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Activist attends political event in drag to protest homophobia and racism

Last week, a U.K. Independence Party conference had a surprising guest in attendance: Petunia Harris, the UKIP MP for Bitter End.

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(Yes, of course she’s a fictional character.)

Party leader Nigel Farage was set to speak at the “No to the EU” event conference in London last Friday, and drag queen Jake Johnstone decided to attend the event, as his bold alter ego, Petunia Harris. And he subsequently shared brilliant videos of the conference online.

In one video, Petunia reveals that she brought a book (on racism) to keep her occupied, in case the conference “gets a bit boring.”

https://twitter.com/UKIPMP/status/667780968338620416

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In another clip, Petunia says, “It’s great to see white representation here. Lots of people, pale faces in pale places. Looking forward to Mr Farage coming on. Sensing a lot of hostility in the room.”

https://twitter.com/UKIPMP/status/667783620392837120

So what was her reason for attending the conference, when she is so clearly not a fan of the party?

“I attended a UKIP conference in full drag to make a point about the latent homophobia and racism that UKIP promotes,” Johnstone told Pink News. “As you can imagine, there was much hostility in the room and I created a series of video blogs whilst I was there.”

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Ms Harris didn’t sit through the entire event, shouting, “Bye, love!” to Mr Farage and leaving the building, 30 minutes into the speech.

https://twitter.com/UKIPMP/status/667802015049916416

The way Johnstone chose to tackle the issue may have been creative and humorous, but it absolutely gets a very important point across.


https://twitter.com/re_allison/status/668567986933014529

Let us know your thoughts on Petunia Harris’s protest in the comments below. Are you impressed?

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