KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—Ten-year-old Dinah clutched her mother’s hand in the darkened Tennessee Theatre as they waited for the drag show to begin.
“For us, this is just an art form,” Dinah’s mother told a reporter for The Epoch Times, before performers took the stage at A Drag Queen Christmas.
“It’s culture. It’s something that we don’t mind exposing her to because it’s life, and she’s going to experience it, either way.”
At least one other child was in the packed theater on Dec. 22. The traveling show will make 36 stops around the country during the holiday season. Tickets range between about $35 and $150.
During the show in Knoxville, one man stripped to the ladies’ undergarments he was wearing, and made lewd gestures with a chain, as speakers blasted music with sexually explicit lyrics. Other men, dressed as women in provocative costumes, paraded around the stage, speaking crudely to the audience and performing overtly sexual maneuvers.
Children Welcome
When asked about the decision to allow children at the show, theater director Becky Hancock responded in an email: “I strongly believe, both personally and as the director of this organization, that decisions on what children should or should not see should be left up to their parents or guardians.”
Some theater patrons agreed.
“It’s up to the parents to decide,” an attendee who identified himself as Zack told the Epoch Times. He declined to share his last name.
“I know these are weird, (expletive)-ed up times—sorry, children,” a man masquerading as a woman said during the show to the youngsters in the audience. “Now, that’s gonna be on Fox News!”
“Welcome to the Tucker Carlson and Friends’ Do-Say-Gay, Christmas drag show,” the performer said, apparently referring to Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law.
The legislation, signed in April by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), bans instruction on sexual topics to children in 3rd grade or younger. Opponents misleadingly dubbed it the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, though nothing in the law prohibits teachers from answering children’s questions about sexual topics or bans children from speaking about homosexual loved ones.
‘Crimes Against Children’
In some locales, A Drag Queen Christmas is advertised as an “all-ages” event, apparently implying that children are welcome. In Chesterfield, Mo., only people 18 and over can enter. In Wichita, Kan., the show is advertised as being for “all ages” and contains “adult comedy.”The performance in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on the day after Christmas, was originally promoted for “all ages,” said Elon Gerberg, leader of Florida Fathers for Freedom. Later, ads reflected that the show contained adult content, he said. His group plans to protest outside.
“They wanted children there. Why?” Gerberg asked. “Why do you want children there? What is your obsession with sexualizing children?”
Florida Fathers for Freedom has aligned with Moms for Liberty and Gays Against Groomers at other events to call attention to the sexualization of children.
“It’s literally men in drag, wearing lingerie, performing sex acts in front of children, and they want children there,” Gerberg told The Epoch Times. “This is a blatant sexual attack on our children.”
Before the show in Knoxville, several people begged the Knox County Commission to block the performance. People who said they were victims of child sexual abuse tearfully petitioned commissioners to protect children from “evil.”
And, they said, local ordinances made the show illegal in their community.
“I was molested at seven years old. I can tell you those wounds never completely go away,” Debbie Stafford told commissioners.
By not stopping the show, “you support crimes against children. Shame on each of you,” she scolded.
Other speakers, including resident Randy Cross, spoke in favor of allowing the drag show. Cross identified himself as a drag performer.
“You will see nothing at a drag show that you won’t see on ‘Dancing with the Stars’ [TV show], a child’s pageant, or any cheerleader at a football game,” Cross said.
The commission did not stop the Dec. 22 show, and Knoxville mayor Indya Kincannon, a Democrat, attended it.
‘Spirit of the LGBTQ Community’
As young and old looked on in Knoxville, drag performer Nina West, the show’s host, told the audience that drag represents “the spirit of the LGBTQ community.”As the show continued, performers made gestures too crude, wore costumes too risqué, and made gestures too lewd to describe without violating the family-friendly standards of The Epoch Times.
West said local icon Dolly Parton, raised in a town about 30 miles away, had sent him a bouquet the last time he was in the state’s capital, Nashville.
“Even the queen of kindness, Dolly, knows what’s right,” West said.
He praised those outside standing against people protesting the show and called them “heroes.”
Protesters Collide
Meanwhile, police warned a reporter outside not to video Antifa members because “if people get upset, they do silly things.”“If they don’t want you videoing them, leave them alone,” Sgt. Skellenger of the Knoxville Police Department warned a reporter. “We just don’t want any problems.”
When the reporter asked for clarification, the officer retorted, “Do I need to treat you like my six-year-old?”
John, an Antifa member who declined to give his last name, told the Epoch Times his group was made up of “concerned citizens.”
Conversely, protesters who opposed to the drag show were “dominionists,” “fascists,” and “Christian nationalists,” John said. They’re guilty, he added, of trying to make America a “theocratic state.”
Fellow Antifa members arrived with weapons, armbands, and a well-organized command structure and told John to stop speaking with the press.
“We’re not gonna let you do your job here,” one told a reporter.
About 100 people opposed to allowing children at the drag show gathered on one side of the street adjacent to the theater. Members of The Proud Boys, a right-wing group that attends contentious events to provide protection for conservatives, milled about in bulletproof vests. They refused to speak to a reporter.
Under their watch, a large church group sang Christmas carols while holding candles, then listened to a sermon.
A fire-and-brimstone preacher yelled through a speaker that people on the pro-drag side were going to hell.
Others yelled curses. Others were silent.
“I absolutely abhor what they are doing inside that theater,” said Mary Jane Olhasso. “And to think that children would view this is unbelievable.”
She hoped Knoxville residents would boycott show supporters, including businesses of theater board members.
‘Your God’s Ignoring You!’
Along the curb on the other side of the street, another 100 people rallied in a counter-protest in support of the show. They chanted expletives and shouted at drag-show protesters, “You’re a cult!” and “Nazis!” and “Preachers are pedophiles!”“Your God’s ignoring you!” one shouted.
Armed Antifa members menacingly patrolled the area, blocking a reporter from speaking with protesters or taking photos.
The two sides faced off with children present on both sides.
Ellen Bauer, a protester on the side supporting the show, said, “If people don’t stand up for our rights, we’re not gonna have them.”
The right to “go to shows and do things that I want to do” faces threat from “a theocracy,” Bauer told The Epoch Times.
John, with Antifa, added, “We all know that the real threat to children, in terms of sexual abuse, comes from preachers and reverends and deacons and other people in the church.”
The crowd opposed to allowing children at the show is “trying to stir up hate against the overall queer community,” John said.
Most protesters opposed to the show left soon after it started.
The show ended with a drag performer’s rendition of “O Holy Night.” Still, Antifa lingered.
As one of the last remaining protesters—a lone, young woman—attempted to leave, she was surrounded by Antifa members, who chanted, “Whose streets? Our streets!”
Police simply watched.
