Which is worse for children: a drag queen or a gun?

Did you ever expect that there would be a war on Drag Queens? If you wonder why it’s happening now, you might have come to the same conclusion I’ve reached: right wing, bible brandishing individuals find them the perfect targets of their homophobia. They use some of the old lines that they have always used on the LGBT community like “they are corrupting our youth,” “indoctrinating our youth,” “sexually confusing our youth.” And much of this is based on a popular program that happens around the country, Drag Queen Story Time. 

It is a sad state when citizens doing community service are threatened, but we might note that those citizens are also attempting to uphold our democracy. It might sound strange, but they are part of the same issue: a changing America. One side of people are moving on, embracing change, and accepting the cultures that have been suppressed in the past. One side of people are those who can not move on and feel a fear of losing the America they once had with all it’s privileges for a select few. They want to keep us, the LGBT community, in in the closet, including our culture. 

We have a rich culture filled with literature and art, and drag is part that culture. Recently it has become very popular, mainly thanks to RuPaul who has championed the culture by taking it mainstream with numerous “Drag Race” TV shows, personal appearances, a Las Vegas review, and popping up on talk and game shows. 

The violence against Drag Queen Story Time makes me wonder if it is an outgrowth of the violence against the trans community. That’s something to ponder.

And that leaves me with a question. Who would you rather read to children at story time: a drag queen, or a man with a gun at his waist? It’s an easy question to answer. And who are some of the public voices against our culture, not only Drag Queen story time but the censorship and banning of our literature? The Proud Boys, who are the poster child of the January 6th insurrection.

Is there a word for all this? Yes, it’s called a backlash and a backlash happens when those wanting to keep the statue quo feel threatened by those seeking change.

Let’s end this with a glimmer of hope. There are positive signs we can point to. The undercurrent of the Georgia election was future versus past, and the future won. As the line goes “the people have spoken, and as Rapreal Warnock stated in his victory statement “Change can not happen unless you are seen, and I see you.”