-long festival schedule called “Drag Kids” has prompted a wave of political pressure and anonymous threats.
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