Boise Pride Festival drops children’s drag show amid mounting pressure

[80zephyr]

Just what into the fuck are kids doing dressing up as drag queens and dancing. As young as 11 years old??

Idaho’s Boise Pride Festival organizers announced they would drop their children’s drag show event, citing safety concerns.

The decision to “postpone” the “Drag Kids” event comes as at least three sponsors withdrew their support.

SPONSOR PULLS OUT OF BOISE PRIDE EVENT OVER CHILDREN’S DRAG SHOW

"While the vast majority of our sponsors and supporters have voiced their support for the Boise Pride Festival and the Drag Kids program, we have made the very difficult decision to postpone this performance due to increased safety concerns,” Boise Pride Festival organizers wrote in a statement. “The health and well-being of the kids, their parents, and the attendees of the Festival are our priority."

Rest at link.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/boise-pride-fest-drops-childrens-drag-show-pressure

Mark

[Newman]

That wormy little statement made me laugh out loud:

"While the vast majority of our sponsors and supporters have voiced their support for the Boise Pride Festival and the Drag Kids program, we have made the very difficult decision to postpone this performance due to increased safety concerns,” Boise Pride Festival organizers wrote in a statement. “The health and well-being of the kids, their parents, and the attendees of the Festival are our priority."

I'd love to know exactly what "safety concerns" couldn't be addressed by event planners.

[Celeste Chalfonte]

That wormy little statement made me laugh out loud:

"While the vast majority of our sponsors and supporters have voiced their support for the Boise Pride Festival and the Drag Kids program, we have made the very difficult decision to postpone this performance due to increased safety concerns,” Boise Pride Festival organizers wrote in a statement. “The health and well-being of the kids, their parents, and the attendees of the Festival are our priority."

I'd love to know exactly what "safety concerns" couldn't be addressed by event planners.

Perhaps the same ones that put an end to Halloween in The Castro, an event that used to raise major money for charity. Gay-bashing punks, mostly from outside the City, would come to the event and lurk around the edges, terrorizing, mugging, beating, and in at least one instance, killing people on their way to or home from the event.

I've never been to Boise Pride, but...Boise. Hardly likely to be the most outrageous Pride event.

As for "Drag Kids," does anybody here remember seeing any kid, ever, dress in a gender-appropriate business suit when paying dress-up or acting out children's stories? I don't. All kids who like to play dress-up want sparklies and fluff and outrageous hats. What is that but "drag?" Or do all of you punish little boys for clomping around in Mom's high heels?

[80zephyr]

Perhaps the same ones that put an end to Halloween in The Castro, an event that used to raise major money for charity. Gay-bashing punks, mostly from outside the City, would come to the event and lurk around the edges, terrorizing, mugging, beating, and in at least one instance, killing people on their way to or home from the event.

I've never been to Boise Pride, but...Boise. Hardly likely to be the most outrageous Pride event.

As for "Drag Kids," does anybody here remember seeing any kid, ever, dress in a gender-appropriate business suit when paying dress-up or acting out children's stories? I don't. All kids who like to play dress-up want sparklies and fluff and outrageous hats. What is that but "drag?" Or do all of you punish little boys for clomping around in Mom's high heels?

This is sexualization of children to titillate adults. End of story.

Mark

[Celeste Chalfonte]

This is sexualization of children to titillate adults. End of story.

Mark

Oh, I didn't realize you had attended Boise Pride.

[Newman]

Perhaps the same ones that put an end to Halloween in The Castro, an event that used to raise major money for charity. Gay-bashing punks, mostly from outside the City, would come to the event and lurk around the edges, terrorizing, mugging, beating, and in at least one instance, killing people on their way to or home from the event.

I've never been to Boise Pride, but...Boise. Hardly likely to be the most outrageous Pride event.

As for "Drag Kids," does anybody here remember seeing any kid, ever, dress in a gender-appropriate business suit when paying dress-up or acting out children's stories? I don't. All kids who like to play dress-up want sparklies and fluff and outrageous hats. What is that but "drag?" Or do all of you punish little boys for clomping around in Mom's high heels?

I don't remember little boys dressing up, period, much less traipsing around in high heels and boas. Little girls, yes.

Well wait a minute. Maybe you could count a coonskin cap and a cowboy's kerchief. And at some point in my younger-than-kindergarten days I cinched a towel around my waist and wandered away into the woods as Tarzan.

I agree with Mark here. This looks to be sexploitaion of kids for the amusement of adults. I'm skeptical about the appropriateness of the sponsoring organization itself, "Drag Kids," but I don't know them. Do they feature girls dressed as men? Do they feature sexualized dancing? Twerking? I know little girls enjoy doing it and can be very good at it (I haven't seen any little boys doing it), but that doesn't mean it's appropriate for a parade, or a school performance, say.

[Celeste Chalfonte]

I don't remember little boys dressing up, period, much less traipsing around in high heels and boas. Little girls, yes.

Well wait a minute. Maybe you could count a coonskin cap and a cowboy's kerchief. And at some point in my younger-than-kindergarten days I cinched a towel around my waist and wandered away into the woods as Tarzan.

I agree with Mark here. This looks to be sexploitaion of kids for the amusement of adults. I'm skeptical about the appropriateness of the sponsoring organization itself, "Drag Kids," but I don't know them. Do they feature girls dressed as men? Do they feature sexualized dancing? Twerking? I know little girls enjoy doing it and can be very good at it (I haven't seen any little boys doing it), but that doesn't mean it's appropriate for a parade, or a school performance, say.

It could be inappropriate or it may not be. I haven't seen it, nor, apparently, has anyone else pontificating about it here. I'm just saying it isn't necessarily some sick plot, the conclusion to which you and 80z seem willing to jump with alacrity.

As for little boys dressing up, you must have known a lot of little boys who had no drama in their souls, or perhaps you've known very few at all. My cousin (the one who grew up to be enthusiastically heterosexual) used to dress up and imitate Cher. I suppose you'd dismiss anything about Nova, since he was gay, but he was, trust me, all boy. However, with 3 older sisters, he loved to get in on dress-up. As did I, despite a daily preference for my Davy Crockett outfit, or wearing mercurochrome "war paint" and 2 tea towels hung on a belt as a "breech clout."

Kids of both sexes at HRH's elementary school loved to play dress-up, both during the preparations for the annual Shakespeare play (which famously involved lots of cross-dressing) and just for fun.

Imaginative kids aren't confined by artificial gender roles and notions about clothing until such preoccupations are forced on them.

[Newman]

It could be inappropriate or it may not be. I haven't seen it, nor, apparently, has anyone else pontificating about it here. I'm just saying it isn't necessarily some sick pot, the conclusion to which you and 80z seem willing to jump with alacrity.

As for little boys dressing up, you must have known a lot of little boys who had no drama in their souls, or perhaps you've known very few at all. My cousin (the one who grew up to be enthusiastically heterosexual) used to dress up and imitate Cher. I suppose you'd dismiss anything about Nova, since he was gay, but he was, trust me, all boy. However, with 3 older sisters, he loved to get in on dress-up. As did I, despite a daily preference for my Davy Crockett outfit, or wearing mercurochrome "war paint" and 2 tea towels hung on a belt as a "breech clout."

"I suppose you'd dismiss anything about Nova, since he was gay" What?! Give me a break, Celeste. I don't know which of my childhood friends were/are gay. Odds are a few of them were/are. I'm simply saying NONE of the boys I knew played "dress-up," or at least not so's I'd be aware....

When you say "it could be inappropriate," to suggest making a determination on a case-by-case basis, my response is you're inviting yourself to play whack-a-mole with a morally edgy situation.

I'm saying it's an unnecessary moral hazard. When you raise the level of acceptable sexuality in adult-directed child's play—that's what we're talking about here—you're all but certain to see further testing of the limits. I'd compare it to the police training about keeping a potential assailant at a "safe distance," maybe 20 feet (I forget the exact number).

[Lady Marva]

I

Imaginative kids aren't confined by artificial gender roles and notions about clothing until such preoccupations are forced on them.

Decent kids who are growing up taught with regular normal human values don't need queer playacting.

[Celeste Chalfonte]

"I suppose you'd dismiss anything about Nova, since he was gay" What?! Give me a break, Celeste. I don't know which of my childhood friends were/are gay. Odds are a few of them were/are. I'm simply saying NONE of the boys I knew played "dress-up," or at least not so's I'd be aware....

I thought I was pretty clear. Nova always liked to dress up in Mom's finery. Since I've seldom met a man who can recall much of anything before age 5 (including Nova, for the most part), I question your pronouncement that "NONE of the boys I knew played 'dress-up',"

When you say "it could be inappropriate," to suggest making a determination on a case-by-case basis, my response is you're inviting yourself to play whack-a-mole with a morally edgy situation.

I'm saying it's an unnecessary moral hazard. When you raise the level of acceptable sexuality—that's what we're talking about here—you're all but certain to see further testing of the limits. I'd compare it to the police training about keeping a potential assailant at a "safe distance," maybe 20 feet (I forget the exact number).

S, you would equally object to a kiddy fashion show at the spring street fair, or an "adult-directed' area at the Renaissance Faire where kids can dress up in period costume, or the "old West" booth at the Boardwalk, where girls dress in dresses with bustles like Miss Kitty and boys dress in cowboy gear, right? Or is it just when kids have the option of dressing in costumes of the opposite traditional gender role that it becomes "sexuality in adult-directed child's play?"

I've always found those father-daughter dances kind of creepy, but a lot of people don't. My father did many activities with us, but he never took any of us on a fake date.

[Lady Marva]

where girls dress in dresses with bustles like Miss Kitty and boys dress in cowboy gear, right?

Girls dressing like girls. Boys dressing like boys. Normal behavior. Not perverted.

[Newman]

I thought I was pretty clear. Nova always liked to dress up in Mom's finery. Since I've seldom met a man who can recall much of anything before age 5 (including Nova, for the most part), I question your pronouncement that "NONE of the boys I knew played 'dress-up',"

You did prod me to rethink my recollection to add "not so's I'd know."

Here, though, you clipped my essential qualifier, "level of acceptable sexuality":

S[o], you would equally object to a kiddy fashion show at the spring street fair, or an "adult-directed' area at the Renaissance Faire where kids can dress up in period costume, or the "old West" booth at the Boardwalk, where girls dress in dresses with bustles like Miss Kitty and boys dress in cowboy gear, right? Or is it just when kids have the option of dressing in costumes of the opposite traditional gender role that it becomes "sexuality in adult-directed child's play?"

I find your comparisons non-responsive.

In short, my level of acceptable sexuality in adult-directed child's play is zero, understanding the essential limits of the language, such as in the word "attractive." One big no-no for me is movement imitative or suggestive of sexual activity.

I've always found those father-daughter dances kind of creepy, but a lot of people don't. My father did many activities with us, but he never took any of us on a fake date.

My daughter wasn't interested (if there even was such a dance; I don't recall). I guess it's meant as an anodyne rehearsal of dating behavior. I don't know. Where I taught it wasn't possible to celebrate fathers in the standard ways. No Father's Day activities, for example.

I remember one morning before school going into a 5th grade classroom and finding the teacher with three or four boys busy at their desks. I thought it was some sort of detention, but these were "good boys," the last I'd ever expect to get in trouble, so I asked about it. She said they were writing Father's Day cards to their fathers, who were all in prison.

The stuff I didn't know....

[80zephyr]

"I suppose you'd dismiss anything about Nova, since he was gay" What?! Give me a break, Celeste. I don't know which of my childhood friends were/are gay. Odds are a few of them were/are. I'm simply saying NONE of the boys I knew played "dress-up," or at least not so's I'd be aware....

When you say "it could be inappropriate," to suggest making a determination on a case-by-case basis, my response is you're inviting yourself to play whack-a-mole with a morally edgy situation.

I'm saying it's an unnecessary moral hazard. When you raise the level of acceptable sexuality in adult-directed child's play—that's what we're talking about here—you're all but certain to see further testing of the limits. I'd compare it to the police training about keeping a potential assailant at a "safe distance," maybe 20 feet (I forget the exact number).

She is being naive. It would be like asking the American Nazi party to run the boy scouts. She seems to believe there would be no nefarious intent.

Mark

[Celeste Chalfonte]

She is being naive. It would be like asking the American Nazi party to run the boy scouts. She seems to believe there would be no nefarious intent.

Mark

What would be like that? That a bunch of parents who happen to be gay let their kids have fun dressing up at a festival?

I've been going to Pride events for 40 years. I doubt you've ever attended a single one (for which your local gay community is undoubtedly grateful). I've never seen the gay community sexualize kids the way mainstream society does.

Toddlers in Tiaras, anyone?

Someone here, a while back, posted a clip from a dance competition in which girls as young as 5 were dressed in "sexy" outfits and dancing suggestively to songs that were entirely age-inappropriate. Even "Hannah Montana" and "iCarly" skated very close to the wire sometimes.

There is absolutely nothing in the article you linked to support the allegations of the Republican politician who claims the event "sexualizes" children. The former sponsor that withdrew its support is affiliated with the Mormon church. The article is from the Moonie Times. The whole thing looks very much like people politicizing children for their own purposes.

[80zephyr]

What would be like that? That a bunch of parents who happen to be gay let their kids have fun dressing up at a festival?

I've been going to Pride events for 40 years. I doubt you've ever attended a single one (for which your local gay community is undoubtedly grateful). I've never seen the gay community sexualize kids the way mainstream society does.

Toddlers in Tiaras, anyone?

Someone here, a while back, posted a clip from a dance competition in which girls as young as 5 were dressed in "sexy" outfits and dancing suggestively to songs that were entirely age-inappropriate. Even "Hannah Montana" and "iCarly" skated very close to the wire sometimes.

There is absolutely nothing in the article you linked to support the allegations of the Republican politician who claims the event "sexualizes" children. The former sponsor that withdrew its support is affiliated with the Mormon church. The article is from the Moonie Times. The whole thing looks very much like people politicizing children for their own purposes.

Lol, like I said, naive.

Mark