Grace Baptist Church in Richmond’s quiet Windsor Farms neighborhood is proud to hold progressive events. On Saturday, the Church teamed up with Diversity Richmond and hosted Christian Drag Queen performer Flamy Grant styled after 90’s Christian rock star Amy Grant but with a way more flamboyant style.
Leading up to the concert, Todd Starnes drew attention to the concert on his radio programand online articles. Starnes took exception to a Christian church choosing Flamy Grant as their guest. “You know, drag shows are really going everywhere these days. I never thought they would be in a Baptist church, though.”
Threats to protest came from Starnes’ audience. By performance time. There were only two protesters. Flamy Grant went outside in drag and took a picture with them in the background and said “I always had people threaten to protest but I’ve never had protesters before.”
Grant’s performance went on as scheduled with two Richmond deputies providing security. About 100 people were in attendance to hear Christmas classics and songs that told stories of being queer and raised in Nashville. While like much of drag queen music that is centered around celebration, Grant’s music adds an additional layer of unpacking trauma. Flamy Grant jokes, “I promise we’ll get to joy by the end.” By the end of the show, the audience gave a standing ovation.
Flamy Grant told the story about once briefly holding the number one spot on the iTunes Christian music charts after an exchange with Christian nationalist singer Sean Feucht. I have now seen both perform live in Richmond and Flamy Grant has a much stronger stage presence and sense of how to engage with audiences.
Outside, one of the protesters with a megaphone held a Holy Bible that had orange duct tape on the cover with large stickers that read “HOLY BIBLE.” Possibly the most performative act of evangelistic preaching. A concert goer yells at him “Get A Life!” The protester quips back “I have eternal life.”
Next to him was a woman with a sign that says, “Watching Drag Queens Will Drag You To Hell.” A local residence drove by and sat on his horn and yelled “Go to Hell” at the two protesters and told them leave the people in neighborhood alone.
“Guess what? We are the buzzkill team.” The protester with a megaphone screamed. “You thought you were having a nice Saturday afternoon. Well, we’re here to kill your buzz.”
About 15 minutes into the show, the protesters left. The woman protesting screeched in her YouTube livestream “Give it five to eight years, the more perverted that church becomes, this will probably end up being the hood one day.” Windsor Farms is one of the most expensive and exclusive places to live in Richmond as Redfin lists that the median sale price of a house in Winsor Farms at $1.31 million dollars. The protesters were concerned about people following them to their vehicle that already stood out with North Carolina tags. Ironically their vehicle was a Subaru Forester, the first vehicle to be marketed to lesbians.
The day after the show, Flamy Grant found the social media of the two protesters and posted encouraging words, “I see the effort you put into that sign, girl. You’ve got a creative spirit & you take pride in your work. I hope one day you get to channel that energy into something that makes you happy & helps others. Rooting for you.”
When Flamy Grant isn’t performing, they go by the name Matthew Berry with they/them pronouns. Flamy Grant has upcoming showsthis month, including the Winter Magic Holiday Tour with Crys Matthews and Rebecca Loebe which will be going through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.
