A Texas legislator wants to ban children from seeing drag queens in response to a Dallas bar’s ““family-friendly” Drag the Kids to Pride” event. That’s silly, writes Reason‘s Elizabeth Nolan Brown.
Some kids in attendance tipped the drag performers with dollar bills, which—despite its association with strip clubs—is not in itself a sexual thing (we hand dollars to street performers, too, don’t we?). The most risqué thing about the event was a neon sign on the bar’s wall which said “it’s not gonna lick itself”—a message that most certainly went over small children’s heads and, in any event, is no worse than things older children might see on TV.
Drag performances and events can be tailored for children or all-ages audiences, she writes.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suggested that parents who take children to a drag show should be investigated by the authorities, writes Lenore Skenazy, also on Reason. “We have child protective statutes on the books,” said DeSantis. “We have laws against child endangerment.”
Parents should be investigated only when they “are putting their kids in obvious, serious, and likely danger — not just when they’re being foolish, goofy, pushy, lazy, self-absorbed, or dumb,” writes Skenazy. She is president of Let Grow, a nonprofit promoting childhood independence and resilience, and founder of the Free-Range Kids movement.