A Dallas brewery has announced that it will no longer be hosting drag performances after community outcry over the fact that children were allowed to attend.
The On Rotation Brewery & Kitchen, located just outside Love Field airport, took to social media to announce the decision.
“For the past week, we’ve been targeted by Texas-based groups for hosting a drag show. The show we hosted was a fun, casual event that many of you have enjoyed in the past few months,” the business claimed.
“But this week, the show came under fire for not having an explicit age limit,” it continued. “The organizers have encouraged their followers to bombard us with calls, leave us Yelp reviews, and comment on our social posts with the end goal of damaging our business.”
“We’ve seen some of the most atrocious things in the messages we’ve received — truly much worse than anything that’s been said or seen at the shows we hosted,” On Rotation stated.
“Despite the addition of an age minimum for tomorrow’s show, the persistent messages, calls, and falsified reviews of On Rotation have continued,” the business added. “After discussing this situation with the Dallas PD, we’ve determined that we do not have the security or support resources necessary to ensure the safety of our attendees, our team, or the performers.”
“With that in mind, we are canceling tomorrow’s show,” the statement continued. “We have to prioritize safety in this moment, though it pains us to see a bully win.”
On Rotation concluded, “We hope that those better resourced to combat this type of harassment will do so. In the meantime, we’d like to go back to brewing beer and slingin’ fried chicken.”
The decision came after local activist groups encouraged supporters to reach out to On Rotation and ask that an age restriction be added to the planned upcoming drag show.
On March 15, the Texas Family Project tweeted, “Texas families, it’s time to Defend Our Kids. We have uncovered an ‘all ages friendly’ drag show in Dallas. Let @on_rotation know that a drag show is no place for a child and that they should implement an age minimum at their upcoming shows.”
When the brewery pushed back on the “all ages” classification, activist and commentator Sara Gonzales responded that she “called & confirmed with your brewery myself that your drag show was ‘kid friendly,’ (exact verbiage used by your staff) which is why there were NO age restrictions on your ticketing page until today after we exposed it.”
After the community response, On Rotation did add an 18+ restriction for the event. Gonzales then thanked the business for “doing the right thing.”
Others in the area expressed their support for continued drag shows where children would be allowed.
University of North Texas media arts professor Jacqueline Vickery replied to On Rotation’s social media post, “Ugh I’m so sorry. The GOP right wing fear and hate campaign knows no bounds.”
“This makes me so angry and sad for y’all and the performers,” she continued.
When asked whether On Rotation will host more drag shows in the future, co-founder and owner Jacob Sloan told The Dallas Express, “We will consider scheduling a new drag show event when we can do it in the casual, fun (and safe) spirit in which we had hosted the shows to date.”
Lisa Howe, the vice president of membership and programs for the North Texas LGBT Chamber of Commerce, told The Dallas Express that she had previously been unaware of the situation at On Rotation.
However, Howe expressed, “I hope the harassment was just online and not in person.”
“The North Texas LGBT Chamber of Commerce condemns threats of violence,” she continued. “Using harassment and intimidation against a business that is operating within the law is harmful, not only to the business, their employees, and their customers, but to the nature of free enterprise.”
The topic of minors attending drag shows has become a hot-button issue in Texas, and other Dallas bars have been the subject of state investigations for allowing children to view allegedly illicit performances, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Additionally, bills have been filed in the Texas Legislature that would restrict or ban child-friendly drag shows, including one that would enable children exposed to inappropriate performances to sue the performers and those facilitating the event, as reported by The Dallas Express.