The first attack on the drag theater company occurred in 2019. A Nazi then appeared at one of the storytelling sessions. In 2020 and 2023, the Nazi Nordic Resistance Movement (NMR) blocked buildings where the company was to perform.
For several years since then, we have been subjected to enormous, organized hate storms, where we sometimes receive up to a hundred hate messages per minute, says Petter Wallenberg.
The events have left large scars.
It has been a terrible situation. We're talking about several years of harassment and hate campaigns, and it completely breaks one down. It makes you lose the will to live. You become constantly anxious, when we do our job, our performances, and for our audience. You're afraid something will happen all the time.
Four Convictions
Last year, Petter Wallenberg filed a police report on hate crimes against over 130 individuals. So far, it has led to 16 indictments and four convictions for incitement to racial hatred.
This is the first time people are being convicted of hate crimes against drag show artists. It's a major milestone and a big step forward. That LGBTQ-hostile hate crimes are taken so seriously and punished sends an important signal that there are consequences.
All four individuals have been sentenced to day fines for comments directed at the drag theater company on their social media. Several other cases in the same matter are still waiting to be taken up in court.
"Putting Down the Heel"
Since its start in 2017, "Among Dragons and Drag Queens" has made nearly 200 performances a year, and most are sold out.
Drag shows are not controversial for the average person in Sweden, the country where "After Dark" is praised by Queen Silvia. The hate groups that persecute us are small but loud, which is why it's important to mark that hate crimes have consequences.
So far, they have not canceled a single performance.
We will never yield to hatred but will continue to fight for a happier and more sparkling world. We usually say: What do we do with hate and threats? We put them down and resist.
"Among Dragons and Drag Queens" is a drag theater company that writes books and performs storytelling sessions, theater, and musicals for children, young people, and adults.
The activity was founded in 2017 by author and director Petter Wallenberg in collaboration with the Stockholm City Library.
