Drag queen denied entrance at Austin Whataburger following city's drag festival

[TexasTowelie]

Drag queen Erika Klash tweeted that she was denied entry into a Whataburger in Austin for being dressed in drag over the weekend.

“Manager didn't want me to enter and security blocked me from entering without citing any company policy,” Klash wrote. “I am a professional artist, NOT a security threat.”

Klash flew in from San Francisco to perform at the Austin International Drag Festival on Saturday, where she dressed as the character Monokuma, from the video game series Danganronpa.

Following her tweet, Klash received an outpour of support, and Whataburger issued an apology offering to speak with her to address the incident.

Read more: https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/houston-texas/article/Drag-queen-denied-entrance-at-Austin-Whataburger-14846565.php

[Kurt V.]

1. this is kind of unusual for austin and whataburger.

[mr_lebowski]

3. FWIW it's a pretty damn disturbing costume ...

In fact, it's not really even what I would call 'drag' if I'm honest.

Further, from the the article: “I could not make any clear determination on the motivation behind them denying me entry,” she shared. “This also means that I could not rule out discrimination as a potential motivation.”

BTW, all the pronouns in article are female ... she/her, etc.

It also refers to her as a 'drag queen'.

I thought drag queens and trans folks were two different categories i.e. if you're transgender female, you don't appreciate being called a 'drag queen'.

Am I wrong on this?

[Kurt V.]

5. good catch. all the her / she is in the article not from drad queen himself.

i loved the outfit. ha!

[unblock]

9. The cross-dressers I've known have all been men who dress as women

They all identified as men and prefer male pronouns, but when dressed as women they prefer female pronouns.

To them, when dressed as women, they're in character and want to be treated as such.

[mr_lebowski]

10. That makes sense ... but sorta complicates an 'after the fact' article like this ...

Hopefully the publication contacted this individual and asked what pronouns he/she preferred for the purposes of the article.

I'd imagine it's much more likely that a transgender woman would take offense at the 'drag queen' designation than a drag queen (who ID's as male IRL) would be miffed about being called 'she' at any given time. Is that right?

But then again this individual was at a 'Drag Queen' event, so ... if she considered herself a she, would she even attend something like that in costume, participating as a 'drag queen'?

Just thought these were interesting questions and wanted clarity that I understood protocols.

[Skittles]

2. I'm glad Whataburger responded

yes indeed

[rownesheck]

4. I don't eat whataburger anymore.

They have signs in their windows that say "one nation under god." Doesn't surprise me they barred a drag queen from entering

[mr_lebowski]

6. Thing is, it's really not even a drag queen type of outfit, more like a Halloween costume ...

Might've been because it's a pretty scary costume (like, to a child anyway) and it's not Halloween.

Maybe.

We'll see.

[Mopar151]

7. Keep Austin Wierd!

A popular greeting thereabouts!

[unblock]

8. Last whataburger I ever went to was in austin

I used to go there occasionally when I lived in austin. Turn one day I sat down, took a bite out of my burger, and felt something funny in my mouth.

I put the burger down. It looked perfectly normal.

I took the top of the bun off. Perfectly normal.

I took the burger off to find a neat circle of about 500 tiny ants crawling on the bottom bun


How that happens without someone knowing they have some massive problems in the kitchen I have no idea.

Anyway, I've been very much off whataburger ever since.