By: Diane Benjamin
The City of Bloomington is allowing yet another PrideFest downtown. Pride month is over, calendars too difficult to navigate?
At least Normal had the sense to hold their drag show indoors and after 10:00 pm: https://blnnews.com/2023/06/19/free-drag-show/
Bloomington’s is outside at 7:30 pm and billed as “family friendly”. Why do the performers need families? Why do they want kids to attend?
If you go to the YouTube channel for the star of this show, many of the videos are age restricted. This show is not.
Tax dollars are being used to sponsor this event, that doesn’t include staff time and police. Are the others Woke? They missed what happened to Bud Light etc? Is the library holding drag queen story hour next?
Like I have commented before these people are coming after your children. One only needs to go to downtown, oops uptown Normal and look into the coffee hound coffee shop window, it is filled with art work obviously done by children in support of pride month. You suppose that they took the initiative to do this on their own or they had an adult teacher prompt them to do it.The pedophiles are having a hey day.
No I am not a homophobe just an adult that who believes that as an adult you can be whatever you want to be just keep it out of my face and especially keep it away from our children.
There are many adults that feel the same way as I, how sad that our tax dollars are being spent this way.
If the city actually had real women half dressed shaking their ass in front of the entire world their would be a huge outrage.
But having mentally ill men half dressed in a demeaning way to women shaking their ass and who knows what else in front of the entire world is good and tolerant.
I have to believe that when governmental agencies push this trash on the citizens it is only to protect themselves from being targeted by zealous activists that would then name and shame the community. They do this out of fear of a very loud, very small and very perverted group of pedophiles in the population. They also do it because they know no one in the community will stand up against them. Are we frozen in fear too?
Do they care about our children?
Nope. They are just collateral damage in their efforts to avoid fear and feed their miserable form of virtue.
We need to find out where the source of this pressure is coming. I feel like it is organized. Because we have backboneless city councils and churches that are OK with sacrificing children others have to stand up to it.
It is organized. Chicago- based politicians have been planning to turn BN into the downstate version of them for years. By placing people on both councils that are far left and helping to elect the likes of the Renner’s and Koos’, one rumored to be bi-sexual and the other definitely gay, it provides the perfect environment. Also, Jan Lancaster, who runs the Bistro is also gay and loves to jam LGBTQ in the public’s face. All the better if she doesn’t have to pay for it. There, answered it.
Prove your work.
Very young children attended last year. Grandparents brought their grandchildren–Specs Around Town owners brought their grandchildren to see this perversion. “Parents” brought their children to see this perversion. Mboka was there. Why do they want to Destroy Childhood Innocence and destabilize children?
How is a Public Body, the Bloomington Public Library, able to use taxpayer dollars to sponsor a queer? What is the public purpose?
Law are immaterial
They use public money to sponsor it because they know you can’t do a damn thing about it. There is no public purpose. The purpose is to promote personal agendas. Most library directors are unapologetically left. You’ll rarely see conservative subject matter on display front and center in any library. Most are squirreled away in an obscure section of the stacks or not put out at all until someone asks for it. No different than your local bookstore.
The fact that it is impossible for a discussion on this forum to remain civil when it involves gay people says a lot about the character of people it attracts. There’s room for discussion of what public funds should go to — and what they should not. Plenty of room for that; that’s 100% valid. But more often than not, these conversations turn to someone seeing an opportunity to unmask how they really feel about non-straight people by dropping a slur in a place where they feel comfortable doing so. That says SO much.
What does the Q stand for? Yes your first comment was deleted
A straight person saying “A queer” versus someone saying “I am queer” is different. If nothing else, the INTENTION is very different.
So leftist get to define language. Not here they don’t.
It’s short QAnon Diane. It’s what they call people when they don’t have anything intelligent to say.
I was talking about LGBTQ
There is NO room for discussion on what public funds should go to, and what they should not. There is a specific article in the Illinois Constitution that ends the discussion. Article VIII, Section 1. General Provision, paragraph a.) Public funds, property, or credit shall be used ONLY (my emphasis) for public purposes.
Which makes my question above completely legitimate.
When did you become a mind reader? Perhaps you should go on tour.
I mean there’s room for discussion on this forum, in real life, in public spaces, etc. as to what should/should not be funded by local governments, etc. It’s the opposite of trying to shut that down: People have every right to be asking questions and expressing their thoughts or concerns to electeds and/or others. The issue I had was never with that but with the people who use that topic as a means to drop slurs or express how much they really disdain “other” people’s existence.
Nobody is responsible for your perception
I spoke only facts. You chose to interpret them to advance victimization where none exists. As someone else mentioned, people have every right to believe something they are not. The issue is using taxpayer funds to advance an agenda, which they or their supporters don’t have the right to do.
@colgegate – this isn’t a discussion about gay people. Drag Queens aren’t necessarily gay. Some of them are pedophiles. But maybe that’s ok with you, I don’t know.
This is a discussion about what is appropriate for children. A man can dress up like a woman if he wants to, nobody can stop him. Presenting himself before children in an effort to promote his preferred lifestyle, or get close to children is crossing the line. And yes it should be discussed, not shut down as you apparently want to.
Gay tolerence: “Remember if you see a TERF, punch them in the nose.”
Ya know, I am all about you be you, but don’t try and tell me how to be me. However, advertising this as “family friendly” just sits wrong. Now most people will say, just don’t take your kids. Ok, right and true, but it’s not kid friendly. My kids have already asked is that a boy or a girl when out and about and clearly a boy (man with a beard) is dressing or “made up” like a girl. It confuses them. I am not even going to get into the sexualization part of it because quite honestly it disgusts me. Drag shows are great fun for those that enjoy them. I saw a FB video or a portion of a TikTok of some famous Drag Queen who was adamantly against this type of thing. He was clearly in the camp that drag was never intended for kids. And should not be advertised as such. Maybe listen to one of your own.
The gay lobby is like any other. Keep intimidating and threatening until you get what you want and move on to the next demand. It never ends and it’s organized and planned that way. Enough us never enough, just like any of the minority grifters.
The taxpayers of Normal paid $1500 for their recent drag show. I foia’d for the information. What a waste of taxpayer money!
Although at one time the alternative crowd making decisions about their sexuality had become acceptable, the adoption of the LGTBQ associations has been highjacked by those with nefarious intentions targeting children. This group is taking advantage and the pedophiles within are grooming children for sexual deviancy. As driving a car, smoking, drinking, voting, etc. have age minimums allowing after encouragement for small children to make life altering decisions regarding their body and mental health is completey irresponsible and shameful. Any elected official that endorses this behavior should get the backlash they deserve. Just like Bud Light the noted sponsors should be boycotted.
The programs are arranged/allowed by City/Town staff. The specific programs don’t come before Council for approval; they are purported to be part of Economic Development…drawing people to Downtown as a “destination” to spend money at local businesses. All the Bistro has to do is apply and pay for a permit to use the public street.
While I don’t support drag shows in public spaces where children are present (invited) or paid for with tax dollars, for better or worse, the shows could be considered a form of free speech.
Best to “vote” with your feet and avoid downtown during Pridefest.
DQ – Very good answer. If this were a purely private event, then ‘voting with your feet’ would be the simplest. most sensible response, definitely to the event itself and if one feels strongly enough also to the event sponsors.. And regardless of numerous tangential arguments that could be made, this Is a performing arts event, so BCPA involvement is not inappropriate, imo.
What *is* inappropriate (or at least certainly seems so) is the public being forced to support this via taxpayer-funded sponsorships from the library, Connect Transit, and the history museum.
Given that local elected officials generally don’t give a rat’s rumpus about public input other than their vote, ‘voting with your feet’ is the main option for most people here, tho I recommend this also be a wake-up to remember to support (or Be) non-woke candidates for office.
Wonder where the law concerning a convicted pedophile or other sexual deviant cannot be within a certain distance from a school or playground comes in with a so called family friendly drag show? Are the participants backgound checked out or is it okay now for perverts and kids to mingle? But then again if the makeup is heavy and you don’t know who is who then probable cause mysteriously gets a pass or I guess what you don’t know can’t hurt you huh? Marxism seeks to destroy culture. There ya go.
Good point Old Stanky! Any time you apply for a job that is anywhere near children you must go through a background check. I went through numerous background checks every time I started a part time job at ISU. Maybe it’s possible to FOIA the existence of BGC’s for the hiring of Drag Queens at family friendly shows ? Might need some advice here.
This may apply. https://www.lawyers.com/legal-info/labor-employment-law/job-hunting/background-checks-for-people-who-work-with-kids.html
Yes the shows “could” be considered free speech as could the application of abortions however or whenever applied be considered of satanic organizations as freedom of religion. However I persoanlly gotta draw the line, that I do not and will not accept the madness of giving the benefit of the doubt to turning everything upside down to groom our children towards sexual deviancy. I won’t.
If this show just goes down as men putting on dresses, and dancing around pretending to be women then perhaps a peculiar acceptance might be at hand but most of these shows become much more explicit challenging if not violating laws in regards to what children should be exposed to. Bottomline is that grooming is the intent.
I will not attend this show and I WILL BOYCOTT all of the sponsors and encourage others to do the same.