The original organizer for the New York City Drag March defended the “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children” chant made during the event.
According to NBC News, Brian Griffin, who started the march in 1994, said the chant was “all just words.”
“It’s all presented to fulfill their worst stereotypes of us,” he added.
NYC Drag Marchers chant “we’re here, we’re queer, we’re coming for your children” https://t.co/ucK1qM4fv5 pic.twitter.com/OhBguhWwZY
— Timcast News (@TimcastNews) June 24, 2023
Griffin also revealed he has chanted crude things in the past during the marches, like, “Kill, kill, kill, we’re coming to kill the mayor” and made various sexual references. Additionally, attendees of the march sang “God is a lesbian” repeatedly.
Karla Jay, the first female chair of New York’s Gay Liberation Front, explained the purpose behind the controversial chant.
“The person who said this isn’t 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?’” she said. “The person is trying to destigmatize this and claim their own power.”
She noted, “I grew up in the time where it was considered really bad to be called ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ or anything like that, and what we did is we reclaimed words.”
Jay also pointed fingers at the right-wing for blaming “the victims.”
“These are the words that they’ve used all our lives to manipulate and control us and we can now own them and see them for the falsehoods that they are,” she continued.
The “coming for your children” chant has been used for years at Pride events, according to longtime march attendees and gay rights activists, who said it’s one of many provocative expressions used to regain control of slurs against LGBTQ people. https://t.co/2VvDAKyyWy
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 28, 2023
In the article, NBC News referenced LGBT activists who claimed, “The ‘coming for your children’ has been used for years at Pride events.”
However, Twitter denied those claims, adding a community note to NBC News’ tweet of the article.
“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. This is very irresponsible reporting,” the note reads, via Fox News.
