Joel Filmore, left, also know as Moana Lotte, along with co-host Dymond Calloway, of Chicago, perform during “The Dollhouse: A Drag ReVue” on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2022, at the Martini Room in Elgin. (Ryan Rayburn for Shaw Local)
Vandalism at a Lake in the Hills bakery that was hosting an all-ages drag show. A bullet mailed to the Downers Grove Public Library that was planning to hold a drag queen bingo event for teens. Ongoing dissension at Yorkville City Council meetings about drag shows at two local establishments.
The events all occurred within months of each other and amid a heightened focus on drag events across the country, including one that was canceled Friday night because of concerns about protests.
So, when drag performer Summer Kornfeind heard the news about last month’s Club Q shooting, in which five people were killed at a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, she wondered if she, her audience or someone she knows could be next.
“I started seeing over the summer in the news this pushback [against drag], and I was getting apprehensive,” said Kornfeind, who lives in Plainfield and goes by the stage name Candi Forest.
