British extremists are importing tactics from the US hard right. Their target? Family drag shows | Tim Squirrell

The debate over what is appropriate for children is important, but it has been co-opted at protests using abusive tactics

Drag and cross-dressing have been a part of British cultural expression for centuries. From Shakespeare plays to pantomime dames, and the late Barry Humphries' creation Dame Edna Everage; playing with representations of gender in all its forms has long been widely enjoyed by audiences. Drag shows are a modern expression of this tradition, which is now being threatened by a coordinated campaign to silence it.

More than 50 family drag events in the UK were targeted by protesters from June last year to this May, according to data gathered by our researchers at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). Ten shows were cancelled or postponed before they even took place. At the ones that did go ahead, small groups (rarely more than 12) using abusive and confrontational tactics routinely accused parents who were taking their children to the events of supporting paedophilia, or threatened to perform citizen's arrests" on the drag queens performing at them. Clashes between protesters and counter protesters or police broke out at a number of them.