The Human Rights Campaign, a left-wing LGBTQ advocacy group, complained Thursday about the Pentagon canceling a drag-queen show at a Nevada Air Force base after Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz criticized the military’s support for the event and others like it.
In a statement, the group noted that the Defense Department’s “long history of supporting drag entertainment” is jeopardized by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s supposed caving to pressure from Gaetz and other “extremist lawmakers.”
Now, Gaetz and other GOP lawmakers are using Austin’s decision to pull the plug on the Nevada event as a springboard to push for an outright ban on all such shows.
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As The Free Press has reported, Gaetz, in a May 23 letter to Austin, criticized the Pentagon’s “pervasive and persistent use of taxpayer dollars for drag events” as “completely unacceptable.”
This week, Austin called off the show at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
That prompted outrage from HRC President Kelley Robinson, who said of Austin, “Instead of truly standing up for our community on the first day of Pride, he chose to side with the politics of fear and discrimination peddled by extreme members of Congress. … (T)he Secretary’s decision to ban an event that has happened in prior years reinforces false tropes about LGBTQ+ culture.”
“At a time when we are under attack, the Pentagon is ceding to extremist forces focused on taking away our rights — leaders responsible for national defense ought to do better. Our people deserve better, the United States military deserves better, and all Americans deserve better.”
Those “rights,” by the way, apparently include the ability to sexualize children, since the event at Nellis Air Force Base was pitched as “family-friendly” with no minimum age requirement for entry.
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Responding to the HRC statement, Gaetz tweeted on Thursday, “Pride Month is off to a great start!”
Breitbart News reported on Thursday that the Florida Republican and Reps. Jim Banks of Indiana and Mark Alford of Texas, all members of the House Armed Services Military Personnel Subcommittee, wanted Austin to clarify how the event at Nellis Air Force Base was approved and if commanders at other military posts have authority to green-light drag shows.
They also wanted Austin to explain if he would prohibit drag shows at all Defense Department installations as well as block the use of taxpayers’ money to hold or promote drag shows in any other locations.
“While we commend your reported decision to cancel the drag show at Nellis AFB and wholeheartedly agree that ‘hosting these types of events in federally funded facilities is not a suitable use of DOD resources,’” the lawmakers wrote, “We are deeply concerned that the DOD’s focus on woke programs weakens and distracts our nation’s Armed Forces.”
“From appointing a drag queen as a ‘digital ambassador’ to mandating ‘pronoun’ training for service members, the Department of Defense has sacrificed precious man hours and resources that should be dedicated to improving readiness and lethality – not advancing a divisive, far-left agenda.”
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