Armed Protest at Christmas Drag Show Highlights Intensified LGBTQ Threats

A group of armed protesters on Tuesday gathered outside a theater in San Antonio, Texas, to protest an annual holiday-themed drag show, marking the second time a theater in the city was recently targeted for hosting LGBTQ events.

The far-right group This is Texas Freedom Force (TITFF), which has been deemed by the FBI as a "militia extremist group," announced the planned protest outside Aztec Theatre on its social media accounts prior to Tuesday's show. The group claimed on its Twitter account that the show was about "grooming kids," and wants drag shows to be limited to those 18 years of age and older in the state.

In response to the far-right group's threats, local LGBTQ community members organized a counterprotest to stand in support of the show, which travels to 36 different cities during the months of November and December. According to Steven Monacelli, reporter with the nonprofit magazine The Texas Observer, the counter-protesters at one point more than doubled the TITFF group.

In the previous anti-LGBTQ incident in San Antonio, according to a report from Texas Public Radio (TPR), The Starlighter theater announced December 4 that it was canceling all drag performances for the remainder of the year due to threats made both in person and online.

"The Starlighter's goal has always been to provide a safe all ages space for entertainment & unfortunately we're now being made to feel unsafe in our own space," the venue wrote in a statement posted to its Instagram page.

On Tuesday, TITFF posted a photo of the counter-protesters on Twitter, writing: "This is what child groomers look like."

According to TPR, the San Antonio Police Department said it was "aware of recent protests at LGBTQ+ events around the country," and wrote in a statement to the outlet that it was monitoring the holiday drag show Tuesday.

Unsubstantiated claims about drag performances being used to groom children guests have been growing in recent months, leading to increased attacks on the LGBTQ community. Some GOP state legislatures have also introduced anti-LGBTQ legislation built off the backless accusations, including in Texas, where a bill introduced for the 2023 session would define drag shows as a "sexually oriented business." Under state law, minors are banned from attending any event deemed "sexually oriented."

The Department of Homeland Security said in its "Terrorism Advisory System Bulletin" at the end of November that there remains a "heightened threat" of violence in the U.S. for factors including "violent extreme ideologies." The department also listed LGBTQ community members as a potential target of such violence, citing the recent shooting at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as a high-profile example.

Hate-crime statistics released by the FBI Monday reported a total of 7,303 instances in 2021, down from the 8,263 reports in 2020. But organizations such as the Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism at California State University-San Bernardino (CSUSB) say the FBI report was incomplete, reported the Associated Press (AP).

According to AP, less than two-thirds of all law enforcement agencies reported hate-crime data to the FBI last year, a large drop from the 80 percent reporting in 2020. Large cities like New York and Los Angeles also did not participate in 2021's report, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

According to CSUSB's analysis, hate crimes increased by 21 percent over the same period, and anti-LGBTQ hate rose 51.3 percent in the sampled cities. The same report also found that anti-transgender crime rose 6 percent.

Newsweek has reached out to the San Antonio Police Department for comment.