By Sharayah Colter
“Why the sudden increase in opposition to drag?” a journalist asked me.
One word, I told her:
Children.
In the last two to three years, children have become a target audience for drag show performers and LGBTQ+ activism. Drag queen story hour at public libraries has risen in popularity, authors are writing children’s books about drag queens, media outlets are producing national news segments about children dressed as drag queens, and an alarming number of drag shows billed as “family friendly” have begun taking place across the nation. At some of these “family friendly” events, children have been encouraged to touch performers inappropriately, to tuck dollar bills into their waistbands, and to dance on stage with scantily clad drag queens.
Ten years ago, these examples that have been pulled from recent headlines would have been dismissed as too outlandish to even be possible. Today, however, the assault on children and their innocence is spreading like a cultural contagion, and worse still, the contagion is demanding recognition as normal and mainstream.
Decent adults are standing up to say, “No.”
Even some who describe themselves as LGBTQ+ say the drag shows targeting children are "thoroughly inappropriate"and need to be stopped.
"I don't know how these 'family friendly' drag shows became so common, so fast. I feel like just a year ago this wasn't a thing," said Twitter user Joseph Steimle.
While adults can largely live as they wish and take responsibly for their own decisions and interests—be they healthy or destructive—the same cannot be said of children. Children, by virtue of their age, dependency, and naiveté, are vulnerable must be defended by those who know better.
Christians know better, and so we must speak up (Psalm 31:8).
Drag introduces confusion regarding what God has made plain. Only two genders exist: male and female. No amount of therapy, counseling, medication, cross-dressing or surgery can alter a person’s DNA. Presenting to children a picture of a human detached from the physical reality of their God-determined sex is not loving or inclusive or empowering; it is a lie, and it is destructive.
Christians must stand with the unchanging Truth of Scripture. Children should not be exposed to sexually suggestive content of any sort — things that arouse and awaken love prematurely (Song of Solomon 8:4) and things that infringe upon and insult the sanctity of marriage (Heb. 13:4). In a society keen on destigmatizing pedophiles by labeling them “minor attracted persons,” absolutely no more quarter or benefit of the doubt can be given to those downplaying just how destructive the assault on God’s design for gender and sexuality is to children. As the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus sang in a 2021 song they posted to YouTube and later deleted, they’re “coming for your children.”
Believe them when they say this, and then answer with a resounding, “not on our watch.”
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