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.
It’s nothing but filth, vulgarity and abnormality. They look like Satan’s minions. Evil attempting to destroy the innocence of the young. It’s sickening.
So are you protesting movie theaters where parents take their kids to R-rated movies? No? You only clutch your pearls when gay people are involved? Wild!
Tou ae comparing the mountain of drag shows to the mole hill of R-rated – even X-rated – movies.
I don’t believe I said that at all. You obviously just like making assumptions. I’m adamantly against the vulgarity on television and in movies. But…I believe the article was about drag shows? You might want to stay on topic. smh
This is exactly the same type campaign the United Daughters of the Confederacy waged against the Oak Cliff Litte Theater in 1934 and 1935 because they were planning to put on a play “Jute” with an interracial cast. Social media didn’t exist, but many intimidating calls to the landlord resulted in them losing their space and closing down permanently.
The account of the intimidation is in the Dallas Time Herald, Tuesday, May 28, 1935, on page 12. It is very similar to what is described in this article.
It should be pointed out that once mobocracy is introduced into political life, it is difficult to remove it.
In 1938, Walter White, of the NAACP came to Dallas to speak against lynching. He had to be flown in, gave his speech under the guard of a cordon of police, and flown out. The Dallas Morning News stated that it gave the city a black eye.
This type of activity gives the city a black eye.
Finally, mobocracy doesn’t have a brain. Individuals need to consider that in the future in some situation of popular hysteria, mobocracy might choose them as a target.
They should cancel these shows! They are coming for our kids!
Cancel Church-the pedo pastors are coming for your kids!
Any sane person would oppose child abuse, especially when it comes expressed with sexual innuendos.
It is not defensible to impose inappropriate sexual context on minors.
In my opinion, it is a criminal act.
You are canceling these shows bc of the outcry, not by any shrewd of decency in you. You are “targeted”
As you call it bc you are targeting our kids. Take your perverse crap to another state. Drag shows are not any kind of entertainment for a normal person. And thank the left for instructing people how to shut down what people do not believe in.
I think the UNT media arts professor said it best. “The GOP fear and hate campaign knows no bounds”. If you have a view different from theirs, something must be wrong with you.
I did a video on the shutdown of the Oak Cliff Little Theater. Shutting down theater seems to be a Dallas Tradition.
https://youtu.be/pdT2kR68BWI
A demonic place that is desperate to show drag shows to children characterizing comments and reviews as “much worse than anything that’s been said or seen at the shows we hosted.” Only a demonic individual could make such a statement.
You know what, I think country music is a disgrace. I feel no one in their right mind should listen to country music. That is my personal view and I do not push it on other. I do not as politicians to close down country music venues.
You know what I think? I think you’re a moron. Comparing music you don’t like to exposing children to vulgarity is absurd. I don’t like rap crap, but I’m not telling anyone to shut it down.
Thanks for sharing this story. The fact that people don’t want “their” kids to go to a drag show is perfectly fine, but when you threaten and lie (giving bad reviews) to a business for providing entertainment to those who want to attend that is a problem. You are infringing on other people’s rights because of your own beliefs.
Brew beer, not hate! Have a car show, not a pervert party !!!!
Right! What’s the real reason behind a brewery/bar/restaurant hosting any kind of entertainment? Sales! If I owned this or a similar establishment, I’d be concerned if I could only sell my product to people attracted by the entertainment. Must not be much of a product.
So are kids riding up on their bikes and gaining entrance to a drag show? I think not. The kids are attending a dinner event with their parents. The kids in attendance are not aware what sex the performers are. Save your hate for people that deny children food subsidys and afforadable housing.
What does exposing children to sex shows have to do with LGBTQ? Does the LGBTQ community really want to be associated with pedophilia and child grooming? Why is it necessary for adult men to be able to expose their genitals to children?
That’s the church honey, not drag shows
Exactly. Did you know that most lesbians do not want men going into women’s restrooms? Think about it.
Why would a brewery want to encourage children to come to a DRAG performance. Maybe the beer just not good enough to stand on its own.