A controversial LGBT Pride event that included a drag show attended by children was held in Collin County at Lovelady High School on Saturday.
More than 100 people turned out to the event, which was organized by Princeton TX (PTX) Diverse, a non-profit organization that aims to encourage the “local community of Princeton, TX to embrace each other’s differences and offer their support regardless of differences.”
The event was held just a few months before a new state law will prohibit “sexually oriented” performances from being conducted in the presence of minors.
The Dallas Express traveled to Princeton on the day of the Pride event, which was protested by a handful of individuals.
“What we see happening in our society and in our culture today is a total abomination to what God says in the Bible, the way we are supposed to live, and it is against the laws of nature totally, and it is becoming more and more accepted by people, and we stand against that from a Biblical principle,” Princeton resident Kathy Gonzales told The Dallas Express.
“I’m a former teacher. I do not want to see children going in to see this perversion. I guess if you’re 18 and older, fine! You make your own decision, but children that are impressionable do not need to be exposed to this,” Gonzales said.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the event had been in the works for months and prompted pushback from individuals who opposed taxpayer-funded resources being used to facilitate the hosting of potentially sexually-explicit events.
“School facilities and public resources should never be used for any event containing inappropriate, sexual content,” said Kelly Neidert, founder of the activist group Protect Texas Kids, speaking with The Dallas Express back in January when Princeton ISD’s school board decided to have its legal counsel review the district’s facility usage policy.
A Princeton ISD spokesperson recently claimed in a statement to The Dallas Express that the school district was in no way affiliated with the event or the group that organized it outside of allowing the event to take place on district property.
“An outside group has rented a school building as do many other groups, according to the Facility Use Policy. The policy is very specific as to what will and will not be allowed. If there is a violation of this policy, usage and rentals will be prohibited in the future,” the spokesperson said.
Children of all ages could be seen inside the event, where performers in drag danced while lip-syncing to music and receiving tips from attendees. The majority of performers were dressed relatively modestly, with only one performer wearing what appeared to be a one-piece outfit.
More sexually-charged drag performances, in addition to spurring controversy when held in the presence of minors, have also come under fire for allegedly being degrading to women, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
The pseudonymous essayist “Dr. Em,” for instance, has argued that “[d]rag at its core is misogynistic; it is men portraying women as sexually objectified caricatures. Drag performers frequently reduce women to hyper sexualised, big breasted, big haired bimbos.”
One attendee who spoke with The Dallas Express disagreed with the idea that kids attending drag performances should be controversial.
“I understand that there is a genuine concern from people saying that their moral values or that they are, you know, being perverted or all this stuff, but the reality is that our faith should not discriminate,” said Yadi Martínez-Reyna, a pastor at First United Church of Christ (UCC) and founder of Color Splash Out, a non-profit organization that supports LGBT-identifying teenagers.
“So, what happens with these kids being in drag shows and things like that, the argument of drag shows is that they’re sexualized, that they are all this stuff, but the truth is it is a performance just like … Shakespeare, like [Tyler Perry’s] Madea or any performance out there … There is nothing that is being sexualized, there’s nothing perverting the kids,” Martínez-Reyna claimed.
Still, such arguments did not hold water with North Texas resident Wayne Clow, who told The Dallas Express he was concerned about children being exposed to things like drag performances.
“I’m very concerned about the propaganda surrounding the LGBT and trans movement. I think it’s going to be very harmful for the future of many kids, as some of us have learned. The suicide rate for young people going down this route is 19 times higher than normal, so that’s a good indication right there that this is a very destructive movement for this particular time of our history,” claimed Clow.