by Beth Scaer |
For the second year, the Nashua Pride Festival is featuring a so-called family-friendly drag show in a downtown public park and encouraging all ages to attend.
I spoke up against this last year, and my concerns were well-founded. The pictures of the performances show men dressed in outfits grotesquely caricaturing women, with huge busts hanging halfway out of skimpy outfits.
One drag performer was shown snarling, lunging forward, bra hanging out, performing a split in a short dress, an overtly sexual pose, and holding a bill in his hand, as if he were a stripper performing for money.
Many people have defended this as healthy for kids, teaching them acceptance of people that are different. What I see are kids being exposed to sexual, adult behavior that they are many years away from being able to understand.
Kids need to be protected, and it is their caretakers’ responsibility to not expose them to things they are not developmentally ready to deal with. I am not saying that the drag performers or the parents are intentionally harming children. I don’t know what is in their hearts, but I am telling them that it is harmful, no matter what it is that those promoting diversity and inclusion are telling them.
Children’s well-being is at stake.
