Vanity Von Glow: the left eats its own

Meet the drag queen banned for defending free speech.

The ever-escalating intolerance of the liberal-left is one of the more peculiar aspects of the culture wars. By now we are familiar with the spectacle of self-proclaimed radicals who demand ideological conformity, who wield the hatchet of identity politics in order to divide humanity into increasingly segregated groups. Through social media, this powerful minority regularly penalises dissent. Often the most venomous campaigns are directed not at political opponents, but at those within the tribe who have deviated from the righteous path.

Just ask Vanity Von Glow, the drag queen played by Thom Glow, who has recently been banned from various London venues for appearing at the 'Day for Freedom' in May. This free-speech rally had been organised by Tommy Robinson, former head of the English Defence League. Because of the link to Robinson, the event was inaccurately branded a 'far-right rally' by many in the mainstream media. Von Glow took the view that free speech is not a partisan issue and made the courageous decision to perform. The backlash was as intense as it was predictable.

'The problem is that the far left don't just go for calling you names', Von Glow told Sky News after the boycott began. 'Their party trick at the moment is to go for your source of income. At the moment they've been making sure that my shows are cancelled. They want to see me unemployed, possibly they want to see me homeless. It's quite an aggressive tactic.' One cabaret venue, Her Upstairs, claimed that 'her alignment with such an event calls into question her motives'. Not content with cancelling all future bookings, it sought to smear her reputation through the fallacy of guilt by association.

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