As the Texas Legislature debates prohibiting children from attending drag shows and performances, a local school district provided a direct link on its website to an outside resource containing a video of a popular drag queen reading a children’s book about gender identity and sexuality.
Concerned parents of the McKinney Independent School District (MISD) reached out to The Dallas Express after discovering that the district’s website contained a link to an external website entitled “The Kids Should See This,” a repository of videos that it touts are for “curious minds of all ages.”
Among other content, the external website featured a video with a drag queen who calls himself Bella Noche. In the video, Bella Noche reads a children’s book, “Julián Is a Mermaid,” while wearing a colorful wig, heavy makeup, and a sequined starfish bra.
The link to this website was found in both the elementary and secondary (high school) sections for so-called “enrichment content” for Gifted and Talented (GT) students. It is described as “student-friendly” by MISD.
In the video, the man who portrays Bella Noche says, “Drag is when you use all your creativity and you come up with the most fabulous fantastical character you can think of.”
“Bella Noche is my drag character, and Bella is a mermaid,” he continues. “Drag has given me the ability to actually be one.”
The man who created the Bella Noche character maintains a robust web and social media presence. On his website, he claims that he is “known as New York City’s premiere drag queen mermaid, combining a love for Disney with a Latinx flair.”
In an interview posted on his website, the man behind Bella Noche claims he didn’t “experience” drag until his senior year of high school.
“We had like a little queer party and one of the guys came dressed up as a girl, in drag,” he recalls in the interview. “And yeah, I think that was the first time I understood what drag was.”
The book the drag queen reads is coded for “Early Childhood, Grades 1-2” by the website Social Justice Books. The site’s review of the children’s book reads in part, “Throughout this delightful, life-affirming picture book, young readers will see young Julián growing into the person he was meant to be.”
“Full of love and joy, Julián Is a Mermaid is for all questioning children and children who may not conform to the ‘norms’ of their genders—and for everyone else as well. Julián Is a Mermaid is highly recommended,” the review by Beverly Slapin concludes.
A review of MISD’s library catalog revealed that at least six copies of this book are currently in circulation within the district’s campuses, showing availability at multiple elementary schools.
The Dallas Express reached out to MISD and spoke with the district’s chief communications officer, Cody Cunningham. After that inquiry, district staff removed the entire outside resource section from each campus’ website, but not before The Dallas Express was able to independently verify the story.
When asked about the availability of this particular content through MISD’s website, as well as its subsequent removal, Cunningham responded, “The resources referenced were utilized during COVID, and linked to many effective reading videos and instructional resources. The district was not aware that this particular video was part of this resource, and we have no evidence that the video in question was ever utilized by McKinney ISD teachers.”
Cunningham continued, “No parent brought this to the attention of the district. When it was brought to our attention yesterday, the district immediately took the resource down, and it will no longer be accessible through the district’s website or to our teachers.”
Whitney Kenney, a mother of three children in the district and a homeroom mom, spoke to The Dallas Express about MISD providing direct access to this kind of material from its website.
Kenney claimed that McKinney Mayor George Fuller has repeatedly attacked concerned parents such as herself, as well as MISD board trustee Chad Green, for trying to “protect kids from books designed to confuse them on their sexuality and gender.”
“I’m highly disappointed in McKinney Mayor George Fuller. He continues to publicly attack MISD trustee Chad Green and label parents in the district as the ‘hate crowd’ for bringing to light video evidence of a larger problem that exists in our school district,” said Kenney. “After finding links to this provocative Drag Queen story time on my own children’s elementary school website, I am outraged even more at our mayor and the school board.”
“The proof of Fuller’s inaccurate claims was on the district’s website this entire time. The moment the district was made aware, they pulled it down in an effort to continue to mislead the public,” she continued.
“Our children deserve, new, ethical leaders, who value transparency and keeping our children safe from inappropriate content like this.”