Undercover 30+ Armed Antifa Men AK-47 Assault Weapons Kid-Friendly Drag Show

Undercover 30+ Armed Antifa is the armed militia of the Democratic Party and is back in force extremists protect Texas drag show for very young children Aug 30, 2022 Welcome to Sodom and Gomorrah 2023?. Yes, this happened in Texas U.S.A. Scorecard reports: Over the weekend, the DFW-area Anderson Distillery and Grill hosted an “all ages welcome” drag show. Drag queen Trisha Delish (the owner’s son) hosted the “Barrel Babes Drag Brunch,” which featured several other scantily clad drag queens dancing and performing lip-syncing routines. On social media, the owner praised his “team and the inclusive environment we’re creating.”Show more

However, several pro-family grassroots organizations, like Protect Texas Kids and the Texas Family Project, encouraged citizens to petition the Anderson Distillery and Grill to raise the event’s age limit, raising concerns for the “innocence of children.” After the establishment refused, Protect Texas Kids organized a protest outside the venue. According to the protest’s attendees, several heavily armed Antifa militants stood guard outside the “family-friendly” drag show.

Atlanta domestic terrorism suspects seen smiling or stone-faced in anti-police riot booking photos All but one of the six suspects charged in fiery Atlanta unrest were from out of state. The six accused domestic terrorists arrested when anti-police protests devolved into violence Saturday night in downtown Atlanta were seen either smiling or stone-faced in their booking photos.

The Atlanta Police Department identified the six suspects – all but one who came from out of state – to Fox News Digital on Sunday afternoon. They are Nadja Geier, 24, of Nashville, Tennessee; Madeleine Feola, 22, of Spokane, Washington; Ivan Ferguson, 23, of Nevada; Graham Evatt, 20, of Decatur, Georgia; Francis Carrol, 22, of Kennebunkport, Maine; and Emily Murphy, 37, of Grosse Isle, Michigan. The six are each facing eight misdemeanor and felony charges.

The misdemeanor charges are pedestrian in a roadway, willful obstruction of a law enforcement officer, riot, and unlawful assembly. They each also face felony counts of second-degree criminal damage, first-degree arson, interference with government property and domestic terrorism.

The Daily Mail reported that a person with the same name, age and hometown as Carrol was one of five suspects arrested just last month on domestic terrorism and other charges at the self-proclaimed autonomous zone at the site of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

In December, The Mail also reported that Carrol was the son of a millionaire Maine surgeon who grew up in one of the most luxurious beach towns on the East Coast, home to the George Bush family compound. On Sunday, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens appeared on CBS News and rebuked those claiming that the anti-police riot seen overnight in his city were not violent, noting how the suspects had explosives, burned down a police car and broke the windows of businesses. Dickens stopped short of claiming the protesters were part or any particular organization, such as Black Lives Matter or Antifa, but vowed domestic terrorism charges and to make sure anyone provoking violence gets "held accountable." Saturday’s protests were in response to the death of 26-year-old environmental activist Manuel Esteban Paez Teran, who was shot and killed by Georgia State Patrol.

Teran reportedly went by the name Tortuguita, identified as nonbinary, and used they/it pronouns. Authorities said Teran first shot and wounded a trooper tasked with clearing protesters from the construction site of a new public safety training center dubbed by activists as "Cop City."

State officers allegedly returned fire, but authorities said there was no body-camera video of the shooting, prompting the chaotic demonstrations overnight.

Dickens, a Democrat, defended the public safety training center, arguing that the project aims to answer the calls from 2020’s protests for the better training for police officers and firefighters. But, the mayor argued, the activists who remain at the construction site "don't want to see anything built that supports police."

Antifa is the armed militia of the Democratic Party and is back in force. Ever wonder that? The shadowy, heavily armed left wing militia group, the guys dressed like stormtroopers in black masks? You remember them, of course, well, from the summer of 2020, they burned our cities that year. Churches and police stations and courthouses.

Now, the point of the violence they committed, the extensive violence and the killings they committed, was to defeat Donald Trump – Make the country so chaotic that voters would want a change, and they were effective in doing that. So effective that Kamala Harris herself raised money to bail them out of jail. In the end, Antifa played a pivotal role in our presidential election that year, more so than any other organized bloc of voters. Then, the moment Joe Biden was inaugurated, Antifa seemed to disappear. Nobody asked any questions about where they went, much less about who they were or who was paying them. They'd served their purpose, and then they left. So in retrospect, it's very clear who Antifa was and is. Antifa is the armed instrument of the permanent Democratic establishment in Washington. Their job is to mobilize when politically necessary. Now, this is a new thing in the United States, but political militia are a common feature in third world politics. They were a staple in Haiti. In our country, however, only one party has them, the Democratic Party. They're the only ones with armed militia in the street. So with that in mind, it's interesting to note that Antifa is back in force, and that's probably not a very good sign for Joe Biden. If nothing else, Antifa has a solid track record of getting rid of sitting presidents. Here's a report from Fox 5 in Atlanta over the weekend:

FOX 5 REPORTER: Police arrested six people in the violent protest that left several buildings damaged and a police car destroyed after it was set on fire. Downtown Atlanta erupted into a scene of chaos Saturday night as a protest took a violent turn. At least three buildings were damaged when rioters threw bricks and rocks, shattering windows. At least two police cars were targeted. One even lit on fire. Atlanta police say within two blocks of the protesters starting their destruction, they disperse the crowd. Six people were arrested. All of them are facing eight charges, including domestic terrorism and arson. Only one is a Georgia resident.

Unleash the wackos. Somebody has unleashed the wackos. There's always a pretext for this. There's always a story. They tell you to pretend it's spontaneous. "It just happened. They just got so mad that they flew in from all over the country to stage a riot."

Now, the story behind this riot, the one you're seeing on TV, is that a guy called Tortuguita, apparently an Antifa environmentalist, person who uses they/it as pronouns, decided to shoot a state trooper in Georgia, and then the cops shot back and killed it in response.

And in case you doubt the connection, consider Representative Katherine Clarke of Massachusetts, she/her. Katherine Clarke is one of the senior Democrats in the House of Representatives. In fact, she's the Minority Whip. She's the one who was so worried about climate change. Remember, she told you that her kids were having nightmares about it? Didn't stop her from buying $1,000,000 oceanfront home, but whatever.

So Katherine Clarke's own son, Jared Dowell, was riding along with Antifa in Boston on Saturday night. He was vandalizing a monument on Boston Common when police tried to arrest him. Jared Dowell and other protesters then assaulted the police, causing the specific officer to bleed from the nose and mouth. Oh, that was her son.

So Katherine Clarke was forced to issue a statement about this, of course. By the way, stop talking about her personal life. If you knew what the personal lives of the people who run the Democratic Party are actually like, you would understand their politics much better. So Katherine Clarke issued a statement and refers to her son as her "daughter" – Huh? Of course – and wrote that "This is a very difficult time in the cycle of joy and pain in parenting."

It's just, you know, part of the cycle where your adult son pretends to be a woman and attacks police officers. It's totally normal, it's just part of the cycle of parenting. Yeah. Again, if you knew the details of their personal lives, you would understand their politics. This is the party of weak men and unhappy women. But what you have in effect here is the official endorsement of domestic terrorism from the highest level of the Democratic Party. And why wouldn't you? Again, this is their militia. These are their state-sanctioned shock troops, and they are effectively immune from criticism.

So you go to jail for owning a 10-round magazine, but they get to do whatever they want. Merrick Garland and Christopher Wray, who runs the FBI, are making certain that every last January 6 defendant spends years in jail. Their lives are destroyed, on the no fly list. And yet Antifa terrorists get released almost as soon as they're arrested.

This week in Atlanta, the police arrested the 22-year-old son of a surgeon in Kennebunkport, Maine, called Francis Carroll. Now, in case you're wondering who these people are, well, they come from the key Democratic demographic, which, of course, is not people of color, working people. That's nonsense.

The key Democratic demographic is upscale professionals and their lunatic children. So this kid grew up in a $2 million mansion – pictures of him on his father's yacht. He was arrested on domestic terrorism charges a month ago in Atlanta. He assaulted police officers and terrorized residents.

Is he still there? No. He got out of jail immediately. So then apparently he went again to an Antifa riot. This weekend in Atlanta, police say Carroll went out and committed some more domestic terrorism, including arson. So why does this kid, the rich kid, get off when the people who showed up at the Capitol, consistent with their constitutional rights, to complain about what really did seem like fraud in the 2020 election, they went to jail? Well, have you ever checked the percentage of January 6 defendants who've experienced a personal bankruptcy? Much higher than average. These were actual working class people, deeply frustrated, completely out of options and unheard by everyone in Washington. It's not an excuse for the vandalism some of them committed. But it tells you it's a very different group of people. They didn't go to Middlebury or some other liberal arts madrassa. They're actual working people.

But they're in jail and the rich kids are out. Is anyone going to ask Merrick Garland to explain that? Is anyone going to ask what Antifa is? Who leads this group? How many more riots do they have to lead before the New York Times gets interested and does a five-part series on what is this? Who are these people? Who pays for this? Where do they stay at night? What's their background? Give us some news on Antifa. They're the biggest armed militia in the United States, and we know nothing about them. Why? Because they're aligned with the Democratic Party.

But they're telling you the real threat is rural voters with AR-15s, assault weapons. You must disarm Republican voters. No, thanks.

Disarm? Why don't you go ahead and disband Antifa? Go full RICO on them. Let's find out who their leaders are. Let's see them in jail. Then maybe you can tackle street crime and then pay a little bit of attention to the drug cartels that control the southwestern United States. And then maybe at that point, you will convince some people to register their AR-15s and AK-47s, But until you do that, up yours.

A “kid friendly” drag brunch for all ages was guarded against protests by armed Antifa militants carrying AR-15s and AK-47s.

A “kid friendly” drag brunch for all ages was guarded against protests by armed Antifa militants carrying AR-15s and AK-47s. The drag event was held at the Anderson Distillery and Grill in Roanoke, Texas.

The event called the Barrel Babes Drag Brunch was advertised as “Dancing Music and Laughs.” Journalist Taylor Hansen said that the “kid-friendly” event featured “Vulgarity, Sexualization of Minors, and Partial Nudity.”

Protestors outside the event were spit on and confronted by activists who support “kid friendly” drag brunches.

Upon learning of the event, Protect Texas Kids, founded by Kelly Neidert, organized a “pop-up protest” outside the venue.

In response, Antifa organized its members to support the drag event. According to The Post Millennial’s editor-at-large Andy Ngo “The local chapter of the John Brown Gun Club, an #Antifa militia linked to domestic terrorism, led the call to direct action.”

Kris Cruz from Blaze TV reported that Antifa militants armed with AR-15s acted as “bodyguards” and escorted attendees to their vehicles. He added that Antifa and the staff worked together to provide “protection” for attendees.

Kruz also reported that Antifa was placed strategically during the “kid friendly” drag show and “was armed like snipers on the 3rd floor of the parking garage.”

The militants were reportedly directly targeting Neidert and Protect Texas Kids. Antifa has consistently and persistently targeted Neidert.

Antifa posts criticized Neidert for “working with” Ngo, comedian and activist Alex Stein “and a host of other wannabe fashy (fascist) influencers.” They even described her organization as a “terror crew.”

According to Sara Gonzalez Host of “The News and Why It Matters” on Blaze TV, there were over 20+ children in attendance as well as teachers. She added, “Aside from the children present, there were some safety concerns. The staff admitted they were violating fire code & over capacity.” Gonzalez also reported that minors were given a “wristband that said, ‘drinking age verified.'” Gonzalez reported that the police were called about the issues but did not respond.

A drag show, a protest and a line of guns: How the battle over one issue is tearing at America Heart Land ? Why ? How Cum ? Really ? Young Kids ?

IT'S A CRISP FALL DAY in North Texas, the sky shining as bright as the high-gloss paint on the ‘62 Corvair in the classic car show staged on Oak Street downtown. The Corvair glows duckling yellow. The sky is robin’s egg blue.

The air, after a fall rain, is a perfect 68 degrees. It’s the kind of day that makes it possible, for a minute, to forget the scorch of the Texas summer, to imagine everything in the world is just right, exactly as it is.

The trees on Oak Street rustle in the breeze as people roam from one end of the street to the other, from north of the water tower to the south, ending at the new City Hall — all 30,000 square feet of it, with its sweeping staircase, clock tower and intricate tilework in the restrooms. The cars are on show, but people are also here for the free food from five restaurants. They’re serving samples so everyone can have a taste and then vote online to pick a winner.

They’re here for the food because Roanoke is all about restaurants. That’s what turned this little city into a place – cemented in 2009 when friendly voices in Austin passed a resolution at the statehouse deeming this little city the “Unique Dining Capital of Texas.”

So the highlight of the veteran’s parade and classic car show today might really be the cookoff, where restaurants serve up little slices of wood-fired or forkfuls of chicken-fried or, at Anderson Distillery, little cups of hot mac and cheese.

Barely a block up from the new City Hall, Jay Anderson is working the door and the cookoff at the same time, and a line is forming as he scoops macaroni shots.

It’s easy to forget that a little more than two months earlier, in the heat of the Texas summer, Jay Anderson and his son, Bailey, opened up their doors for brunch and walked right into the middle of a fight that everybody knew was simmering, but nobody thought would ever explode in this little city of 9,878 people.

But that explosion was very real. And it all happened because, in late August, the Andersons included three words when they posted a new event on the distillery’s social media.

The event was a drag show – the Barrel Babes Drag Brunch. A drag show alone might have been enough to whip up a reaction in Roanoke. But the event posting included three other crucial words that were enough to shove Roanoke into the middle of the controversy that has roiled Texas and further split an already divided America in 2022. Three words:

ALL AGES WELCOME!

To the Andersons, it had seemed simple. There would be brunch. There would be families. And there would be drag performers – starting with Bailey, who had been performing in drag since 2017, while also helping build the family business.

Simple.

But from the start, things were complicated: The objections from City Hall, the email campaign to shut down Anderson Distillery, the laser focus of the prolific live-stream protester who travels with an entourage she says is usually armed.

It’s hard to imagine that Bailey had called police departments for miles around and discovered that nobody would help with security. Or that a protest planned for the drag brunch caught the eye of the multiagency police fusion center in the next county over — the one that’s tasked with watching for criminal activity and terrorism.

And, if all that wasn’t enough, that was before the black-clad leftists showed up to protect Anderson Distillery and its clients, bringing their assault rifles and face masks and body armor to a standoff with conservative protesters.

Before the screaming and the public praying, the shouting about pedophiles and abuse and grooming and puberty blockers and a lot of things that were never really about Andersons', or brunch, or even drag, at all.

Before the people from the right-wing websites and YouTube channels showed up, before the false stories on Twitter and the outraged interviews on Fox News.

Before the Andersons’ landlord had them sign a promise they would never do this again, before they had to pin up the map they call the Wall of Hate just to keep track of all the abusive phone calls. The Andersons know all that now. But there’s something else they don’t know yet.

On this November day at the cookoff, the Andersons don’t know that in just two weeks, another person in another state will walk into another bar hosting another drag show. That this person will be carrying an assault rifle and open fire. And that this time, there will be no armed leftists in body armor to stop what happens. Just patrons inside to do the tackling after the shooting begins.

They don’t know now — nobody knows it, yet, but everybody will soon — that five people will be slaughtered at that drag show, at that bar, in Colorado. That a performer from the drag show will be shot and killed. That it will happen on a Saturday night in a bar that is setting up to host an all-ages drag brunch on Sunday morning.

What they know right now in Roanoke is that it’s the cookoff today.

Jay Anderson is sweating and breathless, rushing to fill more free samples as people appear at the door to await a table. “I’ll be right there to seat you,” he says. Then he makes a sharp right to the mac and cheese station and starts scooping a little faster.

Drag in America
All-ages drag shows have become the front line in America’s culture wars.

Drag performances – classically, a show in which men dress in women’s clothing and perform under a female persona – are about as old as performance itself. History is filled with examples of men performing as women, from Shakespeare plays to Billy Wilder movies from the golden era of Hollywood.

Drag performance for adults was often something akin to burlesque. But in the era of reality TV, drag also went mainstream. Performer RuPaul’s 1992 radio hit about supermodels had kids across America singing the earworm “You better work.” His hit show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” burst onto television in 2009.

By this decade, experts were estimating that Pride events were reaching record numbers in the country’s smallest towns. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” was headed toward its 15th season on the air.

“Drag brunches,” where performers mingle with a mimosa-vibed crowd, could be found in most of America’s big cities.

Drag performers and experts say drag is about freedom of expression, about joy, about feeling glamorous and beautiful and outrageous.

But they will also tell you it can be about something more than entertainment.

For some people, drag is a proxy for LGBTQ pride and a form of acceptance. To some, a drag show, particularly, is a vibrant demonstration for people who feel different, one that tells them: It’s OK for you to be different, too.

But somewhere in the midst of all that pop-culture acceptance, something got polarized in America. And while it wasn’t exactly all about drag performance, it was, people said, all about children.

To some people, it seemed more children than ever were questioning their gender, their own identity. And as the nation grappled with difficult questions about transgender rights, medical care for children questioning their gender and their parents’ right to help them, all-ages drag shows became a proxy battleground for these complex debates.

Because drag shows have traditionally featured risque content, crude language and even nudity or partial nudity, many Americans questioned why all-ages drag shows even exist. Fed by conservative media, conspiracy theories erupted about these events: They aimed to expose children to sexual activity, opponents said. Or to make them transgender. Or lure them into the hands of sexually abusive drag queens.

As summer 2022 boiled on, drag performances — especially all-ages drag shows — triggered organized protest movements, raucous demonstrations and sporadic violence across the country. Faceoffs and protests happened in Denton, Texas, and Katy, Texas. Woodland, California, and Eugene, Oregon. Iowa City, Iowa, and Memphis, Tennessee.

Soon, videos captured at some of these events became features on Fox News prime time and conspiracy theory websites. Snippets of video showed performers using dirty words or zoomed in on faces of children who appeared uncomfortable. Outraged commentators filled in the gaps.

Like other targets that preceded them in polarized America — critical race theory, COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the idea of white privilege — all-ages drag events became a new moral battleground.

Some conservatives, joined by extremists from the far right including white supremacists and members of the street gang the Proud Boys, say they are stepping in to quite literally stop abusers and pedophiles from preying on innocent children.

On the other side, drag performers, the businesses who host them and pro-LGBTQ groups say all-ages drag shows help break down stigmas and serve as a vital lifeline to children experiencing confusion about their gender identity. The goal with these shows is to express camaraderie: to make an overt display of solidarity by appearing, in person, in the neighborhoods where those children live, those groups say.

Children experiencing gender dysphoria — distress based on the difference between the gender they experience and the gender they were assigned at birth — are far more likely to harm themselves or die of suicide, said Sam Ames, director of advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, a mental health organization for LGBTQ young people.

“When we’re normalizing and destigmatizing things like drag shows, we're helping to create supportive environments,” Ames said. That acceptance means measurably lower rates of suicide, he said.

And while drag shows may help transgender children, youths are not the only ones who can benefit, said Will Beischel, a researcher in LGBTQ psychology who studies gender and sexual diversity.

“Adolescent girls have eating disorders or are slut-shamed or are told their only worth is in their appearance. Boys are told they can't cry, and they have to be stoic,” Beischel said. Drag shows can send the same message to children as to adults: It’s OK to be different.

Experts like Beischel will tell you that while gender roles can be taught (think: “men don’t cry”), gender identity is almost always consistent from a young age.

The whole controversy perplexes drag performers, who find themselves at risk of physical attack for shows they say are intentionally tamed-down for family audiences and have been going on for years.

And that might be the way to start understanding what happened in Roanoke, what happened in the suburbs and small towns all across America that summer: It starts because everybody says they’re doing it to protect the kids.

The Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club
The police hadn’t been expecting trouble, but someone else had.

About a week before the Barrel Babes Brunch, Bailey Anderson was at another drag show when he was approached by someone about the Roanoke event. The person was part of a secretive group called the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club.

Bailey and his father later got on the phone with a representative of the club. The Andersons say the group planned to keep protesters at a distance, while escorting patrons to their cars and protecting them from harassment.

The Andersons welcomed the help.

“We diligently searched through all of the surrounding jurisdictions for uniformed police officers,” Jay Anderson told USA TODAY. “Once we determined that we were going to be unable to obtain anyone’s services, we accepted some help from the John Brown Gun Club.”

Jay didn’t know much about the group at the time, he said. He just figured they were a group of gun enthusiasts. Like a bowling club.

The Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club did not agree to an interview with USA TODAY. The club, which shares the name of the legendary abolitionist leader and the nearby river branch that flows toward Dallas, doesn’t overtly identify itself as “anti-fascist.” But the club’s social media presence shows a clear leftist political bent.

It also shows a passion for Second Amendment rights and self-protection.

“Arm trans women, we take care of us,” reads an image the club tweeted in November, along with the message: “Arming your community with the resources and tools to thrive is mutual aid. We're the ones we've been waiting for.”

In recent years, Americans have become used to seeing images of people carrying rifles and handguns at public events. In states like Texas where it’s legal to carry guns openly, there’s sometimes little space between the idea of Second Amendment rights and using guns to send a political message.

But when rifles show up at rallies, they tend to be in the hands of right-wing groups, including far-right extremist groups that call themselves “militias,” according to data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

In response to the growing armed protest movement on the right, anti-fascists and other left-leaning groups have begun arming themselves as well, and are increasingly willing to bear those arms in public, said Stanislav Vysotsky, a professor of criminology and author of the book "American Antifa.”

“They are taking on another more proactive stance, particularly because the far-right have become increasingly more militarized,” Vysotsky said. “So they (anti-fascists) are becoming increasingly more armed — they’re becoming increasingly more intimidating as a way of demonstrating that people on the left won't be intimidated and will protect themselves.”

It’s the next stage of a tactic that anti-fascists call “Proactive self-defense,” Vysotsky said.

In 2018, 2019 and 2020, when far-right extremist groups like the Proud Boys announced events in liberal cities like Portland and Berkeley, California, they were met with violent resistance from anti-fascists, some of them organized, who attacked the far-right extremists with bear mace and their fists.

“Far-right demonstrations are almost always either a pretext, or create the conditions to facilitate acts of violence by actors on the far-right,” Vysotsky said. So, he said, anti-fascists respond to threats of violence, and to incursions by right-wing extremists in liberal neighborhoods, with “proactive” violence.

What the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club did in Roanoke was a stark example of a new phase of armed resistance from the left, he said.

After the social media threats, and after white supremacists and other extremists threatened other LGBTQ events, the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club decided the Andersons, and the local LGBTQ community, needed their help.

So, in the early hours of Aug. 28, they masked up to protect their identities, and drove to Roanoke with their rifles.

The scene inside
Hours of video footage shot that day shows practically every detail of what happened at the Barrel Babes Brunch. People who attended described it in interviews.

This is the view of what happened inside the event:

Salem Moon sashayed toward the screaming crowd in a full-length ruby gown glittering with sequins that brushed the top of her size 13-wide stilettos.

Hips swaying, blond wig bouncing and lip-syncing to “Heart to Break” by Kim Petras, the drag queen strutted between tables in full performance mode. Admirers handed her singles, tens, even hundred-dollar bills.

She sauntered to the double doors, threw them open, and was greeted by cheers, cameras and more bills by the crowd on the patio outside.

As the music faded and Salem Moon headed back inside, she bent down and held up her hand to a little girl for a high-five. The child smacked back with gusto.

There were jokes and dances and even a game of musical chairs with audience members.

“Drag is what actually inspired me to want to become a fashion designer,” one participant told the crowd, to huge applause.

Bailey Anderson — as Trisha Delish — weaved through the wooden tables in a long-sleeved plum-colored dress and tights, lip syncing to “Magic Dance” by David Bowie.

Salem Moon sang Roar by Katy Perry, dressed in a pink Power Rangers costume.

Rolla Derby — a female performer who calls herself “The Crayola experience of drag” — sauntered through the crowd in a tight pink dress and cotton candy pink wig, singing along to Gwen Stefani.

Drag queen Nayda Montana lip-synced to “The Best of Both Worlds,” by Hannah Montana, before moving outside and climbing on top of a table, close to where a small child was sitting. For a few seconds, Nayda gyrated her hips.

A man at the table snapped pictures. The child, who had been recorded earlier smiling as she watched the performances, was also later captured on video crouched over on the table bench, resting her head on an adult. There were no drag queens around them at the time.

Gretchen Veling watched the dancing and lip-syncing, wondering what all the fuss was about.

Justin Wagley watched the whole show, noting how the drag performers always asked parents for an OK before posing for pictures with a child.

“I never got a funny feeling in my stomach, or a bad taste in my mouth,” he said.

By 3 p.m. the brunch was winding down. A clearly emotional Jay Anderson, who had been rushing around serving customers for hours, took to the mic to thank people for their kindness and support.

That night, he updated the restaurant’s Facebook page:

“We want to thank EVERYONE who showed up today to support our Barrel Babes Brunch.

"Yes, every table was full before we officially opened. Yes, we reached maximum capacity and had a waitlist to get inside. Yes, we ran out of food.”

There are two other things that are known about what happened inside Anderson’s that day.

First, public records show the city determined the business didn’t violate any codes for crowd capacity.

Second, in attendance in the crowd were two inspectors from the Texas Comptroller’s office, the Andersons said. The agency imposes fees on sexually oriented businesses.

How those inspectors came to be summoned is unclear.

Bailey Anderson said they showed up because of complaints from the public. USA TODAY sought records about the comptroller’s involvement under state public records law, but the office declined to release those records, instead forwarding them for review to the state attorney general.

The inspectors, though, apparently found nothing amiss.

That night, in his Facebook post, Jay added:

“Yes, we passed the 'no sexual content' inspection from the Texas Comptroller's Office.”

The scene outside
The scene outside the event was somewhat different.

There, too, people who attended described it in interviews. This scene, too, was extensively documented in video, including scenes released by protesters, by right-wing media outlets, by an independent journalist working the scene that day, and by the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club.

Outside Anderson’s, spilling from the gray-white sidewalk curbs to the shade trees across the street to the building on the next block, were a lot of people making a lot of noise.

Protesters with signs reading “Stop Sexualizing Children” and “Drag the Queens out of town.”

People on the sidewalk with cameras in each other’s faces.

And standing in front of them all, a line of black-clad gun club members, face masks up in the 97-degree heat. As protesters approached, they cautioned each one to move back. “Stay on your side,” they warned.

The gun club members appeared to be the only people in the crowd openly carrying weapons.

In one video posted on Twitter, three million viewers would eventually watch Clark Magee, a middle-aged man in a red Texas Rangers jersey, rant about pedophiles and claim a pro-drag protester had spat on him.

Two men who had come from nearby Dallas kissed for the cameras and raised a middle finger.

One woman screamed at protesters as she drove by.

Kelly Neidert was somewhere across the street keeping away from the main fray.

When the show was over, members of the gun club escorted people to their cars. The protestors melted away. Nobody was shot. Nobody was hurt. That was all.

But beyond the protesters, there had been another category of people in the crowd.

By their own description, they call themselves journalists, though their news outlets are ones focused on outrage.

And their effect on Roanoke was just beginning.

In the end
All through the fall, in the months after that hot day at Anderson’s – after the emails and the phone calls and the speeches at the new City Hall – a few other things will happen.

Elon Musk will buy Twitter and trigger a near-daily stream of new controversies. Kelly Neidert, suspended from the site since summer, will rejoin it. The Protect Texas Kids account will continue targeting drag events.

Twitter will, instead, suspend the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club.

The outrage among right-leaning media over drag shows will show little sign of stopping, all through the fall.

“It is certainly a huge moral crime that nobody should accept,” Tucker Carlson will intone on his nightly show on Oct. 18, referring to another all-ages drag queen show in Texas. “Sexualizing children is totally wrong. It’s the most wrong thing of all, and it just shows how totally passive and out of it the rest of us are that we haven’t acknowledged that and done something about it — actually done something about it.”

A month after that, a drag show at a Colorado Springs nightclub will become a target. Five people will be fatally shot and 19 wounded. While investigators have not detailed a motive, the suspect in the shooting will face 305 criminal charges, including 48 hate crimes.

“It’s extremely heartbreaking and makes me angry as hell,” Bailey Anderson will tell USA TODAY after Colorado Springs happens. “We all knew it’s what the hate is leading up to.”

State Rep. Bryan Slaton will insist he plans to introduce a bill to ban all-ages drag shows. By the last day of the year, no such bill by Slaton will appear, though other bills will be proposed to regulate drag shows. (Slaton, meanwhile, will introduce a bill proposing to redefine gender-reassignment surgery or prescription of puberty blockers for a child as “abuse.”)

But all that is happening far beyond Oak Street.

Right now, in this moment, it’s a crisp fall North Texas day, the kind of clear day that makes it easy to forget about the summer.

The classic cars are on display and the band is playing at the top of the City Hall stairs, and Jay Anderson is scooping mac and cheese and trying to run a business.

“I’ll be right there to seat you,” he says to the customers arriving at the door.

People take their free food samples and wander on, farther up Oak Street, to the other restaurants, where they take more samples, then vote online for their favorite.

After this day, the voting will take a surprisingly long time to tally, and for 11 days the city will make no announcement. Finally, someone will call City Hall to inquire: What happened in the cookoff? And Jay will learn he has won.

Show less