(COLORADO SPRINGS) — A group of protestors gathered outside La Burla Bee downtown on Sunday morning, Jan. 21, over an all-ages drag brunch hosted monthly at the location at 110 North Nevada Avenue.
“Unfortunately, today, we seem to be being protested by some religious groups,” said Romeo Uncaged, General Manager at La Burla Bee. “We’ve been protested before but not quite to this extent.”
Sunday marked one year since the all-ages drag brunch began, and FOX21 spoke to Bunny Bee, the Owner of La Burla Bee, who explained when she first knew about the protests. “We were threatened this week [and] we started to get bad reviews on our Google account and suddenly a message went out that they were going to show up here to protest.”
Members of the local nonprofit, Parasol Patrol, gathered outside La Burla Bee to protect those inside. “They do the parasols, the big rainbow-colored umbrellas that shield our employees and patrons coming in and out because unfortunately some of these groups like to yell a lot of hateful things or just ugliness at us,” said Uncaged.
A woman who spoke to FOX21 said it was her first time attending a protest like this. “I am protesting that they have kids involved in drag shows,” said Deedee Obrecht.
Bee explained that the all-ages drag show is appropriate for families.
“We have protestors indicating that this is sexual in nature, which it is not,” Bee said. “It is merely an expression of art for drag performers with music that they lip-sync to and express themselves through music, fully clothed in a beautiful artistry of costuming.”
Protestors like Obrecht, disagree. “I am very concerned about children, they have no business being in drag shows, they have no business watching people go ahead and exposing body parts and being sexualized.”
Dana Rasmussen, a member of Parasol Patrol for five years, said this is not the case.
“There is no sexualization. We have small children who have asked their parents to perform,” explained Rasmussen. “They are learning how to lip-sync, they are learning how to perform in front of a crowd, they are overcoming, a lot of times, their anxieties of being a public speaker.”
Obrecht further explained that introducing kids to drag is wrong.
“Do not sexualize children because that just leads to problems for kids later on in life; it makes them confused, they are more easily susceptible to being involved with pedophilia, and that’s our thing is, we want to save the kids from being involved in drag shows,” Obrecht said.
Others showed up in support of La Burla Bee on Sunday. “We have a community that showed up today to support the art of drag and our response is love and not hate, period… we create a safe space and we will always do that here,” said Bee. “This will not deter what we stand for.”
Obrecht said it was not the mission of protestors to stop drag shows entirely, just limit its audience. “I don’t care if they have drag shows, people can have drag shows all they want, just don’t drag the kids into it.”
Uncaged said that despite the protests, La Burla Bee will continue to host these events.
“We just want to show that we’re just here doing something out of love and respect and providing a safe space; a stage for people of all ages to come and express themselves with whatever message they want to put out to the audience,” said Uncaged.
Bee wrapped up with a message for those who want to show their support. “Coming out and supporting the event is more powerful than rebelling against what others are saying, so the love and support of the community will always stand higher than the low of what you’re seeing here today.”
