A Texas lawmaker introduced on Monday that he’ll introduce laws to ban minors from attending drag shows within the state.
State Rep. Bryan Slaton, a Republican, mentioned a legislation was obligatory to guard kids from “perverted adults,” citing a viral video of youngsters attending a drag present in Dallas on Saturday.
“The events of this past weekend were horrifying and show a disturbing trend in which perverted adults are obsessed with sexualizing young children,” Slaton mentioned in a press release. “As a father of two young children, I would never take my children to a drag show and I know speaker Dade Phelan and the rest of my Republican colleagues wouldn’t either.”
He added, “Protecting our own children isn’t enough and our responsibility as lawmakers extends to the sexualization that is happening across Texas.”
Slaton was referring to a drag present that came about on the Mr. Misster bar. The occasion, the “Drag the Kids to Pride Drag Show,” was marketed as a “household pleasant spin off” of the bar’s “Champagne Drag Brunch” present.
A viral video from the occasion shows kids watching drag performers dance and tipping them with money. It attracted a crowd of protesters.
Representatives for Mr. Misster didn’t reply to NBC News’ request for remark.
Several different Republican lawmakers — together with Reps. Majorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Lauren Boebert of Colorado — and conservative pundits additionally weighed in on the matter, arguing that it needs to be “illegal” for minors to attend drag shows.
Podcast host Allie Beth Stuckey, who has over 357,000 followers on Twitter, went so far as suggesting the dad and mom, performers and bar homeowners “should be charged with sexual abuse of children.”
LGBTQ activists and a few Democratic lawmakers slammed the possible ban.
“First it was CRT. Then it was trans kids playing sports. Now it’s….drag?” Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow mentioned on Twitter, utilizing the acronym for Critical Race Theory. “None of these things fix inflation, bring healthcare costs down, or save kids from gun violence. It’s just the fear tactic of the month for the GOP. And it’s embarrassing.”
Slaton’s announcement comes amid a latest surge in charged rhetoric surrounding how and whether or not kids ought to study LGBTQ points.
In latest months, conservative lawmakers, tv pundits and different public figures have accused opponents of a newly enacted Florida schooling laws — which critics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation — of attempting to “groom” or “indoctrinate” kids. The phrase “grooming” has lengthy been related to mischaracterizing LGBTQ individuals, significantly homosexual males and transgender ladies, as little one intercourse abusers.
Simultaneously, LGBTQ activists have been preventing in opposition to the document variety of anti-LGBTQ payments launched in state legislatures this 12 months — greater than 320, in line with the Human Rights Campaign.
Texas lawmakers have additionally persistently made headlines for his or her slate of anti-LGBTQ, and significantly anti-transgender, insurance policies in latest months.
In February, Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott ordered the state’s little one welfare company to research little one abuse claims filed in opposition to dad and mom who is likely to be offering their trans kids with gender-affirming medical care. A statewide injunction that was positioned on the directive in March was struck down by the Texas Supreme Court final month. However, the court docket additionally mentioned such investigations should not underneath the governor’s management, in a nod to households with trans kids.