I’m going to start this column with a peek behind the curtain at an editor’s life. I receive dozens of press releases every week. Obviously, I don’t have time to pursue the vast majority of them, but if a press release looks like something that might work for PJ Media, I’ll offer it to the other writers.
Most of the press releases I see don’t really have anything to do with what I write about. Many of them are random topics that don’t interest me or wouldn’t interest PJ Media’s readers, but occasionally I’ll get a doozy.
I get the occasional press release from a left-wing politician or group, and I ignore those. Because I write a lot about Christianity, I often receive emails from “progressive Christian” organizations, and I generally tell those PR agents that they’re barking up the wrong tree.
This week, I received two press releases in two days from the same guy hawking the same organization. I couldn’t help but laugh at them because they were so ridiculous.
“Happy Wednesday, hoping you’re well!” the email started innocently enough. “I’m just reaching out about the recent news regarding the formation of a Drag Super PAC which brings an LGBTQ voice to politics.”
Just to give you an idea of how unserious this idea is, the second press release on Thursday informed me that “Former ‘RuPaul's Drag Race’ contestants have joined forces to create the Drag PAC, an organization that educates and encourages the LGTBQ community to go out to the polls and vote for their rights this November.”
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The PR guy offered to let me speak to a professor who has written a biography of early 20th-century actor Julian Eltinge, who performed occasionally as a female character.
“The name Julian Eltinge might not register to the modern ear, but he was a household name in the 1910s,” he instructed me. “At the time, women and even the manliest of men admired his talent.”
What the press release leaves out is that Eltinge also performed as a man, and his female impersonation was true to reality, rather than the exaggerated, hypersexualized drag of today. Instead, Eltinge was a forerunner to Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in “Some Like It Hot,” Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari in “Bosom Buddies,” and Robin Williams in “Mrs. Doubtfire.”
For a minute, let’s ignore the fact that you can’t go anywhere these days without hearing “an LGBTQ voice,” what kind of issues warrant a Drag Queen Super PAC? The press release gives us some answers.
The PAC plans to advocate for “Drag Queen Story Hour: What started as an innocent attempt to help children learn in a novel way has been reduced to picket lines outside the public library and, in some cases, violence.” It plans to tackle the “politicization of drag” as well because “politicians on the local and federal levels are attempting to undermine drag, citing it as a corrupting influence on the youth.”
Let’s face it: nothing says innovation in learning like a big hairy man with a buffoonish wig, garish makeup, and exaggerated fake boobs reading books to our children. And come on — what’s corrupting about telling our kids they can parade around as the opposite sex and twerk for dollars?
Everybody knows drag is harmless, right? RIGHT?
Young children perform s*xual themed dances with drag queens at RuPaul's Drag Con as adults clap along and hand them cash tips.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) July 25, 2024
This is what RuPaul promotes and encourages.
Kamala just launched her Presidential campaign on RuPaul's Drag Race. pic.twitter.com/0yloshTEcy
INSANE: Arizona Democrats and Planned Parenthood hosted a drag queen story hour at the State's capitol encouraging parents to transition their children.
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 1, 2024
Our tax dollars are funding the grooming and confusion of children.pic.twitter.com/KwnAPSYqOV
Imagine sending your child to summer camp where the counselors are LGBTQ activists and they teach children about alternate gender identities and how to become drag queens. pic.twitter.com/qRQ99wiGQc
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) May 28, 2024
But seriously, nobody is politicizing drag other than these agenda-driven troublemakers who want to take a niche form of entertainment for adults only and parade it in front of our children. Drag doesn’t belong in our libraries or schools, it doesn’t belong in front of our children, and it doesn’t belong in political discussions. When will this madness end?
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