Last June, to celebrate Pride Month, a public library in the East Bay’s San Lorenzo hosted a drag story hour for families with young kids. Five men, including one wearing a shirt that displayed a rifle and the words “Kill Your Local Pedophile,” stormed the room to disrupt the event.
In a national climate in which right-wing violence continues to spike and school shootings have become horrifyingly commonplace, drag performer Panda Dulce feared the worst. The intruders screamed transphobic slurs and sexualized accusations, scaring children. The sheriff’s department was called, and its deputies removed the men from the premises. They identified themselves as members of the white supremacist group the Proud Boys.
What transpired that day was one of at least 141 reported anti-drag attacks across the country in 2022, 6 of which took place in California. Although the Bay Area enjoys a reputation of being especially welcoming to LGBTQ people, the five men who targeted the drag story hour were all locals.
Measuring violence is not a straightforward task, but anti-trans attacks like this have escalated dramatically in recent years by every available metric. Hundreds of bills have been introduced in state legislatures
