How Drag Queens became a Trojan Horse to promote militant trans ideology to children
…and why parents who say the lewd shows aren’t suitable for youngsters are derided as ‘bigots’
out of date. Still, a protest was had, and met with pro-LGBT activists.
Speaking last week, Sab Samuel said there had been ‘a four-fold increase’ in the number of shows performed in the last year compared with the year before.
The shows’ defenders cry ‘inclusivity’ and ‘diversity’ but that is a ‘spurious justification’, says a spokesman for the Safe Schools Alliance. ‘ We don’t want to ban drag queens — but we do want to apply basic safeguarding, and we object to children being used to validate adults and the misogyny inherent in drag performances.’
In response to those who had objected to the performance by Kenzie Blackheart at St Mark’s Church, the priest, Mother Cherry Sandover, insisted: ‘This was a family show, and nothing was sexualised or inappropriate . . . St Mark’s is proud to be an inclusive church that seeks to welcome and serve LGBT+ people.’
Kenzie herself — self- styled as ‘the UK’s Nuclear Bombshell of Drag’ — suggested those who had raised objections to her performance in the church’s sanctuary in front of young children were ‘ bigots’. Her presence was, she wrote on social media, about ‘ representation’ for LGBTQ+ people and ‘those with different gender identities’.
‘We are here to help your children grow up with acceptance, tolerance and an open mind,’ she added, pointing out that she had even replaced her customary fishnets with opaque black tights ‘so as not to upset anyone’.
In what has proved to be a customary riposte to detractors, Kenzie ended by sarcastically wishing luck to any of them who were considering buying a pantomime ticket this year.
This, says James Esses, of Thoughtful Therapists, the group concerned about the impact on children of gender ideology, is a much deployed fudge. ‘Pantomime dames wear enormous flowery dresses, not bondage gear or thongs. Pantomime dames do not twerk provocatively in front of young children.
‘ Drag queens occupy quite different territory . . . Some even have pages on OnlyFans, an online platform used primarily by sex workers. For kids with access to the internet and Google, it can be a portal into a very adult world.’
Claire Loneragan agrees. ‘Equating them to panto dames is an easy way to give them a family-friendly makeover: “Hey, it’s just panto.” And if it becomes sexual then activists say: “Well, the children are too young to understand it anyway.”’
That was the argument wheeled out by organisers of the Caba Baba Rave for parents and their babies, during which one cross- dressing performer with a drag name that is a pun on anal sex could be seen doing a handstand on a chair in a leopard-print thong and gloves.
Following an outcry when videos of the ‘rave’ were shared on social media — by, among others, Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington, the former partner of The Hobbit star Martin Freeman — organisers Gemma Daubney and Liz West, both mums in their late 30s, cancelled a show which was meant to take place in Central London at the weekend and took down their website.
Not, however, before issuing a statement in which they blamed the cancellation of their shows on ‘trolling’ by ‘people who have a problem with . . . non- binary performers’ before justifying the sexualised content on the basis that the babies are too young to know what is happening anyway.
‘ It goes without saying that babies of a young age aren’t able to
‘Panto dames don’t twerk in front of children’
grasp the plot of an intricate, thought-provoking movie,’ they wrote. Not much of an argument, according to Debbie Hayton — a trans teacher who has written about her concerns about the grip gender ideology can have on primary schools.
‘The idea that you can’t understand it makes it OK is extraordinary. You wouldn’t have an adult comedian performing to infants, even though they might not “understand that”,’ she says.
Levelling accusations of transphobia at those who express discomfort only highlights for Hayton the overlap between drag queens and modern trans activism.
‘It’s ironic really, because go back ten years and many transexuals used to be very uncomfortable with drag queens because transitioning was something major in our lives; many of us had taken hormones and had invasive surgery in order to try to pass as a member of the opposite sex, and these people are a parody of that,’ she recalls.
‘For many of us their appearance was an infringement of trans rights — but there has been a change of attitude and in many instances the two have been conflated. I have always struggled to call drag acts entertainment — and I now find myself shrieking about how on earth we have got to a position where we are inflicting it on our children?’
For legislators in Tennessee, that grievance has hardened into a law this month banning ‘male to female impersonators that appeals to prurient interest’ from performing in public spaces. Those in breach will be punished by a fine and/or up to a year in jail.
It’s a warning from the U.S. as to where this debate can lead if drag queens push their acts beyond the boundaries of parental approval.