I’m surprised it took them this long to publish such a piece. The Washington Post put out an op-ed written by Sasha Velour, an author, drag queen, and winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” in which he defends holding drag shows for small children.
It was a surprisingly honest departure from how progressive usually defend these shows. When the furor erupted over the footage of kids watching men dressed in drag dance suggestively on stage, leftists tried deflecting from it by bringing up the Hooters restaurant and comparing their performances to Robin Williams in “Mrs. Doubtfire.” It was a ridiculous argument, but they didn’t appear to have any other way to defend these performances.
But in his piece, Velour gives it a try.
He starts by recounting the history of drag in America and explains that their “art has never really been about deception” but about “self-expression without shame, and free thinking about others.”
“It’s at once illuminating and not particularly serious; in drag, we playfully reject our assumptions about how a man or a woman ‘should’ act so we can find our own ways of being. And drag, certainly, is nothing dangerous,” he wrote.
The author then brings up high-profile conservatives who have criticized those holding drag shows for small children. He writes:
The critics who cry otherwise do so because they don’t understand drag. They don’t want to. Right-wing politicians such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Arizona state Sen. Vince Leach aren’t trying to inform the public of any real threat when they condemn drag acts. Their inflammatory speech and scare tactics have one goal only: recirculating deeply homophobic stereotypes about “grooming” to defend their campaign against queer and trans existence.
Velour added: “If these conservatives knew anything about queer history, they would know that despite the pain they might cause us, their demonization of queer people and our culture will never actually make us disappear.”
The performer then takes on the child issue, saying that it is “telling that conservatives have centered the drag debate on children” and that “[d]rag is no less appropriate than other forms of entertainment.”
The author continues by making the dubious claim that “[w]hile most of our shows in bars and clubs are designed for adults, like any artists, we edit our performances to be squeaky-clean for family-friendly audiences.”
Velour also takes issue with suggestions that states pass laws prohibiting these types of performances for small children. He argues that “[d]rafting laws to ban children from our performances is much less about the imagined sexual dangers of a drag show than the imagined dangers of failing to indoctrinate children with fear and shame around queerness from an early age.”
The performer also argues that allowing children to watch drag queens perform on stage will develop “empathy and tolerance” and says he believes this is “healthy.”
There is so much wrong with Velour’s arguments that it is hard to decide where to start. But it is his criticisms of conservatives speaking out against these performances that is telling. He is claiming they are attacking the “art” of drag itself and seeking to demonize those who participate in it. Of course, any sane, objective person with an IQ higher than my shoe size can clearly see that the controversy is not over drag itself – it is about holding these shows for small children.
The author’s contention that performers water down these shows for “family friendly” audiences is also an obvious lie. One of the videos that circulated on social media showed drag queens dancing in a sexually suggestive manner in front of a neon sign that read, “it’s not going to lick itself.”
I think we can be clear that the sign was not referring to pistachio-flavored ice cream, right?
I want to hear the loony left, liberal logic defend this absurdity. Taking children to a strip club. The sign in the club: “It’s Not Going To Lick Itself.” The theme: “Drag The Kids To Pride Drag Show.” Defend it. Go ahead. See for yourself. Kids give drag queens dollar bills. pic.twitter.com/Qnt7Q6GKOs
— Stefan Mychajliw (@StefanMychajliw) June 7, 2022
Another example is a teacher who gave a drag performance in front of his students – without parents’ knowledge.
A Pennsylvania teacher hosted a drag show event for students as part of the GSA club. Parents were reportedly not notified. The district has confirmed this morning that the teacher is on leave. pic.twitter.com/NSjkJELl6e
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 29, 2022
If this were so innocent, why would they refrain from informing parents that their children were going to watch a drag show?
In another situation, a parent complained at a school board meeting about a teacher who took his son to a drag show, which featured a convicted sex offender as one of the performers, without informing him,. But yeah, conservatives are the bad guys here, right?
The bottom line is that much of Velour’s arguments are a smoke screen. Nobody cares if adults wish to perform and watch drag shows. Nobody is seeking to shut RuPaul down. It is when small children are involved that the problem arises. It’s especially egregious if this is being done in K-12 schools – especially without the parents’ knowledge.
It is already bad enough that educators are shoving progressive ideas regarding gender identity and sexuality down children’s throats. The fact that they can help a child believing they are transgender transition to the opposite sex behind their parents’ backs is one of the more sinister elements of this equation.
The solution is simple: Stop sexualizing children. Why is that so hard?
