The conversation about Love On A Mission’s “Queer Prom” has been pretty volatile, with lots of name calling from both sides.
Parents and everyday people are being vilified for voicing their valid concerns. Supporters of the event are being dragged through the mud as well.
I would like to offer an unemotional and realistic perspective here.
I was one of the concerned parents who emailed the Little Buckeye Imagination Museum about this event. My reasoning being that the age span between 12 and 18 years old is so perversely huge that I’m not sure how anyone would go about responsibly chaperoning such an event.
My other concern of course, was that of drag artists performing during the event. Let me first say that I am no stranger to gender bending. I was raised in an open minded household. I went to art school. I’m no stranger to gay and trans identified people and count many of them as friends.
However, this event concerned me as a mother and patron of the Buckeye Imagination Museum and I want to be clear and concise as to why.
Drag has been around for many years, but it has always been an adult entertainment experience. It is essentially burlesque dancing done by men dressed up as women, or women dressed up as men. I would never support a heterosexual female burlesque dancer performing for my child, no matter how “kid friendly” the event claimed to be. Burlesque is inherently and historically sexual, as is drag.
Both have their place in American culture.
Now, even if the performers shorten their names, the internet is at everyone’s fingertips in this day and age. A 12-year-old could easily access the YouTube channels and social media of adult performers they are exposed to at a “kid-friendly” event.
Supporting LGBTQ youth is one thing-exposing them to an adult industry with ties to potentially harmful and explicit content is another thing entirely.
The opposing side doesn’t wish demise upon sexual minorities. We don’t care who you sleep with or how you identify.
We just want to protect the innocence of children. This is not radical, bigoted, or extreme.
Riley Arneson
Shiloh, Ohio