In case anyone missed the drama, UpCountry Brewing recently planned a drag show for July 29th. No big deal. Or so we thought. Almost immediately we were hit with messages opposed to the idea and also condemning us to hell. We decided to double down and turn the event into a fundraiser for the Transylvania County Rainbow Alliance. See the Event Comments Here
To be clear, we believe in and will defend anyone's right to free speech. But when we received a threat saying the show's attendees should be considered "target practice", all hell broke loose. Protests and counter protests were planned. We received confirmation of multiple groups on both sides of the issue from several states that planned to attend. We were not confident in our ability to keep the event civil and safe so we decided to postpone the drag show to a later date. We even made the local TV news: See the WLOS 13 News Story Here
In spite of postponing the drag show, we moved forward with the fundraiser for the Transylvania County Rainbow Alliance. We donated 10% of our sales from the evening the drag show was originally scheduled. We created a special Brevard Pride T-shirt and are donating $5 per shirt sold; these shirts are still available. Most importantly we created a GoFundMe page for Transylvania County Rainbow Alliance.
Here's the great news. As of Sunday evening July 31st, we have raised a total of $3,522.05 for the Transylvania County Rainbow Alliance! And there is more to come. So please consider buying a shirt or donating to the GoFundMe page. Drag show or no, the opposition did not win this round; we did. And we will be back for more. As soon as we have a new date for the drag show, we will let everyone know.
