Ontario woman arrested after protesting church-sponsored drag queen event

The "Hallow-Queen and Pump-King Spooktacular" family event was put on by Muskoka Pride at the Gravenhurst Trinity United Church and advertised both drag performances and a drag storytime, according to The National Telegraph.

In a video shared on social media, two police officers can be heard telling the protesters that they are trespassing on the church property while they are clearly standing on the sidewalk.

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"I am protesting grown adults who want to dress in lingerie and dance around children," protester Chrystal Peters explained to the police. "We have … a whole nation filled with children who don’t know whether they are boys or girls because of activities like this and it is up to us adults to stand up and to protect these children."

The officers then suggested that Peters couldn’t possibly know what was going on inside the church before accusing the group of blocking the entrance to the event.

"The entrance is wide open. Nobody’s blocking the entrance," replied Peters.

Peters was then arrested for public disturbance for "swearing and yelling in a public place," but according to the National Telegraph, she was released shortly after.

In last year’s promotional video for the Hallow-Queen and Pump-King Spooktacular show, drag queens with an unimpressive artistic ability can be seen performing in front of children, at least one of whom was dressed in a manner some may consider provocative.

Opinion is polarized when it comes to the issue of exposing children to such performances. On the one hand, supporters claim that watching drag shows teaches children about gender fluidity and makes society more accepting and inclusive. Critics argue that exposing innocent children to adult men prancing around as sexualized parodies of womanhood is inappropriate and does nothing to promote healthy acceptance of gender-nonconformity.

Critics have further suggested that "family-friendly" drag shows and drag queen storytime events are all part of an intentional act by queer theorists to "queer" childhood and education. Queer theorists believe that society is oppressed by norms of morality and the only way to achieve liberation is to disrupt and dismantle our current moral structures.