Drag Queen Story Hour founder proposed to his fiancé. Then thugs knocked him unconscious.

The founder of Drag Queen Story Hour U.K. says two homophobic men knocked him unconscious and broke his jaw just hours after he proposed to his fiancé. While police are examining surveillance camera footage and may pursue hate crime charges, it isn’t the first time that he has been targeted with anti-LGBTQ+ violence.

Drag performer Aida H Dee, also known as Sebastian Samuel, said that around 3 a.m. on Sunday, May 19, two men shouted anti-gay slurs at the newly engaged couple as they walked by a McDonalds fast food restaurant, PinkNews reported. When Samuel asked the men why they were verbally harassing them, the men knocked him unconscious, breaking his jaw in the process. He’ll now require jaw-alignment surgery, during which time he’ll be unable to chew food.

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“This is probably the first presidential office in the world to host a drag show.”

“This is my engagement present from the world. I have a swollen cheek and a bit of a black eye,” Samuel said in a Facebook video. “This is the night of my anniversary, it’s the night I proposed to my boyfriend and I am [sitting] here crying. This is not fair, it’s not fair.”

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He also said he lost his engagement ring during the attack, but was able to recover it by searching the attack site on his knees for about two hours.

In July 2022, the right-wing U.K. group Sovereign Citizens surrounded a Drag Queen Story Hour event and demanded Samuel’s arrest for what they claimed was “grooming” and “pedophilia.”

Police escorted Samuel from the library as several protesters chanted, “Pedo protection!”

“Police had to escort me out of the building and make a human shield because they were literally chasing me,” Samuel said.

Earlier this month, someone issued a death threat against Samuel, saying that he’ll be “cut up and thrown into the River Mersey” if he hosts another Drag Queen Storytime event in the city.

At the time, Samuel was scheduled to read the book on bullying that he wrote at Dorothy’s Diner in Liverpool’s Pride Quarter. The event was canceled over security concerns.

Following the event’s initial announcement on social media, Samuel said the post and his account were deluged with hateful and threatening messages.

“It blew up, and there were hundreds of hate comments,” he said. “It was disgusting and hateful. One message threatened to cut me up into pieces and throw me into the river.”

“I’ve been to Liverpool before — just a few months ago I was there for the UK’s Pride Organizers Network conference — and I got shown around the city. So I wasn’t expecting this from Liverpool, a place that has such a diverse, inclusive and queer scene.”

“It does scare me, but there isn’t a chance in hell that I wouldn’t perform because of the haters or because of threats.”

The drag artist says haters have also turned up at his house. He’s been threatened with kidnapping, having his cat set on fire, and accused of “dragging children into the sex industry.”

He’s been called an “ugly pervert” and warned that a “mallet through the skull” was in his future.

“The stories I have created are about not bullying people and others,” he said, referencing his books, “so the irony isn’t lost.”

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