Dragphobia is on the Rise

Moore County, N.C.-- On Saturday, December 3rd, a shooting attack was carried out on two power substations located in Moore County, NC. Residents were without power for nearly 5 days. This attack happened about 3 weeks after a gunman entered Club Q in Colorado Springs and killed 5 people, injuring over 20 others, and it comes during a time when white supremacist protests of drag events have popped up in places like Boston and Ohio. 

According to CNN, the power outage caused by the attack had real harm on Moore County's community. Residents in nursing homes who rely on electrical medical equipment were forced to go without electricity, some falling ill because of the lack of power. Homes lacked heat as the temperature dipped. One person was even found dead; details of their death have yet to be confirmed by investigators. 

Moore County Officials and Gov. Roy Cooper described the attack as “malicious, criminal,” and investigators are zeroing in on two potential motives to contextualize the attack: 

Extremist groups in online forums who've been encouraging and planning attacks on local infrastructure and the growing number of armed confrontations around drag shows and drag library readings that have been reported all over the country.

While the motivation behind the attacks is still under investigation, the same day Moore County lost power from the attack, a group of permitted protesters and counter protesters gathered outside of the Southern Theatre in Southern Pines to protest The Downtown Divas Drag Show that drag artist Naomi Dix was headlining. 

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Social media discussions have raised questions about the potential ties to Naomi’s drag performance at Sunrise Theater in Southern Pines which was scheduled to start at 7 p.m., the same time sheriff’s office said the outages began.

December 3rd, 2022, 9PM, Emily Grace Rainey, who is a former army captain who “resigned her commission after receiving a career-ending letter of reprimand for her actions at an earlier protest in the Fort Bragg area,” and who led a group of North Carolinians to the events in D.C. on January 6th, 2021, posted “the power is out in Moore County and I know why.” In a second post just a few minutes later, she shared a picture of a darkened theater with the caption, “Sunrise Theater God will not be mocked.”

December 3rd, 2022, 10:45 PM: “The Moore County Sheriff’s Office just checked in,” she said. “I welcomed them to my home. Sorry they wasted their time. I told them that God works in mysterious ways and is responsible for the outage. I used the opportunity to tell them about the immoral drag show and the blasphemies screamed by its supporters. God is chastising Moore County. I thanked them for coming and wished them a good night. Thankful for the LEOs service, as always.” She later posted a selfie of her and the Sheriff. 

December 3rd, 2022, 11:45: Sheriff Ronnie Fields said they’d spoken with an “individual who put some false information on Facebook…we had to go and interview this young lady and have a word of prayer with her, but it turned out to be nothing.” When asked how they knew the information was false, Sheriff Ronnie Fields simply replied, “Good law enforcement.”

The drag show was a fundraiser for Sandhills Pride, a local nonprofit supporting the LGBTQ+ community and was headlined by Durham-based drag artist and House of Cox (H.O.C.) house member Naomi Dix. Naomi tells us her story of the events that day, and Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, joins to give some context around the alarming rise in violent backlash to drag performances and drag artists we've been seeing all over the country.   

Moore County, N.C.-- On Saturday, December 3rd, a shooting attack was carried out on two power substations located in Moore County, NC. Residents were without power for nearly 5 days. This power grid attack happened about 3 weeks after a gunman entered Club Q in Colorado Springs and killed 5 people while injuring over 20 others and during a time when white supremacist protests of drag events have popped up in places like Boston and Ohio. 

According to CNN, the power outage caused by the attack had real harm on Moore County's community. Residents in nursing homes who rely on electrical medical equipment were forced to go without electricity, some falling ill because of the lack of power. Homes lacked heat as the temperature dipped. One person was even found dead; details of their death have yet to be confirmed by investigators. 

While the motivation behind the attacks is still under investigation, the same day Moore County lost power from the attack, a group of permitted protesters and counter protesters gathered outside of the Southern Theatre in Southern Pines to protest The Downtown Divas Drag Show that Naomi Dix was headlining.  

The drag show was a fundraiser for Sandhills Pride, a local nonprofit supporting the LGBTQ+ community and was headlined by Durham-based drag artist and House of Cox (H.O.C.) house member Naomi Dix. Naomi tells us her story of the events that night and Sarah Kate Ellis, President and CEO of GLAAD, joins to give some context around the alarming rate of violent backlash to drag performances and drag artists we've been seeing all over the country.