As Twitchy reported this weekend, Andrew Sullivan called out Christopher Rufo for wanting to change the language from drag queens to “trans strippers,” following a viral racy drag performance attended by children. Sullivan countered that the British do pantomime every Christmas in which men dress up as women. The problem at hand: How does one distinguish between “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which is fine for kids, and some of these “kid-friendly” drag shows held in bars? What are we talking about, exactly?
Sullivan seems to have put more thought into it and asked that we make the distinction between racy, stripper drag queens and fun, costumed drag queens who read to kids at schools and libraries?
Racy, stripper adult drag queens have no place around kids. Fun, costumed non-blue drag queens reading to kids is fine. Can we make that distinction and act accordingly?
— Andrew Sullivan (@sullydish) June 20, 2022
Someone made a very good point: Who benefits more? The kids, for whom the drag queens are promoting literacy, or the drag queens, who are having their sexuality normalized among children?
What purpose is served by men dressing up as heavily made-up women to read books to children?
— Max (@MaxNordau) June 20, 2022
Yes. Exactly.
— Ken Gardner (@KenGardner11) June 20, 2022
Yea, I don't get the phenomenon at all. No great objection to people wearing what they prefer on their own time… but invited into schools, in front of captive audience? What's the purpose at all?
— Renew & Restore in TN (@MartinDKennedy1) June 20, 2022
I for one have absolutely no idea. To the extent this activity or others like it are funded by taxpayers, offered under a premise of being educational, and/or take place at a public school or to an audience of children, a response demanding accountability is entirely reasonable.
— Blame Big Government (@BlameBigGovt) June 20, 2022
Drag Queen Story Hour is clear about their mission: “instill the imagination and play of gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models". It’s not just a guy being funny by wearing a dress.
— David Marcus (@BlueBoxDave) June 20, 2022
I have a lot of respect for AS, but I find this baffling. Until two seconds ago, 100% percent of us understood "drag queen" to mean "a sexual fetish wherein a man derives erotic pleasure from presenting himself in stereotypical feminine appearance and behavior." What changed? https://t.co/j8xVaextAx
— Leor Sapir (@LeorSapir) June 20, 2022
https://twitter.com/AChiguhr/status/1538981935174787074
https://twitter.com/BasedCorp/status/1538948385247567875
Desensitization of children. Expose them to a cartoonist and fun version of transgender at a young age. Then move onto other things.
— Jason (@JasonCDharma) June 20, 2022
I think the recent obsession is because they’re being used/encouraged by people on the left who want to use any opposition to DQ Storytime to push their “Everyone on the right is every kind of phobic and they want you dead if you’re different” narrative.
— 🫃🏼💉🇺🇦Hollaria Briden, Esq. (@HollyBriden) June 20, 2022
Again, we think the onus is on the libraries and schools that host these events to explain why kids and drag queens go together. Is the purpose for the kids to learn to appreciate “diversity”? Or are drag queens just harmless fun?
* * *
Update:
From "trans strippers don't exist" to "racy, stripper adult drag queens have no place around kids" in three days flat. pic.twitter.com/S7xZq9ADJ6
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) June 20, 2022
Related:
Drag Queen Story Hour moves to public schools to teach first graders about gender fluidity and family structures https://t.co/I4v8uFTYwB
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 28, 2020