(LifeSiteNews) — A Democrat state senator is “proud” to have sponsored a Planned Parenthood-backed “queer prom” featuring drag performances and sex paraphernalia for minors, even after the full extent of the event was made public.
On Sunday, left-wing extremism watchdog account Libs of TikTok highlighted a video of a drag performance at a “queer prom” hosted by the Planned Parenthood-sponsored youth program Rainbow Room in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, as well as the facts that underage attendees were given gift bags containing condoms, lubricant, and Planned Parenthood informational material, and that Democrat state Sen. Steve Santarsiero was listed as a sponsor.
Planned Parenthood bills its Rainbow Rooms as “safe space[s] where you can feel empowered and know that you’re getting accurate information about relationships, sex, and more.”
Fox News reports that the event was open to children as young as 14, and that the gift bags also contained dental dams and latex dams, and that attendees were also given tarot cards, candy, a pendant, a “progress pride” flag, and a Planned Parenthood bracelet.
When asked for comment, Santarsiero told Fox that he was “proud to support the Rainbow Room’s annual Queer Prom for LGBTQ youth. I will continue to do so,” though he did not respond to a follow-up about the specific items given to children.
On his website, Santarsiero issued a blistering defense of the prom and an attack on its critics, explaining that he supported it as a parent of a son who “had come out as gay about 8 months before and was excited to attend the prom with his friends.”
“In any event, I am not aware of any parent of the students who attended the 2022 Queer Prom (and there were over 30 parents there as chaperones), who objected to any aspect of it, either beforehand or afterward,” the senator said. “That would include the much-decried swag bags, which included, among other things, condoms, ‘lube’, and, perhaps most scandalous for some, information about Planned Parenthood.”
Santarsiero did not elaborate on how he or other parents determined that giving minors condoms and lubricant was appropriate.
Fox notes that Planned Parenthood sex education personnel, such as PP Center for Sex Education executive director Bill Taverner and PP sex educator Mariah Caudillo have a publicly documented history of encouraging underage students to “explore” sexuality.