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DRAG QUEENS AND RIGHTIST HYSTERIA by Bill Lee

The right wing of the right wing (mostly in the USA but in Canada to a certain extent) has recently developed a new issue to feed their anger and sense of being a persecuted band of right-thinking moralists. We speak of course about the existence of Drag. This is the practice of some of the male persuasion (mostly men but not always) donning clothing typically worn by women and, usually, applying lots of makeup and glitter and then going “on stage” to sing, dance and generally entertain groups of people who enjoy this kind of show. Full disclosure, first, one of my grandkids identifies as, to quote, “I'm gender fluid and bisexual, but not biromantic), but often just refer to myself as queer to save time”. Second, I have never been to a drag show and have no plan on, or interest in, taking one in. So, I’m far from an expert. My experience of drag and drag queens is limited to seeing movies like, Priscilla Queen of the Desert”, “La Cage aux Folles” and its American version “The Bird Cage”. While they were highly entertaining films, they did little to pique my interest in actually attending a drag show, just not my thing. But neither have I ever heard that anyone came all over queer by seeing one of them. On the other hand, I highly recommend the three films mentioned. They were great entertainment. 


The point is, the right-wing religious gangs, abetted by right wing politicos. have become, supposedly, more and more fearful for the safety (they equate, wrongly, being queer with being a pedophile) and morals of their children. They seem to have fever dreams in which drag queens lurk in public bathrooms waiting to do “unspeakable” things to their darlings. Worse, in their view, these insidious drag queens are attempting to “groom” their offspring to become one of them, i.e., “GAY”! The horror! I’m not clear if this plot can be found to exist around the world or as a particular movement is confined to the North American continent. In any event, this grooming theory seems to form a basic rationale for some of the fear and loathing of the idea of men, in drag, doing readings of children’s stories at various libraries. 

Many of us, naively, would see these events as simply getting kids interested in the library and demystifying the idea of “queerness” in general and normalizing drag queens in particular as human beings. That seems a pretty non-threatening pursuit to most of the people I know1. Not so this anti-drag crowd apparently. There is a movement (mostly in the US) which is seeking to ban books with gay characters in schools and school libraries. Groups of public-spirited citizens of the USA have become sufficiently outraged that they have gone a step further. They have organized gangs of men to show up to readings, fully armed (I assume they believe that drag queens are, despite all those sequins, highly dangerous characters) for the purpose of intimidating the reading queens, librarians and parents of the children present, into ditching the idea. Of course, they also would be intimidating the kids who would fail to see the intentions, of the armed men, as in their interests. 

These forms of activism, against all things not enthusiastically heteronormative, have gained a good deal of publicity. I’m pretty sure that we have never seen so much media (social and traditional) coverage about drag queens? It is ironic however, that a major result of the hysterical hand wringing and outraged yammering of the afore mentioned conservative groups, about “the evils” of drag and the queens, has been to give a jolt of energy and publicity to a recreational and cultural practice generally enjoyed by a relatively small part of the US citizenry. As well, I think it is clear that the conservative groups have managed to construct a certain and clear image (and an accurate one) of themselves as small minded bigots who have an irrational hate on for members of the LGBTTQ+ communities. One cannot doubt that the anti-drag crusaders compose a constituency of likeminded and outraged individuals. On the other hand, it seems to me that, by all their loud-mouthed fear mongering and their threats to members of the LGBTTQ+ communities, they have hived themselves off from the majority of people who have real concerns for their children: solid and nurturing education, health care availability, and recreational opportunities for example, and this silly notion of “sneaky gays” slinking around seeking to groom their children is simply not on their radar. Further, they are, not to put too fine a point on it, exposing themselves as knuckle dragging, hysterical antediluvians who should be shunned. It looks like they’ve managed to be like the equivalent of an inept hockey or soccer team. They have scored on their own goal. 

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1 Full disclosure again, my late wife and I have had some very close friends for years, and I have had a number of excellent academic colleagues and students, who are gay and lesbian.

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