CAMPAIGNERS hosting an alternative to Glasgow's Pride festival have made a U-turn on their ban against drag performers after coming under fire.

A storm erupted on social media over the weekend after Free Pride organisers said they would not be allowing drag performers at their event as it may cause offence.

Yesterday afternoon the group decided to allow performances by transgender drag acts only and said: "...We would like to confirm that after a further consultation trans drag performers will be invited to perform at Free Pride on the 22nd August.

"If you are a trans drag performer and would like to perform on the day, please get in touch by sending a message to the Free Pride page.

"We would like to explicitly state that while we attempt to include everyone, we have always, and will always aim to put the needs and voices of the most marginalised first."

Many members of the LGBT community were still outraged that non-transgender drag performers were still being banned from performing at the event.

Posting on the group's Facebook page, Michael Harry Rosner wrote: "This is ridiculous. You completely had my backing until you went down this ludicrous route of division and separation."

Stephen Shaw wrote: "This is an incredibly badly thought out attempt at trans activism and stands as an example to those who wish to stay on the fringe of the LGBTQ community - know your history.

"It's marvellous that you wanted to create an alternative to Pride and bloody rightly so, however claiming you are creating an inclusive event whilst not including one of the most important parts of the queer community is ridiculous, backwards and shameful."

Before the U-turn, Pride Glasgow organisers said they understood the group's decision to ban drag acts but added they "believe this to action to [be] wrong and going against what an inclusive event should be about."

"As an organisation Pride Glasgow had a similar discussion back in 2010 over how Drag could cause discomfort to people, however we took the decision that Drag Queens and Kings play an important part in the history of the Pride movement and should be included within the event.

"We used our Pride Guide to address these concerns by having a statement from Crosslynx (A Trans support organisation at the time) explaining that not everyone people would see in Drag at Pride would be Trans or represent the trans community.

"Pride Glasgow believes that any community group should be given their place to flourish but that success should not be built on the negativity and ignorance towards other events, groups and like minded people and we are saddened to see that this is the direction that Free Pride has chosen to take."