Westport, CT - Westport's Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) in conjunction with Westport Pride held what the museum labeled as an "epic family friendly drag experience" on June 4th sparking debate over the appropriateness of the show for children.
Featuring four drag performers, the show included a "15-year old drag kid, awarded LGBTQ advocate, outspoken unapologetic gay youth, performer, model, public speaker, founder of his own drag house, fashion designer, and voguer from New York City," in addition to three adult drag entertainers from Connecticut.
Citing drag as "an important part of the LGBTQ+ community's history" MoCA aims for the show to become a "staple in our community Pride celebration for years to come," MoCA writes.
Although proclaiming the event as "family friendly," commenters on Westport Journal's covering of the event raised concerns with the exposure of drag entertainment to children. As seen in photos featured in the Journal's article, a multitude of children attended the event.
IMAGES REMOVED PER PHOTOGRAPHER REQUEST
"This is wrong. You should be ashamed of yourselves. Talk about horrible parenting! This is not about being inclusive. This is fundamentally inappropriate for children and is just unnecessary. If adults want a drag show, go ahead. Do whatever you want! I’m all for being inclusive and support gay people but this is just beyond. It’s wrong. It’s age inappropriate and extremely confusing, scary even. It makes me sad that kids have parents who are so clueless who think it’s a great idea for their 5 year old to see a man in drag."
N. Smith commented in the Westport Journal
"This MOCA event feels like a trial balloon before TEAM Westport attempts to push this depravity into the schools, perhaps next Pride Month. I firmly believe 9/10 Westport parents would find this event somewhere along the spectrum of inappropriate-disgusting-illegal. But no one says anything because they don’t want to be branded a bigot, which will of course immediately happen. Or perhaps a “fear monger.” Well, yes, I am indeed very fearful that my child is going to go to school and be subjected to men in bikini bottoms gyrating in front of his face. Because this town seems to be run by degenerates. Where do we draw the line Westport?"
Kevin Burns commented in the Westport Journal
"As a mother of 2 young kids I find this so disturbing. And it’s popping up everywhere. My sister’s town has an upcoming 'Drag your kid to storytime' event. I love a good drag show but they are adult events – there is a reason it’s 21+ to get in!"
Susan commented in the Westport Journal
However other commenters such as S. Grey maintain other standards of what is acceptable for children's viewership:
"Looks like this was G-rated, attendance was open and voluntary, and everyone knew there was art, performances, and book readings. I can’t quite understand what all the shock and outrage in the comments is about. Did anyone talk about penises or pull breasts out and invite people to touch personal body parts? I don’t see anything swinging. Everyone looks like they’re more covered than a bathing suit covers, I see smiling and mask protected faces. (Even if a child had an upset face I saw plenty of tears at a kids party this weekend, and I can assure you there was no abuse going on – they just wanted a bag of chips)."
S. Grey wrote in the Westport Journal
The Connecticut Centinal has previously covered concerns with sexualized content being shown to elementary students in Westport, read here:
To understand more about the rising concerns over gender theory, inappropriate sexual content and political agendas being taught throughout K-12 education in the US, UK and around the Western world, check out Reclaim The Media's "Groomed: How Schools Sexualize Your Children."
