by Mary Margaret Olohan
A Colorado health clinic that works with children who have autism promoted a Drag Story Hour event featuring adult drag queens performing for children, according to documents obtained by a parental rights’ group.
Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health uses Applied Behavior Analysis, a therapy used primarily with those who have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), to work with patients of “all ages and diagnoses serving the Colorado front range.” The organization sent a May 16 email to parents advertising a Drag Story Hour for their children and promising that it would include a “mix of stories/activities and age appropriate performances by 5 drag artists.”
A concerned community member sent that email to Parents Defending Education (PDE), and The Daily Signal is first reporting the event.
“Rather than upholding its oath to ‘do no harm,’ this clinic is betraying the trust of families in need who have come to them for help,” PDE President Nicole Neily told The Daily Signal. “It is unconscionable that medical providers would target programming at a vulnerable population.”
A flier announcing the event is headlined: “Drag Story Hour: The Future Is Our Kids.” That same flyer advertises that a number of drag queens with sexual names would be featured as special guests, including Sunni Delight, Brennan Sexyback, August Celestial, Jaques Strapp, and JustinN’Out.
The email prompted PDE to submit a public records request to Jeffco Public Schools in Jefferson County, Colorado to ascertain whether the district and Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health had a formal agreement (on its website, Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health advertises that it works with Jeffco Public Schools, Poudre School District, and St. Vrain Valley Schools).
PDE shared with The Daily Signal that the district does indeed have a contract with Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health that ends on June 30, 2023. That contract states that their payment for “special educational and related services in Out-of-District placement” is “not to exceed $250,000 for all Orders in any Contract Term.”
Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Daily Signal. On its website, the health group advertises that it works with school staff and school leadership in the area, as well as private therapy providers, in order to create a “person-centered therapeutic approach.”
Advocates pushing to protect children from early childhood transgender transitions have already begun sounding the alarm about the link between autism and gender dysphoria, particularly in light of research showing that people who identify as transgender are three to six times more likely to be autistic than those who do not identify as transgender.
Activist Chloe Cole, for example, is a young woman who underwent an attempted gender transition at a very early age, going on puberty blockers, testosterone, and ultimately getting “top surgery” — wherein doctors removed both her breasts. She now deeply regrets this transition and has devoted the past few years of her life to speaking out against the medical establishment that allowed this to happen.
“I’ve spoken to a non-transgender person who also was on the spectrum about some of my symptoms of dysphoria and how things like puberty felt for me, and she told me that’s literally just how it feels to be autistic and going through puberty,” Cole said in an interview with The Daily Caller News Foundation. “It’s common for girls who have autism to present with some more traditionally masculine behaviors or more tomboyish personality. That was definitely my experience growing up and it made it more difficult for me to relate personally with other girls my age.”
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Mary Margaret Olohan is a senior reporter for The Daily Signal. She previously reported for The Daily Caller and The Daily Wire, where she covered national politics as well as social and cultural issues. Email her at [email protected].
Photo “Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health Sign” by Seven Dimensions Behavioral Health.
