MSNBC host Chris Hayes said Wednesday it is a “violent idea” to oppose exposing children to anything that deviates from gender norms.
Hayes interviewed “The Present Age” newsletter writer Parker Molloy about conservative media’s focus on gay and transgender people as well as drag queens. Molloy claimed that right-wing people are saying that “LGBTQ people are a threat to be around children” by passing legislation to ban kids from attending drag queen events and banning classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in early elementary school.
“The idea that introducing your child to any example of deviation from gender norms is child abuse, like, per se, right, that that itself [is child abuse]. That is an extreme, disgusting and a frankly kind of violent idea because it embeds a notion of child abuse,” Hayes said.
Hayes then pointed to Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis weighing the idea of involving child protective services to investigate parents who allow their children to attend drag events. Molloy called DeSantis and right-wing media’s rhetoric “dangerous” for LGBTQ people. (RELATED: Iowa High School Investigating Drag Performance For Students)
“While normal news outlets will cover these stories as new developments come up, on the right it will be day in and day out of them showing stories of, talking about ‘Oh, these deviants are trying to groom your children into being LGBTQ’ and they dictate these conversations entirely,” Molloy said.
Molloy then claimed drag shows for children are different than sex shows but conservatives equate the two.
“I agree,” Hayes said. “The obsessive focus right now on the right is really unnerving and it’s dangerous.”
Drag Queen Story Hour events have become prominent in schools, libraries and bookstores. The program “captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models,” its website says.
A California middle school subjected students to a drag queen by the name of “Nicole Jizz” where he removed his wig and danced in front of the children.
Republican Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton said he plans to introduce legislation to ban drag shows for minors after a “family-friendly drag show” video went viral. An image showed a drag queen with a sign behind him that read “it’s not gonna lick itself.”
