A family-friendly youth festival to celebrate end of school holidays in the inner Melbourne suburb of Moonee Ponds, that featured drag performances, was targeted by a group of neo-Nazis on September 30, 2022. The men, suspected to be members of the National Socialist Network, founded by Australian neo-Nazi Thomas Sewell, shouted homophobic and transphobic slogans and performed offensive Hitler salutes, before a determined DJ and a group of anti-fascist activists drowned out their sounds with music and counter-slogans. Victoria’s Minister for Equality Harriet Shing told Star Observer that the neo-Nazi protests were “distressing, offensive and illegal”. The neo-Nazi protests resulted in Melbourne-based drag queen Belial B’Zarr being unable to go ahead with their performance at the event. “On Friday I had the absolute pleasure of attending Youth Fest at Queens Park where I performed my bubble act and planned to perform some jazz and lipsync numbers. Unfortunately, not everyone is a fan of face paint, glitter, puppies and bubbles,” B’Zarr posted on Instagram. The banners called the drag performer “demon flesh” and sported the usual “groomer” insults. “Neo-N*Zi white supremacists even went to the effort of printing a custom banner for me (totally misspelling my surname) whilst screaming about my drag acts.”
via starobserver: MELBOURNE NEO-NAZIS TARGET DRAG PERFORMER AT FAMILY-FRIENDLY YOUTH FEST