Fired gay judge vows to continue OnlyFans career: ‘Sex work is not shameful’
Gay judge, fired for comments defending drag queen events, pledges to continue OnlyFans career. (Instagram/Gregory Locke)
A gay judge fired for hitting out against a council member’s derogatory comments about Drag Queen Story Hour has pledged to keep speaking out about “politics which kill” – and continue his OnlyFans page.
Gregory Locke was fired from his job as an administrative court judge in New York City following a complaint from council member Vickie Paladino, who had tweeted criticising a drag event.
On Monday (3 April), the former judge took to Twitter to explain that while his comments to Paladino were “not polite”, he believes they did not violate the ethical guidelines of his job.
“Last week, I was fired from my job as a New York City Administrative Law Judge,” Locke wrote.
“This came after a member of the City Council took issue with tweets I wrote in response to their bigoted and misguided statements about drag queens and about the queer community at large.”
The tweets in question were directed at council member Vickie Paladino, who called a Drag Queen Story Hour event in New York “an absolutely shameful display” in a social media post on 19 March.
Locke hit back, telling Paladino to “choke on a d**k”.
He was let go from his position, which he had held since April 2022, with the New York Post reporting that Locke, 33, was ultimately fired for “unprofessional behaviour”.
The former judge has set his tweets to auto-delete, meaning his comments are no longer available to view.
He added that after he directed comments at Paladino, she had “exposed” his work on OnlyFans, which he explained he did not undertake during his role for the city of New York.
Locke expressed his “disappointment” that his former employer did not back him over the Twitter row.
“It is disappointing that the City of New York decided to take the side of a documented bigot instead of seizing an opportunity to stand against ever-growing anti-LGBTQ+ hatred, particularly the fervent hatred toward the trans and non-binary communities,” he added.
“I remain steadfast in my insistence that my tweets, even if not polite, did not violate any ethical guidelines.
“The most vulnerable members of the queer community are fighting for their lives, and the only people offended by my tweets are those more interested in policing language than opposing policies and politics which kill.”
Locke finished the statement by explaining he will continue to undertake his OnlyFans work, as well as offer pro-bono services for “members of the LGBTQ+ community who need it most”.
“Sex work, including porn, is not shameful, and I will not filter my thoughts and actions to appease those who enact harm on my community,” he added.
Paladino, a Republican representing a district in Queens, New York, has previously made comments criticising drag events for children, and Drag Queen Story Hour events in particular.
“Any school in my district participating in ‘drag queen’ degeneracy risks losing their funding,” the council member tweeted in June 2022.
“Adult drag performers have NO BUSINESS in our schools, and they will not be in my district.”
“Progressives may have no problem with child grooming and sexualisation, but I do,” she added.
“This will not happen on my watch. Kids deserve a quality education free from political manipulation and sexual content.”
Her comments come during a period of mounting attacks on drag performances, with Tennessee attempting to push through strict restrictions on drag shows. The Tennessee anti-drag bill has, as of Friday (31 March) been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
Judge Thomas Parker described blocking the legislation as an “extraordinary” measure, but found the ban on drag performances within 1,000 feet of schools, public parks or places of worship to be “vague” and “overly broad”.
“The Court finds that, as it stands, the record here suggests that when the legislature passed this Statute, it missed the mark,” the judge explained.
