Scalen Onyx reading during the Drag Queen Story Hour at Cellar Door Books in Riverside, California in 2019
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
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Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
Scalen Onyx reading during the Drag Queen Story Hour at Cellar Door Books in Riverside, California in 2019
Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images
The LGBTQ+ community has long celebrated self-expression through drag shows featuring performers in costume and make-up posing as male or female. Witness the popularity of an Emmy Award winner RuPaul’s drag racing. But Republican lawmakers in Florida, Arizona, Texas and other states are trying to crack down on proposals to ban minors from drag shows.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has suggested that he could order his state’s Department of Child Protective Services to investigate parents who take their children to such performances.
“We have laws against putting children in danger.” DeSantis said during a press conference in Fort Myers Beach last week after a video surfaced of kids visiting a drag bar in Dallas. “They were investing in underwear and it’s completely inappropriate,” he said. “That’s not something kids should be exposed to.”
Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini goes even further. offer to terminate parental rights of adultsand make it a crime if they bring their kids to see a drag show.
Brian Slaton, Texas Republican representative, said he also propose a bill banning drag shows where minors are present. “Adult perverts are obsessed with the sexualization of young children,” he complained in a statement.
In Arizona, Republicans say they are also alarmed. “If men want to dress like women, and if adults want to participate in these hypersexual performances, they have the freedom to do so. It crosses the line when kids do these drag shows.” they wrote in a joint statementadding that they are sending a message to children about “complete and utter perversion”.
Arizona state senator Vince Leach told NPR that he’s been hearing more and more complaints from parents about drag shows kids are witnessing, and he’s now drafting a bill to do something about it.
“It’s a burden on society,” Leach said in a phone call this week. “These performers, in my opinion, are disgusting.” He says he was alarmed by newspaper photos of kindergarteners “stuffing bills in their panties” at drag shows. “These are kids looking at things they can never get out of their heads. We don’t let kids into strip clubs, we don’t let them into X-rated movies… so it’s foreign to me why we let this continue.”
It’s hot all over the country for drag performers, especially during Pride Month.
Last weekend West Palm Beach Pride Event canceled its scheduled drag show after Canadian police said a 17-year-old had posted anti-LGBTQ comments online and threatened to shoot people at the event.
Last weekend in California, a group of men believed to be members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group, disrupted a concert. story time Event at the San Lorenzo Library. Kyle Chu, whose name is Panda Dulse, was going to read to preschool and kindergarten children. Wearing AK-47 T-shirts, the men shouted homophobic and transphobic threats.
“Proud boys shouted, ‘Who brought the shemale?’ and started insulting me, calling me a pedophile and a groomer,” Chu told Teen Vogue. “Facing fanatics who are deeply misinformed about who you are and what you stand for is horrendous.”
The guard quickly led the group out, and Chu continued to read to the children. The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office launched a hate crime investigation.
In response to DeSantis’ comments, his gubernatorial rival, Democrat Nikki Fried announced that she supports the drag show. She told Florida Politics about this.“If a parent wants to bring their kids to a drag show, it’s up to the parents. And it’s entertainment. Kids don’t become gay because they went to a drag show.”
During a civil rights conference, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel reportedly called complaints about children exposed to transvestites “fake issues” that divide people. She is quoted by Detroit News. it is said that transvestites raise children when they have emotional problems. Nessel, the state’s first openly gay person to be elected to state office, jokingly called for a transvestite in every school. “Drag Queen makes everything better,” she said. “Drag Queen is fun.”
This was announced by talk show host Andy Cohen.“I would take my kids to drag shows before taking them to a gun show.” And comedian, actor, singer and author Randy Rainbow posted this tweet.: “I am introducing a bill to protect transvestites from children.”