Drag queen act for kids goes on despite hate mail

A drag queen act that aims to teach children about LGBTQ+ issues will go ahead, despite hate mail being received by the performer and the venue.

"Aida H Dee" is the creation of Sab Samuel, 27, who seeks to explain non-heterosexual emotions to young people.

Mr Samuel is performing at The Theatre in Chipping Norton at the weekend, even though both he and management at the theatre have received hate mail.

He said: "I'm just being the role model I wish I'd had when I was their age."

John Terry, artistic director at The Theatre, said it had received a wave of negative comments concerning inappropriate content or safeguarding issues, however, he said it was important to cater to "lots of different tastes" adding, "people have the choice to come or not come".

In a statement the theatre said it was confident the performance was "appropriate and well suited for the advertised age group" and parents who attended a previous show shared "very positive feedback".

Mr Samuel, who was born in Nottingham but now lives in Cardiff, said his first experience of drag came when he was 15 and at an all boys' school in Bath.

He played the "evil villainess" in a school play. He said following the play "one of the boys who used to bully me came up to me, saying 'Hey, you played that girl, fair play mate' and he never kicked or bullied me again".

After more drag performances at university he decided to turn his hobby into a career, leaving his office job as a marketing and brand executive behind.

Mr Samuel firmly believes in what he is doing: "So many children out there don't get an LGBTQ+ model because it's taboo. I was never told Alan Turing was a gay man, even though he was one of our greatest mathematicians.

"Role models are like oxygen, if you don't have them you can't breathe and for LGBTQ+ people, we've been dying."

Aida H Dee goes into primary and secondary schools to talk to children about issues surrounding the LGBTQ+ community and last month addressed children in a nursery in Wales for the first time.

Despite the hate mail Mr Samuel said: "I will never give up, I'd rather it was me getting the negative comments than a young person. I know I can take it."

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