Madison East High School will host a “family friendly” drag show later this month, a taxpayer-funded woke event that is “Exhibit A” for expanded school choice, according to a parental rights activist.
East High parents recently received an email announcing the event, sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Alliance. The show is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Jan. 19, according to the school’s calendar. The festivities will take place in the high school’s Margaret Williams Theater.
“Our GSA has been working hard to plan East’s first annual (family friendly) drag show intended to celebrate, affirm, and support EHS students and staff in our LGBTQIA+ as well as our larger school community,” the email states, perhaps an admission by the left here that your average drag shows aren’t family friendly.
The community is invited.
Madison Metropolitan School District spokesman Tim LeMonds tells Empower Wisconsin the drag show is a student-led effort and subsequently a school sanctioned event in support of our students.
“The ‘family friendly’ term was used by East’s principal to emphasize the event as being open to the public with everyone being welcome,” LeMonds said in an email. He added that the district has had “a handful of individuals reach out with questions or to provide comments regarding the event.”
The email to parents notes the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance has worked to promote a “supportive and inclusive environment.” The group apparently believes drag shows are the way to accomplish that mission.
Dan Lennington, deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, said the mission of Madison East High should be to educate students, yet only about a third of its students were proficient in reading and only 28 percent tested at grade level or higher in math.
“This is Exhibit A for school choice, why we promote parents rights and transparency,” Lennington said. Milwaukee-based WILL has been a leading voice for parental rights legislation and universal school choice — the former teachers union-backed Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed and the latter he most likely would.
Drag Queen Story Hours have popped up at Wisconsin libraries in recent years. In April, a Middleton High School French teacher performed in drag for students at the annual “Fine Arts Week.”
As Empower Wisconsin reported, Kashdan strutted onto the auditorium stage in a high-cut, blue sequinned dress, red boots and blond wig, lip-syncing and dancing to “Rain on Me” by pop divas Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande.
“It’s our responsibility as teachers to really show students who we are, but to also show them that they can be whoever they want to be,” Kashdan told the liberal Cap Times. “Another reason why I wanted to do it was to say you know what, it doesn’t matter, I can be your teacher, you can respect me in that way, and I can also be a drag queen and have fun and put on this costume and that’s fine arts.”
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M.D. Kittle is a senior reporter at Wisconsin Spotlight.
Image “All-Ages Drag Show” by Aldo Buttozzoni.
