COLUMN: Using Drag Queens with Children for Political Goals

The following column is an opinion piece and reflects the views of only the author and not those of AllOnGeorgia.

On a lovely spring day in late April, some parents chose to take their kids indoors to hear a Drag Queen read stories at the Alpharetta branch of the Fulton County Public Library. Steven Igarashi-Ball, who goes by the moniker “Miss Terra Cotta Sugarbaker” and has performed in such shows as “Guys as Dolls B**** Perfect Show,” is in increasing demand by taxpayer-supported libraries to expose children to the new gender-fluid sexual orthodoxy. Apparently it’s never too young to begin grooming children to accept the “anything goes” culture of LGBT America.

And if taxpayers object to this dangerous exploitation of children, the taxpayers are bigots and should shut up.

Igarashi-Ball’s appearance at the Alpharetta library got off to a rocky start. The library first invited him but was overruled by wiser and saner Fulton County officials, provoking a flurry of publicity and complaints from the Drag Queen about “discrimination” against him (because of course, the desires of adults outweigh the welfare of children).

But in the end he got what he wanted. The library allowed the story time to proceed, just not as an officially sponsored event, and further allowed the sponsors to list it on Eventbrite and issue tickets so that only those “in the know” would be admitted. (As it turned out, the auditorium was only about half full.) The library then set up two lines – ticketed and non-ticketed – so that attendees with tickets would be admitted first. All of this violated the library’s policies requiring all events to be open to the public and prohibiting monopolization of meeting rooms. But sometimes rules must be bent for the greater good of child indoctrination.

Opposition to the event and to the library’s high-handed conduct was coordinated by a concerned mom who, as a high school sex educator, has studied the consequences of childhood sexualization. She battled the library bureaucracy and even had to obtain a letter from an attorney identifying the policy violations being committed. Shown the letter, the Alpharetta police who were present for security agreed that the general public had to be admitted. Ultimately the library yielded and disregarded the bogus tickets – but only after many objecting parents were dissuaded from coming by Eventbrite’s notification that the necessary tickets were “sold out.”

Library officials made other efforts to exclude the taxpaying public. Ten days before the Drag Queen Story Time, the coordinating mom and two others sought to reserve the auditorium earlier that day so that opponents might have some chance of being allowed into the event.  Without checking the calendar, Branch Manager Jeff Stinson claimed the auditorium was booked all day. In fact, the room was empty during the hour immediately preceding the drag event.

The Drag Queen’s actual performance was fairly nondescript. The only thing memorable about Igarashi-Ball was his garish costume in caricature of a woman. (By the way, why is drag more acceptable than, say, blackface in minstrel shows? In both cases the performer uses a mocking caricature of a particular group to entertain an audience. Apparently it’s bad to mock African-Americans, as all would agree, but it’s OK to mock women.)

Igarashi-Ball read four forgettable books in a flat voice – no drama from this queen – as many of the children understandably seemed to lose interest. But their parents were appreciative, applauding enthusiastically and laughing at every throwaway comment that seemed aimed more at the adults than the children. Perhaps these parents, like those who take their kids to pride parades, sought to make a political statement more than to entertain the children.

Igarashi-Ball’s Facebook posts confirm that his drag activities are designed to achieve political goals. “Drag is many things,” he wrote in one post, “but first and foremost, it is always a political act. Drag queens have the power, and the platform, to change the world.” His Drag Queen compatriots agree. Our libraries are now providing that world-changing platform.

Since libraries are recruiting story-tellers purely on the basis of their controversial sexual personas, can we now expect to see Porn Star Story Hour to entertain the kiddies? After all, adults engaged in such “sex work” surely have a unique and fun perspective to offer children, as do Drag Queens. Don’t judge them, bigot.

And don’t scoff at this possibility. The sexualization of young children barrels ahead, and parents and churches must wake up and fight it. Failure to object to agenda-driven events such as Drag Queen Story Time is the failure to protect innocent children. Period.