For years, the LGBT movement didn’t like being hitched to the “T.” The transgender cause felt like a distraction — the crazy uncle that made people think twice about normalizing their unnatural lifestyles. Now, after years of riding the coattails of its LGB brothers and sisters, the “T” has not only stepped out of the shadows — it’s sucking up all of the oxygen in the room. Just how quickly have things shifted? One look at Pride Month says it all.
It wasn’t too long ago that flying a rainbow flag or color-washing your logo was daring — controversial, even. Now, coming up on the seven-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage, simple gay and lesbian Pride is passé. The forces of wokeism demand “progress pride,” rainbows with a nod to transgender blues and pinks, an acknowledgement that the “T” has come into its own. Along with the classic parades are more aggressive, flamboyant displays. Pride Month is now unofficially drag month, and America’s children have a front row seat.
Libs of TikTok had been building a cottage industry on that front, retweeting the worst ads from across the country for drag events, parades, brunches, shows, make-up tutorials, happy hours, dances — usually, and horrifyingly, to kids. That stopped abruptly on Thursday, when Twitter locked the conservative-leaning group’s account. According to the platform, posting a thread about recent drag shows for kids “violates Twitter’s rules against abuse and harassment.” Babylon Bee’s Seth Dillon swiped back, “You know what’s actually abusive? Drag shows for kids.”
In some places, like Indiana, tipping off locals has helped quash the idea. In other cities, like Dallas, the uproar comes after. Parents everywhere hit the roof when they saw video of a nighttime drag performance for kids, a pink neon sign in the background blaring, “It’s not going to lick itself!” The event, at Mr. Misster Club in Cedar Springs was called, unironically, “Drag Your Kids to Pride,” a “family-friendly” event for all ages.
The following Monday, when a stunned Texas legislator promised to introduce legislation creating an age limit for these performances, the Left went berserk. In California, radical State Senator Scott Weiner (D) responded to his Lone Star counterpart, Bryan Slayton (R), that he’d just given him “a bill idea: Offering Drag Queen 101 as part of the K-12 curriculum. Attending Drag Queen Story Time will satisfy the requirement.”
Not surprisingly, the internet exploded, and Weiner’s staff tried to pawn it off as “a joke” to Fox News. A bad one, by the sounds of it. CEO of California Family Policy Jonathan Keller isn’t convinced Weiner wouldn’t attempt something this extreme in classrooms. On Wednesday’s “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins,” he said, “I wish I could say Senator Weiner… was just being a troll.” On his Twitter account, “He does like to poke fun at anything that is conservative, anything that even has a whiff of Christianity. He really mocks and belittles. … I wish that we could just say that this was him being kind of a jerk. But sadly … [h]e has [a] level of disdain that many elected officials in California have for parental rights and for people of faith.”
My advice, said FRC’s Perkins? “Take him at his word.”
A good idea, considering Weiner’s record. As Fox News points out, the trans activist hasn’t exactly been shy about his social crusades, even introducing a bill to force doctors and medical workers to “undergo transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex cultural humility training.” For an encore, he tried to give predators a way around the registered sex offender list. And in May, he changed a proposal, hoping to make California a safe haven for parents outside the state who want to gender transition their minor son or daughter.
For now, Weiner’s joke-threat is a footnote to the broader story, which is that schools, libraries, zoos, and community centers are already being inundated with this depravity. And for lack of awareness or concern, the public space is allowing it. Advocates are spinning it as “an art form” akin to Shakespeare, while educators pass it off as “a creative outlet” “similar to an after-school play or sporting event.” It’s time to say what it really is: sexualized grooming of children.
“LGBTQ advocates are advancing this cause to their detriment,” FRC’s Meg Kilgannon warns. “When schools host drag-related events, that are outside parental view, it’s a step too far. And in the frenzy of Pride Month, the divide between people who see the problem with that and the people who think it’s great has never been clearer.”
Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.
