Flamy Grant wasn’t going down without a fight — and she’s not planning on stopping anytime soon.

After religious activist Sean Feucht criticized the drag queen’s place in Christian music last week, calling her relevancy a sign of “the last days” while simultaneously insinuating that “hardly anyone listens or cares what you do,” Grant called on her fans to get her music to the top of the iTunes Christian Charts.

Within hours, her album Bible Belt Baby and song “Good Day” were both No. 1. In fact, the album is still No. 1 almost a week after the grassroots effort began.

In an exclusive conversation with The Messenger, Grant explained why it was so important for her to use her platform and — quite literally — her voice to push back.

“I’ve never interacted with someone who has 100,000 followers on Twitter before, at least not a hater,” Grant said. “It comes with a different level of responsibility. It is scary out here for queer folks. Our physical bodies are at risk. We’ve got people outside of drag bars and drag shows. Fights have broken out. The fear is real.”

Grant described the experience of standing up to Feucht as “very easy,” because there was a quantifiable way to prove him wrong. Still, she wasn’t totally confident it was going to work.

“It felt really risky putting that call to action out,” Grant admitted, “because I was like, ‘If nothing happens, then he’s right. I am a non-entity and nothing I do matters and I’ll probably spiral into despair.’ But fortunately that’s not the case.”

In addition, Grant candidly expressed that her efforts were about far more than chart success, especially given the current social and political climate for the queer community, particularly those that listen to Grant’s genre of music. 

“I try and have some intentionality when I interact with somebody who’s like a Sean Feucht who is coming to tear us down,” Grant said. “I interact with people sometimes because I know there are queer kids reading the comments. I want them to see we can take the piss out of their fire. They don’t have to be scared of faceless accounts on the internet, or even accounts that have faces.”

Grant has been inundated with positive comments on her multiple Instagram posts about the recent journey — from old fans and new fans alike — and it’s not something she takes lightly. 

“I’m just happy to be the vessel for that,” she explained graciously. “I’m really glad that a lot of people get to see that story now and feel empowered.”

Flamy Grant’s album Bible Belt Baby and the song “Good Day” are available to buy on iTunes.