‘They weren’t letting us leave’

Parents at a Canadian school yanked their kids out of class last week after discovering a drag queen gave a presentation about gender identity, and students who were uncomfortable during the event were allegedly not allowed to leave.

Teo Ferguson, a nonbinary drag performer, gave a presentation on sexual orientation, gender identity, and relationships to seventh through ninth graders at Oyster Pond Academy in Nova Scotia, according to CTV News.

When word spread about the presentation, outraged parents of the Nova Scotia schoolchildren — some furious that a drag queen was teaching the lesson — pulled their kids out of school on Friday in response.

Other parents were upset when they discovered that children wanted to leave during the presentation and were made to stay and listen to the content.

One mother who opted to take her child out of class Friday, Hollie Riggs, told CTV News that her son was upset during the presentation but was prohibited from leaving.

“When I asked him about it, he said, ‘Mom, I didn’t want to be there, but they weren’t letting us leave,’” Riggs told the outlet.

“It went above and beyond what should be taught in the classroom.”

Another parent, Greg Austin, recounted what his son relaid to him after returning home from school following the presentation last week.

“My son came home from school yesterday. He was telling me about the interactions he had with the influencer,” Austin said.

“Mostly for me as a parent, we had no idea that anybody was coming to talk to our kids.” 

Austin said his son was also uncomfortable during the presentation and was upset seeing his peers who tried to leave being made to stay.

“He could see people were not comfortable and that other people asked to leave, and they weren’t allowed to,” the dad said. “There wasn’t any other option.”

However, it was revealed that a majority of the outrage stemmed from the fact Ferguson allegedly shared their drag social media account with a student following the presentation.

The Halifax Regional Centre for Education, which oversees Oyster Pond Academy, confirmed to CTV News that the presentation did happen and that “their personal social media detail” was shared.

“One of the presenters shared their personal social media details, which prompted some of the students to view content that is intended for an adult audience,” the statement read.

Ferguson was not specifically named in the statement.

The drag performer, who is also employed as a creative programming facilitator at The Youth Project, a non-profit organization for youths struggling with their gender identity or sexual orientation, told the Daily Mail that the children — ranging in age from 12 to 15 — were taught how queer-identifying people might express their gender.

Following the presentation, some parents allegedly attacked Ferguson on social media and sent direct messages expressing their displeasure over the students’ being taught about the controversial subject, according to the outlet.

Ferguson, whose stage name is “Cookie Cunningham,” reportedly has images posted to the accounts wearing revealing outfits in provocative poses.

However, Ferguson told the Daily Mail that “the reality is a teacher was really excited initially to see me in their classroom talking about gender, identity, and sexual orientation from grade 7-9,” but the seventh- and eighth-grade students did not hear the drag accounts information.

Ferguson explained that toward the end of the presentation for the ninth-grade audience, another teacher and a student approached and asked for their social media.

“In that moment is when I made the mistake in judgment and gave my drag account information,’ Ferguson told Daily Mail, noting, “I did not physically show them my account whatsoever.”

“I must also stress that at the start of all presentations, I told all classes do not look for me on social media,” Ferguson added.

After receiving complaints from parents, the school’s principal and vice principal sent a letter explaining that they were legally required to follow the Health Education curricula provided by the Nova Scotia Department of Education, according to CTV News.

The Halifax Regional Center for Education also said administrators visited the ninth-grade class to discuss the aftermath and explain that the social media account shouldn’t have been shared.