"The reaction to two of our drag performers being included at the official press launch of the St. Patrick’s Festival programme caused some very ugly homophobic and transphobic rhetoric online in the past few weeks"
Dublin clubbing event Mother, which takes place on Saturday nights at Lost Lane, has made a lengthy statement following "
some very ugly homophobic and transphobic rhetoric online". This came following the release of their Paddy's festivities line-up, which includes two drag performers.
Mother first spoke of the "
diverse and exciting line-up" they curated, and how it is a celebration of "
the power, magic and creativity of the Queer Irish community and our allies". They were disappointed to read some of the rhetoric surrounding their acts and took to Instagram to share exactly how they feel about it.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CoryP7CIxZ7/
Their message read as such:
"Drag performance has a long and storied history in the queer community and is of vital importance in telling our stories and allowing people full expression of their authentic selves. We strongly condemn online attacks of these performers, the bad faith manufacturing of “debate” by some of the media and the blatantly intolerant and embarrassing comments made on the floor of the Seanad by a sitting senator.
"If you’re mad at the inclusion of queer folk in Irish culture, where have you been? Queer folk have existed in Ireland forever. We’ve contributed to the culture and enhanced it. We’re not a new idea or proposition and we’re not going anywhere."
Mother recognises that those spreading such hate are the minority, despite how vocal they are, and that they do not speak for the majority or represent the current Irish identity. They finished their caption with this:
"We stand in solidarity with our performers and with our trans siblings particularly as we witness the attempts to further marginalise them and question their lived realities."
Bualadh bós Mother.
Header image via Instagram/motherdublin
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