In drag, Stockholm's vice mayor fights far-right 'intolerance'

Stockholm's deputy mayor donned red lipstick and bouffant hair as he glammed up in drag for a children's story hour, part of a campaign against "intolerance and populism" launched this week.

Jan Jonsson, a 45-year-old member of the center-right Liberal party, is behind the campaign.

He launched it in response to the far-right Sweden Democrats' repeated criticism of drag queens hosting children's story hours at libraries and guided tours at Stockholm's Royal Dramatic Theatre.

"I'm using myself as a kind of canvas for the drag artists...to be able to say that we think everyone should be free to express themselves," he told AFP.

"Some political parties have tried to restrict the freedoms for others and especially drag queens.

"With this stance, I hope that more will be able to say, 'Okay, now it's enough. Sweden should be a free country'."

In a televised debate in early May, Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson said it was "insane" that taxpayers' money was being used for drag queen story hours.

He took issue in particular with a drag artist known as "Shameless Winehore" but who goes by the name "Miss Shameless" for story hours.

In a video clip posted on Twitter, Jonsson is seen glammed up wearing a curly blonde wig, fake eyelashes, a sky-blue dress with red flowers and high heels.

On a chair, surrounded by children seated on the floor, Jonsson reads a passage from "The Brothers Lionheart" by famed Swedish children's author Astrid Lindgren about standing up for your beliefs even if it's dangerous.

"Stories are not dangerous for kids. And drag queens aren't either. But populism and intolerance are dangerous for kids and for adults," Jonsson says in the advert.

Jonsson has previously fronted a Liberal campaign against Sweden's soaring gang crime, where the slender politician, clad in a floral shirt and blue blazer was dubbed the "gangs' worst enemy".

© 2023 AFP