Drag and Protecting Children

We are seeing a spate of legislation being promoted or passed in many states, including North Carolina. These pieces of legislation are not all written the same way. Some would make it illegal for a church to put on a nativity or passion play if we did not have enough actors of the correct gender available. Some would make it illegal for a transgender person to appear in public and speak, sing, or otherwise entertain two or more persons.

These pieces of legislation are not crafted to simply keep children from being exposed to drag. They are designed so as to keep businesses from allowing any kind of drag performances on their property.

The loudest cry I continually hear is that we must protect the children. Are we concerned about exposing children to sexuality and sexual themes? Were that the case, we would be up in arms over all sorts of entertainment from what used to be Saturday morning cartoons to Disney movies, to advertising on TV, billboards, and print media.

Are we concerned about children seeing examples of different kinds of families that do not look like the traditional nuclear family? We never made a fuss over The Brady Bunch. We make no waves about portraying single parents in TV or film. We don’t fret over presentations of adopted children, even ones that merge ethnicities into a family. We are not overly bothered when seeing unmarried couples living together in film, TV, or the books we read.

Are we concerned about children being groomed to change their gender or sexual orientation? I can’t speak for everyone, but my gender identity is not malleable. I’ve never questioned it, even though I have been exposed to many people whose gender experience is unlike mine. My sexual orientation is not something over which I have control. I never decided to be heterosexual. No one convinced me to be heterosexual. My attraction simply exists. I do have control over how that becomes expressed in my actions and relationships. I cannot control my orientation or attractions, however. They just are.

Are we concerned that children will be molested at a Drag Story Hour event? We don’t ban church services, youth lock-ins, summer camps, or Boy Scouts because many pedophiles have used those venues to locate and abuse children. Drag queens and kings must pass background checks, just like we require of clergy in the United Methodist Church. Children are not being tracked down and compelled by drag performers to attend a drag story events. It is the children or their parents who seek out opportunities to get tickets and bring their children to such. Children are not even allowed to attend without having a care-giving adult with them.

Could it be that our concerns are really about discomfort over what we do not understand, have not experienced, and know little to nothing about? Dressing in drag is not about being transgender. The majority of children who come to a drag story hour would have little to no clue as to the gender identity of the performer reading to them. All they see is a performer with ostentatious hair, dress, and make-up sitting down to read books and do crafts with them. A drag queen or king’s gender may or may not match the persona they present. And the presentation they make is much more realistic looking than so many mall Santas we’ve seen.

Passing legislation regarding something that many people don’t understand is much more about riling up a base for political manipulation. It’s little more than a scare tactic used to control a voting populace. It is a misdirection akin to scapegoating any minority community for the societal problems we have no will to correct.

In the name of protecting children, we should be pushing for free school lunches for all. In the name of protecting children, we should be pushing for better school funding mechanisms that grant schools the support staff they need, including counselors, nurses, tutors, teacher’s aides, music, art, technology, and other wrap-around services to see that all children have the means to excel. In the name of protecting children, we could address gun violence, which is right now the leading cause of childhood death. In the name of protecting children, there are a host of things we could do, but continually fail to do. We could end the school to jail pipelines that are so common. We could restructure our criminal punishment system such that no one is placed in solitary confinement, especially children and youth.

Drag Story Hour is not the big, filthy beast lurking in the shadows to consume vulnerable children. If we are honest about it, a population that does not care enough to feed, clothe, house, educate, and provide healthcare to all of its children is not overly concerned with their welfare. Drag is not the problem. The problem is our indifference to the real and pressing needs our children face every day of their lives.



— ©Copyright 2023, Christopher B. Harbin 



http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

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