Bakery hit with threats over kid-friendly drag shows says it has ‘zero tolerance for f**kery’
Corrina Sac says UpRising Bakery and Cafe will continue to host family-friendly drag events because it has “zero tolerance for f***ery”. (Facebook/UpRising Bakery and Cafe)
A US bakery will continue to host family-friendly drag shows because it has “zero tolerance for f**kery” and “uneducated”, “hateful” bigots.
UpRising Bakery and Cafe in Lake in the Hills, Illinois, suffered angry calls, threats, harassment and vandalism when it advertised a kid-friendly drag brunch for 23 July. Corinna Sac, the owner of the bakery, cancelled the event after a vandal broke windows and wrote derogatory words on the cafe’s walls just hours before the show.
Sac later described how village officials threatened to close her business and lob hefty fines at her for code violations if she kept hosting events. But Sac, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, worked out a deal with officials so the bakery can continue to host LGBTQ+ events.
Sac told PinkNews that UpRising Bakery will bring back the cancelled family-friendly drag event at the end of August because it’s “important to show the uneducated and hateful communities” the LGBTQ+ community is “strong”, won’t back down and has “just as many rights as they do”.
“Every single family is unique in its own way, just as the individual members of that family are, it is not up to us to decide what is appropriate for that individual,” Sac said.
She continued: “The fact that we fight to continue to hold these events for all community members strengthens the community because they now know they are not alone.
“They are seen, they are important, they are worth the fight and they are supported.”
Sac described how bringing back LGBTQ+ and drag events that are friendly to people of all ages brings her a “lot of pride, hope and anxiety”. She’s proud of what the bakery is fighting for and seeing the “outcry of support and love from people around all around the world brings [her] hope”.
Yet, she told PinkNews she’s still getting horrific threats from a “few humans” who still can’t see past their bigoted views.
“There is a better tomorrow along the horizon, we just need to keep clearing the path and fighting the thorns, together, to get there,” she said.
“At the same time, I am still receiving horrible threats of rape, arson, irreparable damages, and harm to my family and business daily from the few humans who still need help understanding and educating themselves beyond the hateful ways they were taught.”
Sac told PinkNews the overwhelming support has been a “bright” part of the negativity ” because she was “not strong enough to stand up to hundreds of people” alone. She vowed to spend all her days “pouring back into the community, anyway [she] can”.
“We fight for a better future for ourselves and our children,” Sac said. “We have zero tolerance for f**kery and hate here.”
She believes people need to be “continuously exposed to new things, new people, in order to grow” and that it was “natural to be uncomfortable when trying new things”. But she said the “fear that accompanies” uncomfortability is an “illusion”, and, once the illusion of fear and hate is left behind, society can “learn, grow and proposer together in harmony”.
