PASCO, Wash. —
Protestors peacefully gathered outside Club Out And About to reject the Kid-Friendly Disney Drag Extravaganza on Wednesday night.
Many people there brought signs and stood outside the front entrance next to the parents in line with their kids.
I spoke with many protestors who shared that the event is bad for children. One protestor, Joe Cotta says he loves the transgender community, but the event isn’t something he and many other protestors want in the Tri-Cities.
“Them coming and doing a Disney drag show in front of kids and inviting kids for free,” Cotta says. “That’s not something we wanna support in this community.”
Tim Thornton is an employee at the Emerald of Siam and says the restaurant hosts a few drag events often, but not as often as the club in downtown Pasco.
Thornton tells me he believes people protest drag events because of a lack of education.
“It’s just a lack of experience,” Thornton says. “A lack of reception to the real world.”
Thornton tells me many people don’t understand drag or the LGBTQ+ community and they protest.
Both sides tell me the other has every right to protest or attend the event, some protestors paid to enter and took up some seats inside for the event.
Jerrod Sessler is another protestor that says this drag event is not for kids because it is too sexual.
“We’re just out here standing up for something that is frankly wrong,” Sessler says. “Kids don’t need to be sexualized at very young ages. In fact, kids never need to be sexualized.”
Kevin Goforth is a parent who was meeting his daughter at Club Out And About to celebrate her birthday. He says his years as a parent in the LGBTQ+ community and, his belief in equality, has helped shape his daughter into a strong, independent young woman.
“She’s turning 17 and she is coming for a birthday party with some of her friends,” Goforth says. “She has been raised in the gay community from a young age and I feel like that has made her the character she is today.”
Whether people were for or against the event, both sides engaged in conversations, some in prayer and almost everyone managed to make it inside for a performance if they wanted.
Inside the club were shoulder to shoulder and some families told me they were leaving because they couldn’t find a comfy place to sit and see the show.
The protest went on from 7 p.m. to about 11 p.m., when the event ended. The Evergreen Active Group and another person across the street became involved in a shouting match across from the club, but Pasco Police arrived and the shouting quietened. The Evergreen Active Group joined in the peaceful protest after the police arrived.
