What a drag it is defending free speech

Sunday’s March for Freedom on Whitehall was peculiar, as far right protests go. It didn’t just feature the usual suspects as speakers – Milo Yiannopoulos and Tommy Robinson – but Muslims, comedians and queer people.

While Milo is flamboyantly gay and For Britain party leader Anne Marie Waters defiantly lesbian, drag artist Vanity Von Glow was queerer than the pair of them together. Yes, Tommy Robinson’s rally for free speech included a proper, honest-to-goodness drag queen.

I learnt about her performance not at the time but afterwards, as I watched a Twitter-swarm form and descend on venues where she performs and do its best to put her out of business.

One venue – Her Upstairs – caved immediately, tweeting a statement cancelling Vanity’s Sunday evening show and stating, ‘she will no longer be booked.’ Not content with a single scalp, the hoard descended on the Phoenix Artist Club in Camden. On Monday, it too rolled over.