Why are Republicans so obsessed with drag queens right now?

[OdonTrail]

Any ideas?

[T'Chenka]

They view them mostly as trans people. So the actual question is, "why are Republicans so obsesser with trans people right now"? The answer is, society in the last 5 to 10 years has really started moving forward with trans rights, and the majority of them are totally against trans rights and trans existence.

[Hammy]

Their border convoy scare tactics failed, so they moved onto CRT. That failed to stay in the national spotlight, so they needed to find a new boogeyman

[afleitch]

They have no grip on reality. So that's where their mind wanders.

They think everything is trans now, including cis gay men dressing in women's clothing. Even though they also say that dressing in 'opposite clothing' doesn't alone make you trans.

The problem is, is that the last decade has seen drag become huge in the public consciousness. So when Rufo tweets that drag queens are 'trans strippers', despite mostly being cis and spending hours putting clothes on it's probably not effective. Not only is it not effective, it looks stupid.

Or when Ngo tweeted about 'drag queens with KIDS in Britain' last Christmas then like a wint tweet brought to life, pretended he knew all about the pantomime tradition in Britain actually, it equally looks stupid.

But their are enough dumb asses that it still causes a lot of damage and fear.

It's also Pride month. So it'll roll around next year because they have short attention spans.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Their border convoy scare tactics failed, so they moved onto CRT. That failed to stay in the national spotlight, so they needed to find a new boogeyman

This, pretty much.

The hate is real, in the sense that they're not pretending - Republicans love to abuse anyone different than themselves. And they really would rather live in a world where nothing ever made them feel uncomfortable or question their assumptions.

But "people and ideas Republicans don't like" is an immense range of things. The focus on drag queens (who have been around for a century, if not far longer - the United States Army used to put on drag shows) is opportunistic and cynical. There's an election coming up and Republicans have nothing of value to offer the American people.

Republican morals are a lying joke. Republican policies are mostly non-existent, save for some catering to wealth and power. They're incapable of governing, and their ideology revolves around a vile narcissistic traitor. So they desperately need something to motivate people, and they're flailing about for an "other" they can get their voters to fear. 

And as Hammy says, immigrants didn't work well enough, and black history didn't work well enough. The GOP has been trying to get a handle on trans people (who many of their voters don't "get" and feel uncomfortable about) to use them as a political weapon. In the last two years they've tried: trans bathrooms, trans athletics, trans medical treatments, and now drag queens (who typically aren't precisely trans, but are definitely LGBTQ+ who are also people the Republicans love to hate).

tldr; because most Republicans are bad people who work had to be bad neighbors to everyone who's not exactly like themselves

[Mr. Reactionary]

https://freebeacon.com/democrats/michigan-dem-calls-for-a-drag-queen-for-every-school/

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/mar/9/drag-queen-performing-democratic-retreat-has-calle/

https://www.mobilize.us/dailykos/event/462610/

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-drag-queen-texas-bill-senator-weiner

https://www.nationalreview.com/news/nyc-congresswoman-promotes-drag-queen-story-hour-for-children/

https://thehill.com/homenews/wire/3514357-dallas-drag-queen-event-for-kids-sparks-outrage-defense/

https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/how-does-kamala-harris-hugging-a-nearly-naked-drag-queen-uphold-the-dignity-of-the-office/

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

[Del Tachi]

They really aren’t.  How many republicans you put “trans drag queens” as their top issue? 

[Hindsight was 2020]

Because some time in January or February a bunch of republicans meet at some evil fortress of doom hosted by the heritage foundation or one of those other evil groups were a hired pollster like Frank Luntz told them that the results of a focus group showed that by linking trans and gay people to grooming kids can be a winning issue and now they using drag shows to help promote this idea

[dead0man]

My Facebook feed gives me a pretty good cross section of what conservatives are bitching about this week.  I've not seen anyone mention cross dressing.  It's mostly still gas prices with a bit of "lol, Biden fell off his bike" tossed in for flavor.

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

They want to mislead the public into thinking there is no difference between the average trans person and the most sexually suggestive drag performances, and then they want to use that as a pretense for banning people from being identifiably trans in any public situation because "think of the children"

[Amanda Huggenkiss]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

[Sir Mohamed]

Their border convoy scare tactics failed, so they moved onto CRT. That failed to stay in the national spotlight, so they needed to find a new boogeyman

They're still on CRT and it actually did work in VA-2021.

[DaleCooper]

It's an easy culture war win for them because the left feels compelled to die on this hill. If the left's response to drag queen story hour was just a shrug followed by something along the lines of "Let's get back to real issues," then the Republicans complaining about it all the time would look like crazy, rambling schizophrenic people, just like they did a decade ago when they were rambling about the free Obama phones or agonizing over lies about how Christian kids are arrested for praying in school. But Democrats aren't good at handling these culture war issues anymore.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

[Mercenary]

What society tolerates or even accepts has shifted dramatically sinxe the spread of social media. Opposition from republicans hasnt really changed or become more intense its just everything has shifted so much so fast that it can seem like it. The pursuance of laws is a reaction to behaviorial and societal changes and seeking a return to how things were. This isnt a new phenomona. This waa the same with other issues. It is just this is the current issue and change on this particular issue happened with a blink of an eye comparatively.

[DaleCooper]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

This is what I mean by the left dying on a very strange hill. It's true that "drag" in the most literal sense of cross-dressing is not at all inherently sexual, but we're not talking about Mrs. Doubtfire here. That's not the kind of drag that's being attacked or defended in these conversations. It's the burlesque, adult entertainment type of drag that we're talking about and everyone knows it.

It doesn't even make sense to me why we're defending it. It doesn't need to be advocated for at all. If parents want their kids to participate in the drag queen story hour then that's 100% their first amendment right. If that drives conservatives to suicide then so be it. Left-leaning politicians have no reason to defend it or comment on it in any way. It's beyond irrelevant and it gives conservatives an easy culture war win when they do.

[jojoju1998]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

This is what I mean by the left dying on a very strange hill. It's true that "drag" in the most literal sense of cross-dressing is not at all inherently sexual, but we're not talking about Mrs. Doubtfire here. That's not the kind of drag that's being attacked or defended in these conversations. It's the burlesque, adult entertainment type of drag that we're talking about and everyone knows it.

It doesn't even make sense to me why we're defending it. It doesn't need to be advocated for at all. If parents want their kids to participate in the drag queen story hour then that's 100% their first amendment right. If that drives conservatives to suicide then so be it. Left-leaning politicians have no reason to defend it or comment on it in any way. It's beyond irrelevant and it gives conservatives an easy culture war win when they do.

So basically in the words of Peter Griffin, " who cares ?? "

[DaleCooper]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

This is what I mean by the left dying on a very strange hill. It's true that "drag" in the most literal sense of cross-dressing is not at all inherently sexual, but we're not talking about Mrs. Doubtfire here. That's not the kind of drag that's being attacked or defended in these conversations. It's the burlesque, adult entertainment type of drag that we're talking about and everyone knows it.

It doesn't even make sense to me why we're defending it. It doesn't need to be advocated for at all. If parents want their kids to participate in the drag queen story hour then that's 100% their first amendment right. If that drives conservatives to suicide then so be it. Left-leaning politicians have no reason to defend it or comment on it in any way. It's beyond irrelevant and it gives conservatives an easy culture war win when they do.

So basically in the words of Peter Griffin, " who cares ?? "

Basically. But even that doesn't need to be said. If no one on the left spared a word for drag queen story hour then it wouldn't be a "battle" at all. It would just be another conservative outrage of the week and then everyone would forget about it.

It's literally not even an "issue". What's the conservative answer to this anyway? The only way to get rid of it is to repeal the first amendment. I know that they'd like to do that, but if anything that's just more reason not to fight these battles on their terms.

[Ferguson97]

Because they are transphobic and view drag queens as trans-adjacent.

[Amanda Huggenkiss]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

This is what I mean by the left dying on a very strange hill. It's true that "drag" in the most literal sense of cross-dressing is not at all inherently sexual, but we're not talking about Mrs. Doubtfire here. That's not the kind of drag that's being attacked or defended in these conversations. It's the burlesque, adult entertainment type of drag that we're talking about and everyone knows it.

It doesn't even make sense to me why we're defending it. It doesn't need to be advocated for at all. If parents want their kids to participate in the drag queen story hour then that's 100% their first amendment right. If that drives conservatives to suicide then so be it. Left-leaning politicians have no reason to defend it or comment on it in any way. It's beyond irrelevant and it gives conservatives an easy culture war win when they do.

The thing is, it is people who we are talking about. I felt compelled to answer because I have some foot in the queer community and I am friends with a few people who do drag, some quite successfully. One can certainly debate about age-appropriateness. But there are now direct attacks involved -"grooming" "perverted adults "sexualisation of minors;" one of the links that Mr R posted puts drag queens in schools in the context of sexual abuse, another talks about "LGBT indoctrination." Language like this, directed at people, crosses a line. I don't see this as a legislative priority either; I find this whole discussion stupid and I didn't start. But I don't buy it that one should leave such personal attacks uncommented--because we are talking about innocent people, and these attacks WILL stick.

[Mr. Reactionary]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

This is what I mean by the left dying on a very strange hill. It's true that "drag" in the most literal sense of cross-dressing is not at all inherently sexual, but we're not talking about Mrs. Doubtfire here. That's not the kind of drag that's being attacked or defended in these conversations. It's the burlesque, adult entertainment type of drag that we're talking about and everyone knows it.

It doesn't even make sense to me why we're defending it. It doesn't need to be advocated for at all. If parents want their kids to participate in the drag queen story hour then that's 100% their first amendment right. If that drives conservatives to suicide then so be it. Left-leaning politicians have no reason to defend it or comment on it in any way. It's beyond irrelevant and it gives conservatives an easy culture war win when they do.

The thing is, it is people who we are talking about. I felt compelled to answer because I have some foot in the queer community and I am friends with a few people who do drag, some quite successfully. One can certainly debate about age-appropriateness. But there are now direct attacks involved -"grooming" "perverted adults "sexualisation of minors;" one of the links that Mr R posted puts drag queens in schools in the context of sexual abuse, another talks about "LGBT indoctrination." Language like this, directed at people, crosses a line. I don't see this as a legislative priority either; I find this whole discussion stupid and I didn't start. But I don't buy it that one should leave such personal attacks uncommented--because we are talking about innocent people, and these attacks WILL stick.

The easiest way to avoid "personal attacks" is to not perform for literal children. There is not a single good reason why schools need to host this anymore than they need to host strippers or porn actors. There is not a single good reason why we need to host book reading events for small children hosted by adult entertainers. There is not a single good reason literal bars should be admitting children for the purpose of watching this kind of "entertainment". There is not a single good reason children should be at parades where dragqueens ride on a phallus float tossing bottles of lube to the crowd. If you dont want this association between drag and the G word, the easiest solution is to not have them do their thing around kids.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

This is what I mean by the left dying on a very strange hill. It's true that "drag" in the most literal sense of cross-dressing is not at all inherently sexual, but we're not talking about Mrs. Doubtfire here. That's not the kind of drag that's being attacked or defended in these conversations. It's the burlesque, adult entertainment type of drag that we're talking about and everyone knows it.

It doesn't even make sense to me why we're defending it. It doesn't need to be advocated for at all. If parents want their kids to participate in the drag queen story hour then that's 100% their first amendment right. If that drives conservatives to suicide then so be it. Left-leaning politicians have no reason to defend it or comment on it in any way. It's beyond irrelevant and it gives conservatives an easy culture war win when they do.

The thing is, it is people who we are talking about. I felt compelled to answer because I have some foot in the queer community and I am friends with a few people who do drag, some quite successfully. One can certainly debate about age-appropriateness. But there are now direct attacks involved -"grooming" "perverted adults "sexualisation of minors;" one of the links that Mr R posted puts drag queens in schools in the context of sexual abuse, another talks about "LGBT indoctrination." Language like this, directed at people, crosses a line. I don't see this as a legislative priority either; I find this whole discussion stupid and I didn't start. But I don't buy it that one should leave such personal attacks uncommented--because we are talking about innocent people, and these attacks WILL stick.

The easiest way to avoid "personal attacks" is to not perform for literal children. There is not a single good reason why schools need to host this anymore than they need to host strippers or porn actors. There is not a single good reason why we need to host book reading events for small children hosted by adult entertainers. There is not a single good reason literal bars should be admitting children for the purpose of watching this kind of "entertainment". There is not a single good reason children should be at parades where dragqueens ride on a phallus float tossing bottles of lube to the crowd. If you dont want this association between drag and the G word, the easiest solution is to not have them do their thing around kids.

Let's apply the same standard to conservatives. No more conservative speakers talking to anyone under 18. End the "purity" movements and anything like them. No minors in churches. No more fake flag-clad "patriots" at public events of any sort. And if the right has a problem with that, it's because they're all pedophiles, and the rest of America has free reign to use violence to stop them. That's what you're advocating.

[Amanda Huggenkiss]

Yes, it is the Republicans who are injecting sexualized burlesque cabaret adult entertainment into everything.

Drag performances can be sexually suggestive, but drag is not at all inherently sexual.

Since when? Ive never seen it described as NOT adult entertainment.

This is what I mean by the left dying on a very strange hill. It's true that "drag" in the most literal sense of cross-dressing is not at all inherently sexual, but we're not talking about Mrs. Doubtfire here. That's not the kind of drag that's being attacked or defended in these conversations. It's the burlesque, adult entertainment type of drag that we're talking about and everyone knows it.

It doesn't even make sense to me why we're defending it. It doesn't need to be advocated for at all. If parents want their kids to participate in the drag queen story hour then that's 100% their first amendment right. If that drives conservatives to suicide then so be it. Left-leaning politicians have no reason to defend it or comment on it in any way. It's beyond irrelevant and it gives conservatives an easy culture war win when they do.

The thing is, it is people who we are talking about. I felt compelled to answer because I have some foot in the queer community and I am friends with a few people who do drag, some quite successfully. One can certainly debate about age-appropriateness. But there are now direct attacks involved -"grooming" "perverted adults "sexualisation of minors;" one of the links that Mr R posted puts drag queens in schools in the context of sexual abuse, another talks about "LGBT indoctrination." Language like this, directed at people, crosses a line. I don't see this as a legislative priority either; I find this whole discussion stupid and I didn't start. But I don't buy it that one should leave such personal attacks uncommented--because we are talking about innocent people, and these attacks WILL stick.

The easiest way to avoid "personal attacks" is to not perform for literal children. There is not a single good reason why schools need to host this anymore than they need to host strippers or porn actors. There is not a single good reason why we need to host book reading events for small children hosted by adult entertainers. There is not a single good reason literal bars should be admitting children for the purpose of watching this kind of "entertainment". There is not a single good reason children should be at parades where dragqueens ride on a phallus float tossing bottles of lube to the crowd. If you dont want this association between drag and the G word, the easiest solution is to not have them do their thing around kids.

So I can direct ANY attack at a group of people if I have the vague idea that one of that cohort might have done something wrong. Very cool and normal!

[Associate Justice PiT]

https://twitter.com/Scott_Wiener/status/1534224620504555520

     Now I know Scott Wiener (formerly my State Senator) is trolling here, but having this kind of reaction fuels the fire and makes it strange for Dems to act like this is a non-issue. It should be uncontroversial to say that children should not be exposed to burlesque adult entertainment. If Dems provided a more moderate solution of saying that exposing children to non-sexual drag was okay but the strictly adult performances should be off-limits, this point of attack would not be nearly as salient for the right. Instead they play right into the stereotype by simply pretending that there is nothing at all amiss here.

     That aside, as some have pointed out this isn't a big issue off of the internet. Most conservatives are still fixated on inflation, because that is a kitchen table issue that changes votes far more readily than any cultural topic.

[7,052,770]

If Dems provided a more moderate solution of saying that exposing children to non-sexual drag was okay but the strictly adult performances should be off-limits,

This is our opinion. I am not aware of any prominent person saying otherwise, and even if you can cherrypick one, I can assure you that 95%+ of Dems would disagree. By contrast, the Republican standard line seems to be that all drag is inherently sexual and such a distinction does not and cannot exist.