Drag queens reading or performing to children have been in the news of late, following numerous cases of shocking and inappropriate behaviour. This has led to a backlash, and a backlash against the backlash. Some US Democrat lawmakers—like New York mayor
I complained to my local library service about Drag queen story hour and they couldn't see the issue even though I said it was an adult sexualised act. I complain every time they book them. They said it helped LGBT inclusively. They just can't see the issue, even though I asked would they have a GIMP telling stories.....I also complained to Taunton library who had a special day with LGBT History. They completely dismissed me saying the act was not inappropriate. They turned down a Lesbian who approached them to do something for the day - saying no thanks they had the Drag Act. The lesbian was going to dress up as a WW1 nurse and tell people about the Lesbian women from Taunton who were front line nurses in WW1.....you couldn't make it up!!! She went anyway, and went around the town. 👌
There really is nothing diverse or inclusive about drag. It's just grotesque misogyny in action. What's a child supposed to learn from it, other than women are for laughing at?
The Black &White minstrels are now regarded as scandalous and racist yet men dressing up as women mostly for their own fetishes is seen as harmless and possible educational! Extremely bizarre thinking.
Like many a little boy then I used to look at the Black & White minstrels so I could peep at the female lovelies parading around in their one-piece outfits. I paid no attention to the men with black faces or the music. To think little boys now can watch hideous violent porn on their phones and tablets.
Childhood innocence is under attack everywhere today, now even in libraries.
That’s what I don’t get. Dressing up in drag used to be a way for entertainers to get laughs but now it’s regarded as part of Gay identity.
For instance in Dublin we have Panty Bliss. When he wears his ‘day clothes’ do to speak he is manager of a bar and club on Capel Street. Yet when he dresses up in his Panty Bliss regalia (in which he looks like no real woman who ever existed - a sort of cross between Danny la Rue and Sindy) we are all supposed to bow down before every PC utterance ‘he/she’ makes AND respect his/her sexual identity. I never understand it - is his sexual identity that of a Gay man, a weird doll-like figure uttering lefty right-on passive aggressive bullshit or a combination of the two. And when he is in his outfit and tottering about on his high heels we are supposed to fawn at his ‘bravery’ even though it might be said that it takes a brave man not to wear high heels on Capel Street these days 🤣🤣🤣
Hi. I'm just seeing this old article. I was wondering if you'd tried taking a hard copy of this article to your local library to show them some actual facts about the issue, or if you had had any success in another way.
Just reported today that Irish politician Senator Regina Doherty told the Scottish parliament’s ‘equalities, human rights and civil justice committee’ via zoom that she found it “fanciful” that a man would change gender to get access to women.
Oh and she says there are “probably nine genders”.
This thicko is the ‘leader’ of the Irish Senate - a toothless body mostly made up of cranks and failed politics - poor Regina lost her own seat in parliament in the last election when the voters in County Meath gave her the boot.
I'm a librarian (now a legal librarian, but I was a children's librarian in US public libraries for a number of years). Kids get nothing from Drag Queen Storytime that they don't get from the librarian or anyone else reading them a story. All the claims that it teaches them about diversity are nonsense: toddlers don't have any concept that the big person in the colorful clothes and makeup represents any orientation or identity.
The agencies that hire out the Drag Queens charge hundreds of dollars at a time when public libraries across the US (and to an even greater extent across the UK) are being closed for lack of funding. The whole thing is an expensive farce, and it's done for two groups: parents who want to feel woke for taking their kids to see a gay man put on a grotesque parody of a woman, and librarians, who are frankly about the most indoctrinated profession around.
Thank you for this article, btw, as it has given me the idea that we need a new twitter meme: Story Hour Drag Queens Who Are Also Sex Offenders. Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, off to work I go...
I don't know the rules in USA but in UK doesnt anyone with contact with vulnerable people including children need to be vetted beforehand? Believe it was called an 'advanced DBT check' when I took on some voluntary work for local charity. Or are there special rules for drag/T?
There probably are some special rules for them on ‘diversity and inclusion’ grounds. Any poor copper even looking twice at them would probably be called in to HQ to “get his thinking examined”.
I tried to check up - it's actually called a DBS check - sry but they changed it recently [was previously called CBS check, I think] .... my puter seized but you def need one for working with children in schools and in other vulnerable situations. An enhanced check would highlight any relevant criminal activity.
Someone I knew was disbarred from storytelling in libraries when he applied awhile ago due to an advanced DBS check showing an adolescent violent outburst after his mother died - no children involved but he could not take the job. ... Not condoning this, but it happened decades ago, perhaps for understandable reasons. He cares about children and certainly would not being doing it in drag!
How drag criminals can get away with this, I can only imagine - the very least to me would be the most advanced DBS check to be carried out in all cases for working with children in any capacity. Not saying that some parents aren't dangerous but we need to be realistic, obvs.
It was CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) then DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service). You often need them for voluntary roles and they are fairly standard. Like any admin of this kind sometimes it's about who puts information in, how accurate it is. And how long it takes to come back. There have been a series of changes in who is allowed in certain roles and with anyone vulnerable after some high profile incidents.
So they're doing the minimum for drag. Hmmf - a bit of bias in one direction then it seems, bearing in mind the article. I had to have an enhanced check before having telephone contact with vulnerable adults and children!
To work in a school in my state requires a background check. In a library, it might, but our libraries are independent entities, so each sets their own rules. But it would only apply to regularly scheduled staff, not performers or presenters who are hired for an event. That person would never be alone with a child.
At this point, it's taking a political stance to host a drag queen story hour. We have searchable data bases for sex offenders, it would be foolish of the hosts not to run the names beforehand.
That is true in all the states I've lived in, but being responsible for a group is different than doing a performance. Schools are, and should be, more strict.
Thank you for this timely article. Just yesterday, in response to someone on GETTR, I suggest a list should be made of those paedophiles posing as 'female' impersonators, and here it is.
Parents bringing their kids to these library 'events' possibly are suffering from a sort of weird attention seeking ("LOOK how progressive I am") flaw with maybe even an element of something more sinister.
My wife was recently in a women's boutique on the Northside of Dublin. As she entered a rather pushy-type woman (sorry if I trigger anyone) and her son were just leaving.
He was about 12, with a slight build, long hair and was dressed in slacks and a girl's blouse. While chatting to the shop assistant my wife mentioned the boy. The assistant said that his mother often brought him in to get him to try on clothes and she would overhear the pair talking about changing sex/gender. The assistant thought that the mother was pushing her son towards being a 'girl'. The whole thing between the mother and son made her uneasy. Interestingly, she said he had a slightly younger brother who the mother didn't seem to have any interest in - he was left at the shop's door the few times he came with them.
Could there not be an element of what used to be known as Munchausen syndrome by Proxy involved with these parents who seem to encourage kids to go down this route?
There is a DQ Story Hour website https://www.dragqueenstoryhour.org/ with suggested titles, and a "dragtivity" workbook one can buy with coloring sheets. It's all what you would expect it would be--circle your pronouns! find your drag name!, and I think that's why they are hired, to tick diversity boxes. https://www.dshnyc.org/dragtivitybook
They were earlier flagged by Twitter over their joke video about a Twitter employee seeking therapy because Musk is buying the company https://youtu.be/rFNCsSBnYVg
Yes indeed. Babylon Bee are not just conservatives but ….horror of horrors… CHRISTIAN conservatives😱. Then again there have been many Christian comedians from Bob Hope to the great Bernie Mac.
This is a complicated problem for me. I took my kids to a drag show yesterday. Qya Cristal is an amazingly talented singer. I was happy my kids wanted to say hi to him after the show. We have friends in common, and Qya went to my son’s college. They had a nice chat.
I have enjoyed several performances by drag queens over the years. I support gender nonconforming men. And I love music. So only if there’s talent.
That said, I brought my kids to this performance, nobody brought the performance to my kids. Qya is a serious musician. There is no way in hell he would ever dress up like a poorly powdered caricature and read books to children in a library. That is gross. I would not bring my kids to that.
There is nothing overly sexualized about a performance like Qya’s. He dresses like a woman (convincingly, I might add - my daughter was surprised when I told her later). But not a caricature of a woman. And Qya’s performance of Autumn Leaves is no more sexualized than anybody else’s. And precisely how sexualized should Careless Whisper be?
So here’s an unusual take: these assholes are giving drag queens a bad name.
I would say that he does perform dressed as himself. He’s a small, slight, effeminate man. He wears lovely clothing that suits him. No fake boobs, no exaggerated makeup. And to most people he seems to be a woman- which he doesn’t claim to be.
I find it consistent with the statement that men should accept the gender nonconformist men among them to say that we should accept men who prefer women’s clothing.
Panto dames? Wasn’t someone just talking about mawkish stereotypes?
My point about panto was that they are meant to be obviously men dressed as women, for comical effect. Drag queens, and transgender males, expect you to take them seriously.
As for your guy, thanks for the link. Not someone I had ever heard of. A man is very welcome to wear a dress, I have no problem with that. But fake boobs? Tucking? That's not gender non-conforming, that's pretending to be a woman. I am sorry but when he starts talking admiringly of "furries" "living their truth" walking around alongside families I stopped reading.
And though you say he doesn't claim to be a woman, it is clear that his show is about performing while pretending to be a woman. He is referred to as she throughout the article. He is putting on womanface which is wrong. How is it different from blackface?
But please know this is NOT a personal attack on you. Please don't see it that way!
Agree with you Ursula - here's the quote from Friki's link - Friki, I gave you benefit of the doubt but this aint funny :
“I had no idea about Ptown’s culture,” says Cristál. “Boy, was I in for a shock! It was so inspiring seeing people living in their truth. Seeing drag queens walk side by side with families, and go-go boys walking along side furries and baby dolls was crazy, but in the best possible way. It was like living on Fantasy Island.”
Furries? I’ve never seen that. Most of what you see in the gayest town in America are just a lot of gay people. Many of those who stay, like Qya, are from the rural South, and have never felt so safe before.
I support their safety and freedom, and don’t criticize their sartorial decisions.
What they do with consenting adults in private is up to them imho. Ironically, it was Oscar Wilde who said sthing like only a fool does not judge a person by their clothes.
And surely the prime consideration bearing in mind the context of that whole article is safeguarding the most vulnerable ie children and women [implied by the word 'families']. So I question your priorities here Friki ... and let alone Qya who given the talent you claim he has, surely has no need to seek the false validation/crowning by 'trans/drag' - or indeed to wear that ridic/ugly wig!
Ursula, I don’t see this as an attack on me, but thank you all the same.
The decision to use female pronouns for Qya in the article belongs to the editor.
“ Cristál, who identifies as gender non-conforming and feels comfortable with any pronoun”
Unlike the TRAs, Qya does not insist he is a woman, he just dresses as one. He knows he is a gay man, and joked about it in his set.
To me, he represents a part of gay culture that long predates the Trans fad, may be inseparable from gay culture, and which is, in my estimation, in danger from the Trans fad.
I’m not pretending he’s a personal friend of mine, though we have friends in common, but I continue to see performers like him in a different category from those strange men plaguing the libraries.
Thanks for the reply! In his outfit he definitely appears to be wearing fake boobs and is tucking ... how else could he wear a tight dress, cut to a woman's figure? The really brave thing would be for someone to bring out a line of traditionally women's clothes (dresses, bikinis, crop tops etc) but cut to the male figure ie broader in the shoulder, narrower hips, no bust. Marketed to the "non-gender-conforming man".
Def an unusual take here. Appreciate your post. My thoughts fwiw are that if men want to wear 'women's clothes' then ok, as long as they don't pretend they aren't men. Why do that?
In Shakespeare's time all the women's roles were performed by men - it wasn't 'seemly' for women to be on stage - and everyone knew this. In pantomime, we laugh at the panto dames and 'principal boy' .... it's harmless imho and any risque jokes go over the children's heads and are part of the fun.
As for erm 'straight' performances with men wearing fake boobs - not sure I'd like it or want to bring kids to see it. Can see it's a performance but just wear the clothes and be yourself - teaching children personal integrity is good, no?
There is a famous German-speaking man that sings women's and castrati parts in Opera because he has a very high voice [think he's Austrian or Swiss - sry forgot his name] but he doesn't pretend to be a woman and I've only seen him in 'male dress'. That can be wierd at first. Similarly, women often play men's parts in Opera because they have a naturally low voice or it's part of the story [if they cross-dress it's a disguise and they usually reveal themselves as female shock horror and boringly marry the hero in the end] The point is the story [often silly] but especially the music [which can be wonderful if that's your typa thang]. It's not done to shock or 'subvert'. I could be wrong!
Yes, I agree, years ago when I lived in Kennington, London, I used to go to a local pub on drag show night. Some of the acts would start the evening with the drinking crowd and they did not stand out, only once they were on stage. It was really for adults, since it was in a pub and that's where it should stay, as adult entertainment (though I don't criticise you as you went for the music of it), unless it's panto of course.
Graham, the dam of silence and suppression on Trans is BREAKING in Ireland at last.
An entire page today in the Sunday Independent (still I think Ireland’s biggest selling non-tabloid) has been given over to readers’ letters critical of the Trans ideology farce and the Irish political parties who have endorsed it. They were written in support of Eilis O’Hanlon’s article last week. Have only read them on my phone so far https://epaper.independentnewsstand.ie/titles/sundayindependent/8312/publications/328/articles/1611908/17/1
and haven’t seen a pro-Trans one yet (I understand they got one or two).
Ironically Taoiseach Michael Martin told Pride marchers yesterday Trans had the FULL support of Irish government and, inter alia, there has to be thought given to how young people are “educated”.
Here is his Twitter feed - - note what was edited out of the clip by him/his officials.!
Here are some of the bits left out of his speech (as reported by the Irish Times:
I want to say to our trans community in particular, we need space and we need to facilitate informed, open, inclusive acceptance, understanding, in terms of our trans community for its proper debate in a proper context,” he said.
“We do not need divisive debate in this country on issues like that, we do not need it. We need tolerance and a celebration of diversity.”
We have a lot to do yet. We cannot become complacent,” Martin said to the first of several outbursts of applause and whistles. He spoke about coming legislation on hate crime, and ridding society of so-called conversion therapies, and of the need to rethink how young people are educated.
No problem, dude. As a former civil servant, I was trained to spot things like that. Don’t worry on Monday I’m going to bite the ankles of my local TD (Sean Haughey no less) about it. Fianna Fáil are the weak link - frighten them over Trans and FG will follow.
Completely gross. It's been so obvious for years that this cult would open the door wide to paedophiles and every other perverted predator that we could think of ,but the authorities have just ignored all that and now innocent people are paying the price. Shame on them all. These enablers are every bit as guilty as the perpetrators !! 👎💔 Well done ,Graham ,for highlighting this ♥️💘👍
He also has lots of videos on YouTube where he gently questions mindlessly Woke university students about their beliefs and attitudes. The results are bizarre, shocking, sad and ultimately quite tragic for the young people themselves and wider society…
America once had a great public education system - it churned out writers etc and also technically qualified people and engineers to work in the great factories that produced the vehicles (Jeeps, tanks, aircraft etc) and ships (Liberty cargo and transport ships that were built as kits and assembled by ordinary people like Rosie the Riveteer ’) and the stuff in the 1950s and ‘60s that improved the life and culture etc of the West.
America truly was the ‘city on the hill’ when I was a child. But look at it now!
The great African American economist and writer Prof Thomas Sowell is always worth listening to: here he is speaking about the decline of America over ten years ago https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5SDLBqIubCs
I complained to my local library service about Drag queen story hour and they couldn't see the issue even though I said it was an adult sexualised act. I complain every time they book them. They said it helped LGBT inclusively. They just can't see the issue, even though I asked would they have a GIMP telling stories.....I also complained to Taunton library who had a special day with LGBT History. They completely dismissed me saying the act was not inappropriate. They turned down a Lesbian who approached them to do something for the day - saying no thanks they had the Drag Act. The lesbian was going to dress up as a WW1 nurse and tell people about the Lesbian women from Taunton who were front line nurses in WW1.....you couldn't make it up!!! She went anyway, and went around the town. 👌
There really is nothing diverse or inclusive about drag. It's just grotesque misogyny in action. What's a child supposed to learn from it, other than women are for laughing at?
The Black &White minstrels are now regarded as scandalous and racist yet men dressing up as women mostly for their own fetishes is seen as harmless and possible educational! Extremely bizarre thinking.
Like many a little boy then I used to look at the Black & White minstrels so I could peep at the female lovelies parading around in their one-piece outfits. I paid no attention to the men with black faces or the music. To think little boys now can watch hideous violent porn on their phones and tablets.
Childhood innocence is under attack everywhere today, now even in libraries.
That’s what I don’t get. Dressing up in drag used to be a way for entertainers to get laughs but now it’s regarded as part of Gay identity.
For instance in Dublin we have Panty Bliss. When he wears his ‘day clothes’ do to speak he is manager of a bar and club on Capel Street. Yet when he dresses up in his Panty Bliss regalia (in which he looks like no real woman who ever existed - a sort of cross between Danny la Rue and Sindy) we are all supposed to bow down before every PC utterance ‘he/she’ makes AND respect his/her sexual identity. I never understand it - is his sexual identity that of a Gay man, a weird doll-like figure uttering lefty right-on passive aggressive bullshit or a combination of the two. And when he is in his outfit and tottering about on his high heels we are supposed to fawn at his ‘bravery’ even though it might be said that it takes a brave man not to wear high heels on Capel Street these days 🤣🤣🤣
Hi. I'm just seeing this old article. I was wondering if you'd tried taking a hard copy of this article to your local library to show them some actual facts about the issue, or if you had had any success in another way.
Mighty odd that the lessons of previous predators hiding in plain sight have been forgotten.
Just reported today that Irish politician Senator Regina Doherty told the Scottish parliament’s ‘equalities, human rights and civil justice committee’ via zoom that she found it “fanciful” that a man would change gender to get access to women.
Oh and she says there are “probably nine genders”.
This thicko is the ‘leader’ of the Irish Senate - a toothless body mostly made up of cranks and failed politics - poor Regina lost her own seat in parliament in the last election when the voters in County Meath gave her the boot.
Sorry should be ‘failed politicians’ not failed politics.
sadly both appear to apply until we stop this harmful nonsense.
I'm a librarian (now a legal librarian, but I was a children's librarian in US public libraries for a number of years). Kids get nothing from Drag Queen Storytime that they don't get from the librarian or anyone else reading them a story. All the claims that it teaches them about diversity are nonsense: toddlers don't have any concept that the big person in the colorful clothes and makeup represents any orientation or identity.
The agencies that hire out the Drag Queens charge hundreds of dollars at a time when public libraries across the US (and to an even greater extent across the UK) are being closed for lack of funding. The whole thing is an expensive farce, and it's done for two groups: parents who want to feel woke for taking their kids to see a gay man put on a grotesque parody of a woman, and librarians, who are frankly about the most indoctrinated profession around.
Thank you for this article, btw, as it has given me the idea that we need a new twitter meme: Story Hour Drag Queens Who Are Also Sex Offenders. Heigh-ho, Heigh-ho, off to work I go...
That is a very sad statement about librarians. And I am very glad to see there is at least one librarian with a brain -- YOU!
I don't know the rules in USA but in UK doesnt anyone with contact with vulnerable people including children need to be vetted beforehand? Believe it was called an 'advanced DBT check' when I took on some voluntary work for local charity. Or are there special rules for drag/T?
There probably are some special rules for them on ‘diversity and inclusion’ grounds. Any poor copper even looking twice at them would probably be called in to HQ to “get his thinking examined”.
I tried to check up - it's actually called a DBS check - sry but they changed it recently [was previously called CBS check, I think] .... my puter seized but you def need one for working with children in schools and in other vulnerable situations. An enhanced check would highlight any relevant criminal activity.
Someone I knew was disbarred from storytelling in libraries when he applied awhile ago due to an advanced DBS check showing an adolescent violent outburst after his mother died - no children involved but he could not take the job. ... Not condoning this, but it happened decades ago, perhaps for understandable reasons. He cares about children and certainly would not being doing it in drag!
How drag criminals can get away with this, I can only imagine - the very least to me would be the most advanced DBS check to be carried out in all cases for working with children in any capacity. Not saying that some parents aren't dangerous but we need to be realistic, obvs.
It was CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) then DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service). You often need them for voluntary roles and they are fairly standard. Like any admin of this kind sometimes it's about who puts information in, how accurate it is. And how long it takes to come back. There have been a series of changes in who is allowed in certain roles and with anyone vulnerable after some high profile incidents.
You only need the enhanced check if you are going to be left alone with the children.
So they're doing the minimum for drag. Hmmf - a bit of bias in one direction then it seems, bearing in mind the article. I had to have an enhanced check before having telephone contact with vulnerable adults and children!
True.
In the US there are rules state by state.
To work in a school in my state requires a background check. In a library, it might, but our libraries are independent entities, so each sets their own rules. But it would only apply to regularly scheduled staff, not performers or presenters who are hired for an event. That person would never be alone with a child.
At this point, it's taking a political stance to host a drag queen story hour. We have searchable data bases for sex offenders, it would be foolish of the hosts not to run the names beforehand.
In my state, to volunteer as a parent chaperone on a school field trip for your own kids requires a CORI check.
That is true in all the states I've lived in, but being responsible for a group is different than doing a performance. Schools are, and should be, more strict.
I’m imagining that because they are not left alone with children and supervised by staff at all times, they get away with not having a DBS.
See my previous comment to Karl M. Seems v foolish n unfair.
Thank you for this timely article. Just yesterday, in response to someone on GETTR, I suggest a list should be made of those paedophiles posing as 'female' impersonators, and here it is.
Parents need to know.
Parents bringing their kids to these library 'events' possibly are suffering from a sort of weird attention seeking ("LOOK how progressive I am") flaw with maybe even an element of something more sinister.
My wife was recently in a women's boutique on the Northside of Dublin. As she entered a rather pushy-type woman (sorry if I trigger anyone) and her son were just leaving.
He was about 12, with a slight build, long hair and was dressed in slacks and a girl's blouse. While chatting to the shop assistant my wife mentioned the boy. The assistant said that his mother often brought him in to get him to try on clothes and she would overhear the pair talking about changing sex/gender. The assistant thought that the mother was pushing her son towards being a 'girl'. The whole thing between the mother and son made her uneasy. Interestingly, she said he had a slightly younger brother who the mother didn't seem to have any interest in - he was left at the shop's door the few times he came with them.
Could there not be an element of what used to be known as Munchausen syndrome by Proxy involved with these parents who seem to encourage kids to go down this route?
This is the new more posh name for the syndrome: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9834-factitious-disorder-imposed-on-another-fdia
🤮🤮🤮
It's not Jackanory, is it.
Do they read normal stories or are they all 'transmogrified'?
There is a DQ Story Hour website https://www.dragqueenstoryhour.org/ with suggested titles, and a "dragtivity" workbook one can buy with coloring sheets. It's all what you would expect it would be--circle your pronouns! find your drag name!, and I think that's why they are hired, to tick diversity boxes. https://www.dshnyc.org/dragtivitybook
the plot thins 🤬
Thank you, JL xx
Hey guys,
My wife just found this ‘Signs you may be a WOMAN’ on YouTube
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=s4LmozsVVgo
Maybe we should send this link to the BBC, the police, Dame Dick and the College of Policing, Sir Starmer, Diane Abbot and the rest of the gang.
Just discovered on BabylonBee.com that they are locked out of Twitter over a joke about a Transexual promoted by Dopey Joe Biden https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/rachel-levine-transgender-four-star-admiral/#app .
They were earlier flagged by Twitter over their joke video about a Twitter employee seeking therapy because Musk is buying the company https://youtu.be/rFNCsSBnYVg
I think Babylon Bee is proof that right-wingers do have a sense of humour when the right targets are becoming so big. The Onion should beware.
Yes indeed. Babylon Bee are not just conservatives but ….horror of horrors… CHRISTIAN conservatives😱. Then again there have been many Christian comedians from Bob Hope to the great Bernie Mac.
Go in peace friends…
And then there is ‘My pronoun is THEY’ by Babylon Bee
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dEaRnAR0dlw
We are slightly amused ...
Maybe it’s too close to the truth to be funny (for some).
It is so hard to tell satire from 'truth' these days.
haha ... only 2 out of 13 ... maybe I should give it a rethink!
This is a complicated problem for me. I took my kids to a drag show yesterday. Qya Cristal is an amazingly talented singer. I was happy my kids wanted to say hi to him after the show. We have friends in common, and Qya went to my son’s college. They had a nice chat.
I have enjoyed several performances by drag queens over the years. I support gender nonconforming men. And I love music. So only if there’s talent.
That said, I brought my kids to this performance, nobody brought the performance to my kids. Qya is a serious musician. There is no way in hell he would ever dress up like a poorly powdered caricature and read books to children in a library. That is gross. I would not bring my kids to that.
There is nothing overly sexualized about a performance like Qya’s. He dresses like a woman (convincingly, I might add - my daughter was surprised when I told her later). But not a caricature of a woman. And Qya’s performance of Autumn Leaves is no more sexualized than anybody else’s. And precisely how sexualized should Careless Whisper be?
So here’s an unusual take: these assholes are giving drag queens a bad name.
But what is the point of it? Why can't this guy perform serious music dressed as himself? Why does he need to pretend to be a woman?
Panto dames for example are meant to be comical.
I would say that he does perform dressed as himself. He’s a small, slight, effeminate man. He wears lovely clothing that suits him. No fake boobs, no exaggerated makeup. And to most people he seems to be a woman- which he doesn’t claim to be.
https://provincetownmagazine.com/index.php/2018/04/26/a-star-is-born-2/
I find it consistent with the statement that men should accept the gender nonconformist men among them to say that we should accept men who prefer women’s clothing.
Panto dames? Wasn’t someone just talking about mawkish stereotypes?
My point about panto was that they are meant to be obviously men dressed as women, for comical effect. Drag queens, and transgender males, expect you to take them seriously.
As for your guy, thanks for the link. Not someone I had ever heard of. A man is very welcome to wear a dress, I have no problem with that. But fake boobs? Tucking? That's not gender non-conforming, that's pretending to be a woman. I am sorry but when he starts talking admiringly of "furries" "living their truth" walking around alongside families I stopped reading.
And though you say he doesn't claim to be a woman, it is clear that his show is about performing while pretending to be a woman. He is referred to as she throughout the article. He is putting on womanface which is wrong. How is it different from blackface?
But please know this is NOT a personal attack on you. Please don't see it that way!
Agree with you Ursula - here's the quote from Friki's link - Friki, I gave you benefit of the doubt but this aint funny :
“I had no idea about Ptown’s culture,” says Cristál. “Boy, was I in for a shock! It was so inspiring seeing people living in their truth. Seeing drag queens walk side by side with families, and go-go boys walking along side furries and baby dolls was crazy, but in the best possible way. It was like living on Fantasy Island.”
Furries? I’ve never seen that. Most of what you see in the gayest town in America are just a lot of gay people. Many of those who stay, like Qya, are from the rural South, and have never felt so safe before.
I support their safety and freedom, and don’t criticize their sartorial decisions.
What they do with consenting adults in private is up to them imho. Ironically, it was Oscar Wilde who said sthing like only a fool does not judge a person by their clothes.
And surely the prime consideration bearing in mind the context of that whole article is safeguarding the most vulnerable ie children and women [implied by the word 'families']. So I question your priorities here Friki ... and let alone Qya who given the talent you claim he has, surely has no need to seek the false validation/crowning by 'trans/drag' - or indeed to wear that ridic/ugly wig!
I'm with you on this. NOT FOR CHILDREN in any way, shape, or form.
Ursula, I don’t see this as an attack on me, but thank you all the same.
The decision to use female pronouns for Qya in the article belongs to the editor.
“ Cristál, who identifies as gender non-conforming and feels comfortable with any pronoun”
Unlike the TRAs, Qya does not insist he is a woman, he just dresses as one. He knows he is a gay man, and joked about it in his set.
To me, he represents a part of gay culture that long predates the Trans fad, may be inseparable from gay culture, and which is, in my estimation, in danger from the Trans fad.
I’m not pretending he’s a personal friend of mine, though we have friends in common, but I continue to see performers like him in a different category from those strange men plaguing the libraries.
Thanks for the reply! In his outfit he definitely appears to be wearing fake boobs and is tucking ... how else could he wear a tight dress, cut to a woman's figure? The really brave thing would be for someone to bring out a line of traditionally women's clothes (dresses, bikinis, crop tops etc) but cut to the male figure ie broader in the shoulder, narrower hips, no bust. Marketed to the "non-gender-conforming man".
come ON Friki - see photo of him being 'crowned' by drag 'queens' ... !
Def an unusual take here. Appreciate your post. My thoughts fwiw are that if men want to wear 'women's clothes' then ok, as long as they don't pretend they aren't men. Why do that?
In Shakespeare's time all the women's roles were performed by men - it wasn't 'seemly' for women to be on stage - and everyone knew this. In pantomime, we laugh at the panto dames and 'principal boy' .... it's harmless imho and any risque jokes go over the children's heads and are part of the fun.
As for erm 'straight' performances with men wearing fake boobs - not sure I'd like it or want to bring kids to see it. Can see it's a performance but just wear the clothes and be yourself - teaching children personal integrity is good, no?
There is a famous German-speaking man that sings women's and castrati parts in Opera because he has a very high voice [think he's Austrian or Swiss - sry forgot his name] but he doesn't pretend to be a woman and I've only seen him in 'male dress'. That can be wierd at first. Similarly, women often play men's parts in Opera because they have a naturally low voice or it's part of the story [if they cross-dress it's a disguise and they usually reveal themselves as female shock horror and boringly marry the hero in the end] The point is the story [often silly] but especially the music [which can be wonderful if that's your typa thang]. It's not done to shock or 'subvert'. I could be wrong!
Andreas Scholl?
yep him - thanks - listening to him now :)
Yes, I agree, years ago when I lived in Kennington, London, I used to go to a local pub on drag show night. Some of the acts would start the evening with the drinking crowd and they did not stand out, only once they were on stage. It was really for adults, since it was in a pub and that's where it should stay, as adult entertainment (though I don't criticise you as you went for the music of it), unless it's panto of course.
Graham, the dam of silence and suppression on Trans is BREAKING in Ireland at last.
An entire page today in the Sunday Independent (still I think Ireland’s biggest selling non-tabloid) has been given over to readers’ letters critical of the Trans ideology farce and the Irish political parties who have endorsed it. They were written in support of Eilis O’Hanlon’s article last week. Have only read them on my phone so far https://epaper.independentnewsstand.ie/titles/sundayindependent/8312/publications/328/articles/1611908/17/1
and haven’t seen a pro-Trans one yet (I understand they got one or two).
Ironically Taoiseach Michael Martin told Pride marchers yesterday Trans had the FULL support of Irish government and, inter alia, there has to be thought given to how young people are “educated”.
Here is his Twitter feed - - note what was edited out of the clip by him/his officials.!
https://twitter.com/MichealMartinTD/status/1540711800773148672?s=20&t=j5X-eeTCFqrnZPaeRQ_I7Q
Here are some of the bits left out of his speech (as reported by the Irish Times:
I want to say to our trans community in particular, we need space and we need to facilitate informed, open, inclusive acceptance, understanding, in terms of our trans community for its proper debate in a proper context,” he said.
“We do not need divisive debate in this country on issues like that, we do not need it. We need tolerance and a celebration of diversity.”
We have a lot to do yet. We cannot become complacent,” Martin said to the first of several outbursts of applause and whistles. He spoke about coming legislation on hate crime, and ridding society of so-called conversion therapies, and of the need to rethink how young people are educated.
this is amazing, thank you!
Further to my reply below, here is the Irish Times link in case the story is edited to remove the embarrassing bit on ‘education’ etc
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/dublin/2022/06/25/thousands-take-part-in-first-dublin-pride-parade-in-over-two-years-as-message-of-defiance-and-protest-remains/
No problem, dude. As a former civil servant, I was trained to spot things like that. Don’t worry on Monday I’m going to bite the ankles of my local TD (Sean Haughey no less) about it. Fianna Fáil are the weak link - frighten them over Trans and FG will follow.
wait, you mean they cut out the trans stuff???
oh yes, sorry, you said
Sorry about that Alice Ann. I can’t post a PDF to this site. Hopefully Graham can report on the letters etc in his next email .
"The bigger the front, the bigger the back".
Completely gross. It's been so obvious for years that this cult would open the door wide to paedophiles and every other perverted predator that we could think of ,but the authorities have just ignored all that and now innocent people are paying the price. Shame on them all. These enablers are every bit as guilty as the perpetrators !! 👎💔 Well done ,Graham ,for highlighting this ♥️💘👍
This chap Prof Peter Boghossian seems to be on the money:
https://youtu.be/rna_hA8IPBw
He also has lots of videos on YouTube where he gently questions mindlessly Woke university students about their beliefs and attitudes. The results are bizarre, shocking, sad and ultimately quite tragic for the young people themselves and wider society…
Yes, he's great!
Have you seen this recent video where he comes up against Woke social worker-type students etc ? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zxvyeZa1YSI
Just watched it. What a bunch of assholes. I don't know how he kept it so polite.
America once had a great public education system - it churned out writers etc and also technically qualified people and engineers to work in the great factories that produced the vehicles (Jeeps, tanks, aircraft etc) and ships (Liberty cargo and transport ships that were built as kits and assembled by ordinary people like Rosie the Riveteer ’) and the stuff in the 1950s and ‘60s that improved the life and culture etc of the West.
America truly was the ‘city on the hill’ when I was a child. But look at it now!
The great African American economist and writer Prof Thomas Sowell is always worth listening to: here he is speaking about the decline of America over ten years ago https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5SDLBqIubCs
Yes, civilisation is going backwards. Western Europe is right behind the US here. Thanks, I'll check Prof. Sowell's speech. Thanks.