 A drag queen has said the backlash against her reading books to children 'won't stop' after a man who protested her event was found guilty. Lance O'Connor, of Plaistow in east London, was accused of being 'aggressive and intimidating' towards organisers and attendees of a Drag Queen Story Hour UK session at London's Tate Britain. The story-reading events, founded by performer Aida H Dee, see Aida and other drag performers read to young people in schools, libraries and festivals. On Monday, O'Connor was found guilty of a public order offence by a Westminster court. A judge felt that O'Connor's comments – which included about 'grooming and paedophilia' – went 'beyond freedom of expression into hate speech'. For Aida, who outside of drag goes by Sab Samuel, the guilty verdict is of mixed relief. Aida H Dee, an award-winning author, hosted a reading session for families at the Tate Britain earlier this year (Picture: Drag Queen Story Time UK / Twitter) The sight of people barking anti-LGBTQ+ slurs into megaphones and heckling families entering story hour venues has been a common one for Samuel, he tells Metro.co.uk. 'I don't want anyone to think that this is the end of the protests or I don't want everyone to think this is the end of people being called a paedophile because they're LGBTQ+ and work with children,' he says. 'The day someone was found guilty was also the day I myself had to hurry out from the back of my venue at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival because there were people trying to follow me out.' He adds that even today, 'people with megaphones are outside the Edinburgh Fringe Festival show that I'm doing, saying the same very same things [as] this person [who] has been found guilty'. 'The same things,' the children's book author adds. 'It's good riddance, glad this happened, but we need to continue the fight because this fight is not over.' Sam){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
A drag queen has said the backlash against her reading books to children ‘won’t stop’ after a man who protested her event was found guilty.
Lance O’Connor, of Plaistow in east London, was accused of being ‘aggressive and intimidating’ towards organisers and attendees of a Drag Queen Story Hour UK session at London’s Tate Britain.
The story-reading events, founded by performer Aida H Dee, see Aida and other drag performers read to young people in schools, libraries and festivals.
On Monday, O’Connor was found guilty of a public order offence by a Westminster court.