A Texas Pride Month morning drag show open to families and children over the weekend has spurred Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton to author a bill that would prohibit minors from attending such events.
''The events of this past weekend were horrifying and show a disturbing trend in which perverted adults are obsessed with sexualizing young children,'' Slaton said in a press release Monday.
''As a father of two young children, I would never take my children to a drag show, and I know Speaker [Dade] Phelan and the rest of my Republican colleagues wouldn't either. Protecting our children isn't enough, and our responsibility as lawmakers extends to the sexualization that is happening across Texas.''
Slaton said he wants to prohibit children from attending these types of events, which ''sexualize'' young children and wants to make imposing sex changing therapies on minors ''child abuse.''
''I promised my voters that I would stand up for their values and fight to protect Texas Kids,'' he said. ''I was re-elected on that promise, and I intend to keep it by authoring legislation to defend kids from being subjected to drag shows and other inappropriate events. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this important legislation.''
The ''Drag Kids to Pride'' show took place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Mr. Misster bar in Dallas on Saturday and included performers in drag dancing with attending children on the stage of the bar, the Dallas ABC affiliate Channel 8 reported.
According to the report, the drag dancers would take dollar bills from some of the children, and the kids were also able to walk down the aisle with the performers during the event.
''We host our Champagne Drag Brunch every Saturday at 2 p.m. for guests that are 21+ but we have partnered with some of our major community partners to host a special Pride Drag Brunch for all guests, including guests that couldn't normally attend our regular show because of the drinking age restriction, to raise money for a local LGBTQ+ youth organization,'' the bar said in a statement to the station.
''We are more than happy to open our doors to celebrate Pride in a family friendly, safe environment, separate from our normal operations of 2 p.m. - 2 a.m. on Saturdays because we believe that everyone should have a space to be able to celebrate who they are.''
Protesters outside the venue told the news outlet that they felt disturbed by the event including children.
"I live in this community," a protester who identified herself to the news outlet as Dasy said. "I have for several years. I don't believe that I should be seeing signs advertising for children to be dancing on stage with men in thongs and in inappropriate clothing and makeup. I do not in any way condone the behavior that these people are engaging in, but what drags me out here is it's kids now."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.