The Texas gay bar that hosted a racy drag queen dance show for children as young as five years old is under investigation by the state comptroller.
The Texas agency, which oversees the collection of tax revenues, said it is looking into the possibility that Mr. Misster Dallas bar should pay the state’s Sexually Oriented Business Fee.
Under Texas law, any sexually oriented businesses with a liquor license that provides live nude entertainment or live nude performances must pay the fee. Mr. Misster is a gay bar that serves alcohol.
If slapped with the Sexually Oriented Business Fee, the Dallas bar would have to pay $5 per customer who attended the event and possibly a 10 to 20 percent late fee for hosting the June event, which featured drag queens performing in front of children as young as five years old.
A video of the event that went viral on social media shows the dancers performing in front of a giant neon-lit sign with the catchline “It Not Gonna Lick Itself.”
The video shows the drag queens dancing provocatively in front of the children, with some of them being handed money by adults that the children then passed onto the dancers, presumably as a tip, akin to the tipping practices at strip clubs.
“Like many Texas parents, I was disturbed by the recent images showing children participating in a drag show in the Dallas area, including one image of a child placing money in a performer’s undergarment,” Texas Comptroller Glen Hegar said in a statement on launching an investigation into Mr. Misster.
The Epoch Times could not reach anyone at Mr. Misster Dallas for comment.
In a statement released after images of the event went viral, the bar said its only goal was to provide space for everyone to celebrate who they are.
“Mr. Misster is a place where everyone is welcome to feel accepted, safe, and included,” the bar said.
The event was held as part of “pride month” events in Texas. It was entitled Drag Your Kids to Pride and advertised as family-friendly.
Parents and others, including some transgender people, took to social media to criticize the event, with some calling for criminal charges against the bar.
Texas Rep. Bryan Slaton (R-Royse City) vowed to introduce legislation outlawing drag queen events for children in response to the event.
“I was shocked and disgusted by the abhorrent nature of the Mr. Misster event and its intentional targeting of children,” Slaton said in a statement.
Some supported the bar.
Following the outcry, the pro-gray magazine Reason published an article defending drag queen shows for kids, specifically referring to the signage that was part of the show at Mr. Misster.
“The most risqué thing about the event was a neon sign on the bar’s wall,” the article said, “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.”
The promotion of drag queen events for children has met a similarly mixed bag across the U.S.
In Newburyport, Massachusetts, parents started a petition to stop a teen dance hosted by a drag queen organized by the city’s youth services.
The government agency labeled the parents haters and pushed harder to promote the show despite media reports that the drag queen posted YouTube videos promoting drug use and a sexually-explicit music video of him touching himself while he lip-synced to a song about women’s breasts.
In Michigan, while Republicans were working on a bill that would give parents the right to sue a school for exposing their children to drag shows, state Attorney General Dana Nessel praised drag queen events for children, commenting, “there should be a ”drag queen for every school“ and that ”drag queens are fun.”
Nessel, the first openly gay person to be elected to a state office in Michigan, made the comments at a speech she was giving on civil rights.
