Wisconsin parental rights groups plan to demonstrate this weekend against a daylong pride event featuring a drag queen story hour and a children’s dance party.
Organizers with No Left Turn in Education, Parents Patrol, and Gays Against Groomers Wisconsin said they will be out in force at Pride in the Park, scheduled from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday at Watertown’s Riverside Park. The protesters are planning a Classic Story Hour at the city park.
“We plan to peacefully be there to let parents know we are there to defend their children and that they’re not alone,” said Alexandra Schweitzer, president of No Left Turn in Education Wisconsin. “Many parents, especially in small towns, are being attacked for their beliefs now, and they think this is the way it has to be. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
Unity Project of Watertown, which is hosting the Pride in the Park event, is expecting a bigger turnout of LGBTQ+ community members and supporters than last year’s event, which drew more than 300 people to Riverside Park.
“This year — instead of having a single pavilion — we have every pavilion from the bathrooms including the bandshell,” Unity Project leader Trent Kangas told the Watertown Daily Times.
Drag queens And and Nemo, and drag king Ponyboy Trevor, are among the drag performers slated to put on an “all ages” show.
“We plan to have two drag shows during the event and a drag story hour where Andi will be reading books,” Kangas said. “We’ll also be hosting a DJ for a children’s dance.”
Rocky Rodriguez, leader of the Wisconsin chapter of Gays Against Groomers, told The Lion’s Michael Ryan that an “all ages” drag show is a “new one” to the group.
“We’re used to seeing drag queen story time. We’re used to seeing kids at Pride events. That’s natural to see that now, with what we’re protesting. But the one thing that caught my eye was ‘drag-queen-and-kids dance party.’”
Trans advocates insist the drag queen and dance parties are opportunities to show children inclusion and kindness for people who might be different from others. Critics says they’re safe spaces for “perverted adults” who are “obsessed with sexualizing young children.”
In Texas last June, a Dallas-area gay bar sponsored a drag event for all ages. It was billed as “Drag Your Kids to Pride” and advertised as a “family friendly” edition of its weekly drag queen brunch events, according to NBC News. Viral videos show children taking part in the performances. In one scene a drag queen twerks to an Ariana Grande song. As The Hill reported, a neon sign behind the dancers proclaimed, “It’s Not Gonna Lick Itself.”
Such “safe space” events aren’t sitting well with much of the population. A Rasmussen Report poll late last year found 60 percent of American adults consider “Drag Queen Story Hour” inappropriate for children, including 44 percent who say it’s not at all appropriate. Just 29 percent said adults in drag reading books to children is an appropriate activity.
Many so-called mainstream news outlets have painted opposition to drag shows for children as a politically motivated movement driven by bigoted conservatives. It’s not, says Schweitzer. It’s about what is right and what is wrong for America’s most vulnerable citizens, the parental rights activist said. And a lot of moms and dads have grown tired of the radical left pushing their beliefs on families in schools and other public places.
“These are strip shows. They’re a full-on assault on children,” she said, noting that there are many gay and bisexual adult Americans concerned about the sexualization of kids — hence the creations of Gays Against Groomers will be there.”
“Together we can right this wrong if we stand together,” Schweitzer added. “No one should think that what is happening to our children is okay. This is sexual grooming of our children, and that’s not okay.”
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Drag Queen Story Hour” by San Jose Public Library. CC BY-SA 2.0.
