BOISE, Idaho — It began as an LGBTQA+ event, later faced pushback, and now the safety concerns have driven the performance to be pulled from the schedule.
Boise Pride Festival has faced backlash in the past two days about their scheduled event to host a kids' drag show. They postponed it for a later date, due to ongoing concerns for a safe environment.
"While the vast majority of our sponsors and supporters have voiced their support for the Boise Pride Festival and the Drag Kids program, we have made the very difficult decision to postpone this performance due to increased safety concerns. The health and well-being of the kids, their parents, and the attendees of the Festival are our priority. The kids who were going to perform have the enthusiastic support of their community and support and consent of their parents. We support the kids 1000% and their choice to be themselves, stand in their truth, and express themselves. They are brave, beautiful and deserve their chance to be in the spotlight, and we want to give that to them at a later date," Boise Pride's statement said.
This all came after social media began forming protests for the event. One post included a picture of a gun saying "Can't expect God to do all the work" with a message to others: "Sunday, 9/11/2022, time to start at the Fred Meyer pride parade."
The attention garnered more focus from the Idaho GOP, who released multiple statements on the matter, claiming kids' drag shows sexualize children and that it is a "perverse idea" to fund that event.
On Thursday, Idaho GOP chair Dorothy Moon released a call to action, posting the phone numbers of businesses sponsoring Boise Pride and telling people to call and ask for them to withdraw their participation in the event.
Following that, three sponsors pulled their participation -- Idaho Power, Zions Bank and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare. Idaho Power said they were concerned about the safety of their participants, Zions Bank said they were unaware of the children's participation and the DHW said their booth will be pulled due to "confusion" about activities involving minors.
Zion Cannabis took the spot of the bank and donated money to the festival.
Lumos Optical told KTVB they have been getting relentless emails on the matter as well, accusing people participating in the event as "groomers" and "pedophiles."
Riley Burrows, the co-producer and host of Drag Kids, said, "Although this decision was extremely hard to make, it is our number one priority to provide these kids with a positive and safe environment to share their art. All of these youth are extremely hard-working, talented, and amazing individuals who deserve to be showcased but also deserve to do so in a safe space, so we will be making it our top priority to bring these kids the safe and incredible show that they deserve."
To read more about the postponed event and the backlash Pride is facing, click here.
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