Death Threats Following Drag Performance At High School Prom

There’s apparently a mystery afoot in Albuquerque regarding a surprise performance by a drag queen at a high school prom, and now death threats are part of the equation. Students didn’t know who invited or approved the appearance, and school officials have only said they are “aware of the performance” and are investigating “what occurred and how students were impacted.” https://twitter.com/KOB4/status/1783712886822412621 From NBC News affiliate KOB4 in Albuquerque:

“Honestly, it was really interesting, and I didn’t mind it. But the thing is it’s the place and where it happened, full of minors, you know, it wasn’t very appropriate for prom,” said a student.

“Could have kept it more on the side of like it being more PG with the fact that they kind of did twerk on a couple students it wasn’t exactly the best, but it was something that did happen. And they did let students twerk on them,” another student said.

…

Was this performance approved by school or district officials? That’s unclear, an APS rep said they weren’t at liberty to comment beyond a letter that went out to Atrisco Heritage families Wednesday.

The letter said district officials are aware of the performance and are investigating what occurred and how it impacted students.

https://youtu.be/CY1c7NGDC7g?si=h_cfv_R3K-n5jv19 According to the New York Times, a new acting principal has been appointed for the high school. KOB4 did speak to the drag performer, Dylan Payan, a 26-year-old behavioral therapist, who says he works with the school’s Gay/Straight Alliance. From Metro Weekly:

Payan, a 26-year-old behavioral therapist who works with autistic children, said he had previously hosted workshops at the school for LGBTQ students involved in the school’s Gay-Straight Alliance and had performed similar shows at least three times before without any negative feedback. The same was initially true of the prom performance, he said.

However, after right-wing and anti-LGBTQ social media accounts expressed outrage over the performance, criticism of the show quickly devolved into hateful, transphobic rhetoric and death threats.

When he tried to reach school officials to complain about the threats, he never received a response.

At the end of the day, I don’t think this really “impacted” any of the students at the prom in a negative way. They just seem to be perplexed as to why it even happened. A week later no one has copped to booking/inviting the drag queen to perform? https://twitter.com/metroweekly/status/1786091127029805458