A Year of Hate

The report identifies a global convergence of far-right groups, conspiracy theorists, and 'parents' rights' movements targeting drag events to denigrate the LGBTQ+ community. While the US is the primary driver of narratives and the only country in the set to pass anti-drag legislation, similar tactics like doxxing and harassment are appearing globally. The report highlights the use of 'save the children' and 'groomer' narratives to justify extremism and warns that these fringe tropes are becoming mainstreamed in political discourse.

• Anti-drag activism is driven by loose coalitions consisting of far-right groups, COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, fundamentalist religious activists, and right-wing influencers. While political support for these actions exists in France, Australia, and the US, only in the US are a significant number of mainstream party elected representatives actively engaging in anti-drag rhetoric.
• The United States serves as the global epicenter for anti-drag activity, recording the highest number of protests and violent incidents, including the Club Q shooting and an attempted arson. The US also exports the narratives and tactics used by movements in other countries and is the only reviewed nation where anti-drag legislation has been successfully enacted.
• Anti-LGBTQ+ actors globally employ a shared set of harassment tactics, including doxxing, threats of violence, coordinated harassment of venues, and 'review bombing' of public services. Despite these pressures, the majority of targeted performances are not cancelled; in the US dataset, only 6.4% of targeted performances were cancelled.
• The 'protecting children' narrative is the primary justification for extreme protests, framing drag performers as 'groomers' or predatory 'ideological indoctrinators'. This framework often overlaps with QAnon-related 'save the children' conspiracy theories to justify extreme actions as necessary to prevent harm to minors.
• Several secondary narratives are used to delegitimize LGBTQ+ identities, including framing drag as misogyny (primarily in the UK and Australia), conflating drag performers with transgender individuals, and claiming that LGBTQ+ identities are a 'gender ideology'. In Australia, some activists specifically link LGBTQ+ identities to Satanism, describing performers as 'demons'.
• Anti-drag activists frequently target public libraries and councils by claiming that hosting drag events is a waste of public resources. This narrative is used as a vector to pressure local governments to cancel events through template complaints and harassment.

APA

Squirrell, T., & Davey, J. (2023). A Year of Hate. Institute for Strategic Dialogue. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Understanding-Threats-and-Harassment-Targeting-Drag-Shows-and-the-LGBTQ-Community.pdf

Chicago

Squirrell, Tim, and Jacob Davey. A Year of Hate. Institute for Strategic Dialogue, 2023. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Understanding-Threats-and-Harassment-Targeting-Drag-Shows-and-the-LGBTQ-Community.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Squirrell |first1=Tim |last2=Davey |first2=Jacob |title=A Year of Hate |publisher=Institute for Strategic Dialogue |date=2023 |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Understanding-Threats-and-Harassment-Targeting-Drag-Shows-and-the-LGBTQ-Community.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{squirrell2023year, author = {Squirrell, Tim and Davey, Jacob}, title = {{A Year of Hate}}, institution = {Institute for Strategic Dialogue}, year = {2023}, url = {https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Understanding-Threats-and-Harassment-Targeting-Drag-Shows-and-the-LGBTQ-Community.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }