NEW YORK CITY (LifeSiteNews) – New York City Mayor Eric Adams has come under fire after throwing his full support behind drag queen “storytellers,” stating that the adult performers are “advancing a love of diversity” in the schools where they perform.
In a Friday tweet, Adams wrote that the drag performers “and the libraries and schools that support them, are advancing a love of diversity, personal expression, and literacy that is core to what our city embraces.”
Drag storytellers, and the libraries and schools that support them, are advancing a love of diversity, personal expression, and literacy that is core to what our city embraces.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) June 16, 2022
The NYC mayor added that “LGBTQ+ communities are under increased attack across this country” and that “we must use our education system to educate.”
“The goal” of incorporating men in dresses and makeup telling stories to children into the education system, according to Adams, “is not only for our children to be academically smart, but also emotionally intelligent.”
Adams’ remarks drew widespread ridicule, with some commenters pointing out that young children ought not to be exposed to inappropriate and sexually charged adult themes, while others simply called the mayor a “creep.”
In response to the mayor’s tweet, conservative Christian commentator Lauren Chen asked why so many left-wing politicians are “making drag queens for kids their hill to die on” and refusing to state that drag queens are “not family friendly.”
Why are so many on the left making drag queens for kids their hill to die on?
They could literally just say “We stand with the LGBT community, but this form of entertainment is not family-friendly.”
That’s really all it would take.
But they won’t do it. https://t.co/OH3QRHQBgw
— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) June 17, 2022
Journalist and comedian Pat Dixon argued that the push for drag queen story reading is not about “advancing a love of diversity” but rather is “about destroying traditional values.”
It’s not about “advancing a love of diversity,” it’s about destroying traditional values. https://t.co/JZqgYOALiM
— Pat Dixon (@patdixon) June 17, 2022
Canadian clinical psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson simply tweeted that Adams’ comments prove “[we] are out of our minds.”
We are out of our minds. https://t.co/7RKYj96MfR
— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) June 17, 2022
“Yes, Democrats, this is the hill you should die on. Bring this all the way to the midterms. Great political strategy,” political commentator Matt Walsh tweeted, while his Daily Wire colleague Ben Shapiro wrote that “‘Drag queens for the children’ is one hell of a 2022 slogan.”
Adams’ comments came in response to criticism by New York City Council member Vickie Paladino over the city funding “Drag Queen Story Hour” sessions since 2017 to the tune of $207,000, the New York Post reported June 11. The publication noted that in May alone some $46,000 of taxpayer money had been spent on drag performers from Drag Story Hour NYC.
The group has already delivered 49 programs to children as young as 3 years old in 34 public elementary, middle, and high schools within the city’s five boroughs since the beginning of the year, the Post reported.
Paladino, a Republican, said she is now “considering pulling funding to any school in my district [Queens] that is implementing Drag Queen Story Hour.”
“We are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the pockets of hardworking New York taxpayers … to fund a program teaching little children about their gender fluidity? Not on my watch,” she added.
The councilwoman later doubled down on her comments, tweeting on June 13 that “’drag queen’ degeneracy” has “no business in our schools” as it constitutes “child grooming.”
I am quoted in this article, and I will reiterate: Any school in my district participating in ‘drag queen’ degeneracy risks losing their funding.
Adult drag performers have NO BUSINESS in our schools, and they will not be in my district. Period. https://t.co/rCKuvYNW0K
— Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (@VickieforNYC) June 13, 2022
“NYC is spending taxpayer dollars to bring adult drag queens into elementary schools across the city to perform for small children. This is unacceptable and grotesque, and follows a deeply disturbing national pattern,” she wrote.
Drag Queen Story Hour is an international organization which establishes drag “queen” reading sessions for children around the world, often making use of libraries and school classrooms to read picture books, sing songs, and teach drag “as a form of dress up and play” to children as young as three, according to the group’s website.
Five Tampa Bay Rays pitchers are now subject to a media witch-hunt after refusing to wear LGBT symbols on their hats and shirts because of their faith in God.
One ESPN commentator called the men "bigoted" for supposedly using "religious exemption BS" to say "no" to the Pride Month clothing.
It's time to stand with these men against the intolerance of the radical left.
SIGN the petition to support the MLB players opposing LGBT Pride
The careers and lives of the five pitchers — Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Thompson — will be greatly harmed if we abandon them to the cancel culture of their critics, like ESPN's Sarah Spain.
“That religious exemption BS is used in sports and otherwise also allows for people to be denied health care, jobs, apartments, children, prescriptions, all sorts of rights,” Spain claimed.
“We have to stop tiptoeing around it because we’re trying to protect people who are trying to be bigoted...” she continued.
Now they're trying to cancel people for not wearing a gay pride patch. This is always the trajectory for the Left. First they demand tolerance, then acceptance, then celebration, then participation. Learn to say no to these people or it will never end. https://t.co/02zAKDJx77
— Best selling LGBT children's author Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 8, 2022
These men should be celebrated for their bravery, but instead are being derided for sticking up for their Christian beliefs.
SIGN the petition to stand with these five brave Christian players
People are being bullied into conformity by an LGBT movement that claims to be about tolerance and diversity, unless you're a devout Christian.
“Now they’re trying to cancel people for not wearing a gay pride patch,” the Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh remarked.
“This is always the trajectory for the Left. First they demand tolerance, then acceptance, then celebration, then participation. Learn to say no to these people or it will never end.”
It's hard to imagine sports columnists like Nancy Armour of USA Today attacking Muslims for their rejection of Pride propaganda, but she sees no problem in attacking these devout Christians.
Oh for God’s sake. These folks who bastardize religion to suit their bigotry would do well to actually READ the New Testament. I’d recommend starting with Matthew. https://t.co/qAK875xDhZ
— Nancy Armour (@nrarmour) June 5, 2022
We hope Nancy Armour's reading of the New Testament extends to Romans 1:25-27.
Most commentators simply don't understand that loving everyone as a Christian means telling people certain actions are extremely harmful to the soul.
SIGN: These men were right to reject the LGBT Pride insignias on their hats and jerseys.
Indeed, by peeling off the rainbow logo from their jerseys and wearing the standard team hat, the five pitchers have taken a stand against an ideology that's antithetical to Christianity.
Major League Baseball (MLB) and every other professional sports league have promoted LGBTQ causes in recent years, including showcasing a “marriage” proposal between two homosexuals in front of a stadium packed with families.
Sports are no longer safe from the tenticles of the LGBT movement, with players being strong-armed into virtue signaling for causes they disagree with.
It's time for people to stand up and say "Enough".
SIGN the petition and play your part in resisting the advances of intolerant wokeism into every sphere of public life.
Thank you for signing and sharing this petition.
MORE INFORMATION:
ESPN commentator calls players "bigots" for refusing to wear Pride colors - LifeSiteNews
Five MLB players take a stand for God - LifeSiteNews
**Photo: The Tampa Bay Rays’ Jason Adam, Jalen Beeks, Brooks Raley, Jeffrey Springs and Ryan Thompson - Converseer/Twitter**
Drag Queen Story Hour “captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models,” the organization states, adding that one of its goals is to teach children to “learn to see beyond the pink and blue gender binary and celebrate difference in themselves and others.”
The events have faced fierce criticism for putting convicted pedophiles and prostitutes in close proximity to children. The British chapter of Drag Queen Story Hour faced backlash in 2020 for apparently endorsing pedophilia.
The group tweeted a photo of a gleeful man wearing a rainbow suit and wielding a rainbow umbrella with the pro-pedophilia message “Love has no age!” The tweet was deleted shortly after people started to point out the phrase, which is frequently used by pedophiles.