Ahhh, middle school memories…

Passing notes, trying to be cool, lockers…marveling at some dude in full makeup in a dress.

If you were in charge of a school’s Career Day, what’d be your go-to occupations to present front and center?

At Thornton, Colorado’s Rocky Top Middle School, 6th-8th graders administrators thought “drag queen” was a solid example for the kids to consider as a future occupation.

In fact, Jessica L’Whore….I mean, Jessica L’Whor…sorry about the world-changing “e”…

…Jessica gave a speech for the kids.

A drag queen, buddy!

It’s Raining Men(tors)!

LWhore is a relative of one of the school’s attendees, and he wanted to enlighten some young impressionable skulls of mush:

“I knew it was going to be controversial because that was nothing that would be allowed when I was in middle school. At the same time, it opened up a door for conversation.”

According to an Adams 12 Five Star district spokesman, school staff thought Jessica’s appearance would be super cool and inclusive (of what?):

“The school’s focus is to have an event that is representative of the diverse backgrounds and careers in the community.”

Should “diversity” of necessity include something almost no one does, that most would prefer not to be an example for their 12-year-old? How about a stripper? A porn star? A Republican?

To be clear: if an adult wants to be a drag queen, I think he should go for it. It’s female impersonation, it’s entertainment, and if someone enjoys doing it, then let him lip sync to “I Will Survive” ’til the high heels hurt his feet. I’d never tell RuPaul — who is a very nice, smart, and likable man — that he shouldn’t entertain as he sees fit. But I find it curious that, in a situation where examples are finite, of all the possibilities, a school wants to illustrate career opportunity with a hose-sporting dude named “L’Whor” dishing Donna Summer hits.

Apparently, some moms and dads felt the same. Or worse. One of them sent the local CBS4 an email of complaint:

“Parents are in an outrage, and this is so inappropriate on so many levels.”

“I was pretty appalled,” a parent told Fox31.

The school district didn’t apologize. However, they did admit there should’ve been fair warning:

“Parents should have known in advance who was going to be speaking, and that didn’t happen in this particular situation. Parents just needed to have more info, and context about what was going to be talked about, and some background on this individual, and they weren’t given that information.”

Drag queens and gender bending for kids are nothing new in the public sector (see here and here). Nor is children being drag queens or trans (here and here). The citizenry seems to be tolerating but not favoring it.

As for L’Whor’s performance at the school, he read a book about bullying to students. Is a guy in crazy makeup, dressed like a woman, the right person to talk about bullying? “Don’t be a bully” is a great message. “Be as strange as possible” is a different thing altogether. Nonetheless, he characterized the day as a great experience for all:

“I went to four classes. In every class, one person asked me how to handle negativity and hate. There were a lot of kids interested in how I could have the confidence to go out looking the way I look.”

Confident Jess defended his appearance thusly:

“I would tell the parents, ‘I’m not telling your kid to go off and become a drag queen. I’m telling them to have the conversations. Because, it will come up in life.”

Well, I guess it will now.

What do you think?

Relevant RedState links in this article: here, here, here and here.

See 3 more pieces from me: Deadpool 2 and what it means, liberalism & the Lord, and the horror of loving your children.

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