Happy New Year everyone, It’s a new dawn, a new day, and a new decade. However, I can’t say that things have gotten off to the best beginning.
The year is 2020. In the past few years it began to feel like love and acceptance were beginning to become more mainstream, with just one or two exceptions.
However, things took a dark turn when a children’s story time event run by two drag queen performers was stormed last Saturday.
The event endorsed by Rainbow Families Queensland and hosted by drag queens Queeny and Diamond was a storytelling for children at the library in Brisbane CBD.
The protesting group, students of Queensland University and members of the UQ Liberal National Club stormed into the storytelling session chanting, “Drag queens are not for kids”, over and over. 

A video of the protest, featuring the club president Wilson Gavin trying to intimidate one of the drag queens has gone viral on social media; with many Australians expressing their disgust at the protesters. The Liberal National councillor Vicki Howard has in fact posted on Facebook her disappointment at the event, reassuring that the protesting group’s actions were “appalling” and that their actions do not represent the views or values of the LNP.

However, there were those who agreed with the actions of the protesters, many expressing their desire not to expose their children to this kind of sexualisation, while others described drag queens as having a “mental illness”, and “having a political agenda”.
Now, over the past three years I feel like I have frequently been hearing about the LGBTQI community and their “political agenda”. However, I am struggling to see how things like marriage equality and drag queens reading to children could be in any way political. Do Australians think that by teaching today’s children to love others, even if they are homosexual or transgender, that we will turn the entire population gay or transgender?!
Just the thought of this makes me feel as if my brain is disintegrating!
The fact of the matter is that Queeny and Diamond have both held blue cards for over five years (Working with Children’s Check in NSW), and are experienced performers, having not only done shows for adults but also numerous arts and crafts sessions with children. The idea behind the event at the library was to teach children the values of inclusivity and diversity; to love fellow human beings for who they are.

Sadly, events took a shocking turn the following day when the leader of the protest group Wilson Gavin was found dead. Less than 24 hours after the protest, he committed suicide. Now, so many people are asking what happened.
Was he in the closet; in constant fear of being outed? Was the protest in fact his final desperate cry for help? Could anything have been done to stop Gavin’s final actions?
These are all questions we will probably never know the answers to.
Over just one weekend, Australians everywhere have been on an emotional rollercoaster; from anger and frustration, to deep sadness and regret, wishing they had been able to do something to help.

In the aftermath, it has come to light that in the hours following the protest, Gavin who himself was gay but a staunch conservative (who was adamantly opposed to things like same-sex marriage), was bombarded by hateful abuse online. Once again, the issue of cyberbullying comes to the fore. Could the abuse he suffered after the protest have been enough to make him want to end his life?
The saddest thing about life is that things like suicide cannot be undone. No one ever really knows what is going on in another person’s head, let alone what is going through their head in those final moments before they commit to their final act. Suicide is a tragedy, regardless of who, when and where it occurs.
The drag queens involved have even expressed their support to Gavin’s family.

So, I feel it necessary to say that we all need to take something away from this tragedy. I feel the need to reiterate that love and acceptance are the key. We are all human. We are all different, yet we are all the same. It is our differences that make us special, and we should celebrate that, not vilify each other.

I sincerely hope that lessons can be learnt from this event so that it can be avoided in the future.

All my love,
xoxo Brett.

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