LGBTQ activists defended drag queen marchers who chanted "We're coming for your children" — a chant they claim has been used for years, according to a report.
NBC News published a story Tuesday on how LGBTQ activists claim the chant, which was recorded at the New York City drag queen parade in June, was "taken out of context."
"It’s all just words," Brian Griffin, the original organizer of the New York City drag queen parade, told NBC News. "It’s all presented to fulfill their worst stereotypes of us."
NBC News cited LGBTQ activists who claim the "we're coming for your children" chant has been "used for years." Twitter added a community note to NBC News' tweet of the article that there is no proof to these claims.
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"The news articles provides no evidence of the ‘we’re coming for your children’ chant being done for years at pride nor does it quote specific individuals that make this claim," the note reads. "This is very irresponsible reporting."
Karla Jay, the first female chair of New York’s Gay Liberation Front, told NBC News the "We're coming for your children" chant was an attempt to mock criticism of the LGBTQ community.
"The person who said this in a march isn’t the person who came up with this idea — the person in the march is saying, ‘Go ahead, call me this; why do I care?’" Jay said. "The person is trying to destigmatize this and claim their own power. You can’t blame the victims here, and that’s what the right wing is doing."
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The drag queen march in New York City included a sign displaying "Groom Cisies," NBC News reported. Drag marchers last year chanted "groom, groom, groom," Gothamist reported.
"These are the words that they’ve used all our lives to manipulate and control us," Griffin told NBC News, "and we can now own them and see them for the falsehoods that they are."
NBC News cited reports showing drag queen marchers have in decades past used a similar chant: "We’re here, we’re queer, we’re not going shopping," which was used as a demand for more government resources to counter the AIDS epidemic.
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NBC News cited two drag queens who said the "we're coming for your children" chant was in bad taste and represented only a portion of the LGBTQ community. Hucklefaery Ken, the organizer for this year's New York City drag queen march, said the chant was a "bad joke that is being used to serve the interests of parasitic, predatory political propaganda and policy."
"It’s really scary to us," said Fussy Lo Mein, a drag performer, said. "It doesn’t represent everybody — it represents that individual. I thought it was a dumb idea, and I started chanting on top of it with alternate verses."
