Supports Drag Show

Editor, Times-Union:
I am a North Manchester native and graduate of Manchester Jr.-Sr. High School. During my school years and a bit beyond, I volunteered countless hours in service of the Firehouse. I did so with pleasure and pride as I understood the Firehouse for what it was: an invaluable, inviting place for the entire region to experience art, music, culture and community. Free culture for all who want it regardless of who you are or where you come from. It was a special place rarely afforded to towns of our size 25 years ago, and the kind of place that is rapidly becoming extinct across the nation.
I am writing to express my immense frustration and disappointment with those in my hometown who seek to suppress a proposed drag show at the Firehouse in April. I am appalled by this notion that any cultural expression relating to gender and sexual minorities is “inappropriate” for children or inherently X-rated. That is bigotry, and a generations-old stereotype. This drag show can’t be called “indoctrination” when attendance is voluntary. If you are concerned about your children attending, then by all means, exercise your parental authority and keep your kid at home. Just because you do not understand or agree with a person’s chosen form of peaceful expression does not give you the right to bar others from appreciating it. The kids are alright. Perhaps we should ask them what they want and do a better job to try and understand why, instead of taking a reactionary and punitive stance.
It’s patently absurd to me that in the Age of Epstein, that my fellow Hoosiers are still stuck on the demonstrably false idea that drag queens and trans people are the ones hurting children with impunity. I hope that the same people who are outraged about their neighbors having a bit of campy fun would redirect that outrage to those that actually wield power over their lives.
The ideas being used to suppress this event will soon be swept away by history. If you’ll afford me a timely musical analogy, these parents are the Kid Rock to this generation’s Bad Bunny.
Queerness has been a part of human existence since time immemorial. Despite centuries of violence, oppression, and erasure … we’re still here, we’re still queer, and we’ve had enough.
Jason Williams
Seattle, Wash.,
formerly of North Manchester
via email