On February 3, the State of Florida filed an administrative complaint against the operators of the Plaza Live theater in Orlando for hosting a drag show. According to the complaint, the drag show performed on December 28, 2022, at Plaza Live included "acts of sexual conduct, simulated sexual activity, and lewd, vulgar, and indecent displays" with children in attendance. The complaint alleges the show, "A Drag Queen Christmas," violated a Florida law that makes it a felony for a person to "commit a lewd or lascivious exhibition" in the presence of "a victim who is less than 16 years of age." The state, through the complaint, is seeking to revoke the venue's liquor license, which would likely put it out of business.
If the Florida Republicans are so concerned about children, then I would suggest they might make some changes that would really protect children: expand Medicaid (Florida is one of only eleven states that has not done so), make affordable housing available, increase the minimum wage, & improve public schools, among many other things that would make a positive difference. Drag show performers are not “grooming” children, they are entertaining, & if the parents take their children to a show, then isn’t that the “freedom” that the Governor is always preaching about? Or does DeSantis define freedom as you are free to agree with his dictates, or if you don’t agree, then you are wrong & to be punished.
And how could I forget to mention guns? Florida has proposed a bill where you don’t need a permit for concealed carry & there will be no training requirement.
I’m 78 years old with no grandkids & am more than happy to pay my school taxes. I think the ones that don’t want to pay taxes for other peoples’ kids don’t want to pay any taxes, especially if it doesn’t benefit them personally.
In the past I always voted for more public school funding (I have no children). No longer. In Miami-Dade, the school board is dominated by DeSantis endorsed and appointed members. Their values align with his. I do not have confidence they will spend tax payer money to actually increase teacher pay and improve education of students. With book banning, destruction of teachers’ unions and nixing of AP African-American history, “Stop Woke” and “Don’t Say Gay” laws (for starters), my lack of confidence is well-founded.
Exactly. It appears that DeSantas & his supporters would like all public schools to be privatized. I thought there was a separation between Church & State, but the Republicans don’t seem to have read that part of our Constitution. Note the June 2016 decision of the Supreme Court in Trinity v. Missouri regarding funding of a grant for resurfacing of the church school playground. (This was just a start.) The “conservative” majority of the Court feels that denying public funds for church schools is discriminatory & therefore unconstitutional. Maybe then it is discriminatory for churches to be exempt from income taxes, & that they should pay as corporations do.
Yes. I'm tired of being categorized. It's offensive to be labeled as right wing, senile, and stupid. Remember, we passed the Civil Rights Act and Roe v Wade. Our protests got us out of Vietnam. Women went from being chattel to men, to having our own identities and rights. On the other hand, look at how many people under age 35 are MAGA Republicans.
I don't get the hatred and bigotry; I truly don't. Leave these poor people alone!
And, the last I checked, it wasn't drag show performers who were molesting young children. Maybe someone ought to tell Republicans that................
Those "poor people" are perceived to be weak and defenseless by the republican jackals. Perfect foils to be used by the RW'z to further divide the unwary among the populace.
Right. See Cree Hardegree’s FB posts on child molesters. I researched all the child molesting authority figures he cites, and his documentation is accurate.
That the facts don't match DeFascist's allegations is immaterial. He will pull the venue's license, put them out of business and let the state pay damages in the lawsuit later. But the club will never reopen. It's like the DA that he fired. It was illegal, the court ruled it was illegal, but the DA is still out of a job. Banning drag shows may be unconstitutional. It looks like prior restraint to me (I'm no lawyer but I did teach American Government for years). But no matter. By the time the Federalist Cabal at SCOTUS rules, the damage will have been done and all of the offending clubs in Jesusland will be closed permanently. And that's the point.
Anti-drag show legislation and anti-gender affirming care and book bans to stop LGBTQ support--all under the guise of protecting children--are all part of a scare campaign softening up the public for the end of K12 public education. We are being distracted and turning against one another while behind the scenes those who plan to cash in on schools requiring tuition (no doubt some subsidized by government for the poor who can’t afford to pay) are setting things up to make education for profit like literally everything in this country. You name it--it’s gonna cost you. This is all smoke and mirrors. Wait and see how charter and voucher schools pop up (with anti LGBTQ curricula) and then look who’s making the money. Just like mass incarceration has become money-making, after we were first softened up with Willie Horton scary stories followed by a war on crime and then tough on crime legislation. Now look what we’ve got. A massive system of caging people that we cannot unravel--a monster of our own creation. This is the U.S. playbook. Look at many other institutions--militarized police with enormous budgets--healthcare that can bankrupt you--a gigantic military that generates enormous profits but has actually has made the world less safe. Our retirement savings now in 401Ks and vulnerable to the market. And at the very core--it is OK to harm people to make money. We are just commodities folks. We are on track to perfect the art of exploitation.
I meant this as a compliment, but after reading it several times I realized it could misinterpreted as sarcasm. I totally agreed with your conclusions and thank you for sharing!
You are 💯 percent correct. And there’s one party driving that bus. And the ignorant voters who are all hopped-up on hate don’t even realize or care about the generations of harm they’re causing because the fascists they elect to power hug flags and hide behind Bibles.
Yes sir! One party or philosophy, I think Libertarians like Rand Paul (native Kentuckian here) are just as dangerous. They sure know when to ring the bell and keep their constituents frothing at the mouth!
Straight swinger communities and venues abound in Florida. There are strip clubs along every county stroad. And the state has become a magnet for pornography producers because it does not regulate porn performers health and workplace conditions like liberal California does.
I’m not pointing this out to castigate sex work,adult entertainment ,or consensual non-monogamy. I’m simply observing that Florida has more than enough heterosexual promiscuity and sexual displays to keep the dreary guardians of other peoples virtue busy for years to come.
But they’re not targeting straight people. Many DeSantis voters go to strip clubs and swingers events. But they aren’t worried about crackdowns. DeSantis isn’t coming for them.
Nobody lives in Florida for the self denial and moral purity, so turning down the sexual thermostat is not going to happen. But the governor has decided it’s politically expedient to set straight libertines against gay ones.
The Florida Keys have been a popular vacation destination for gays for many years.
I think what DeSantis dreams of is running Disney World, and driving out much of what generates revenue by drawing vacationers. My mother would've called it "cutting off your nose to spite your face." No adult entertainment, nude beaches, drag shows, or men kissing in public. DeSantis is trying his best to stay in the closet.
He's obsessive about "wokeness" too - as are most Republicans.
Ugh. I am the parent of a gay person, and I find the "food chain" analogy a little offensive. There is no hierarchy of whose right to live freely supersedes another's.
What the Catholic DeSantis might want to do is repeal Obergefell and end marriage equality. And he will try to criminalize certain forms of contraception simply because they prohibit the implantation of a fertilized egg inside the uterus.
My deepest apologies. My choice of words was a reflection of DeSantis’ and accomplices’ ignorant view of the most vulnerable people and attacking them first. I agree with your view. I will see if my comment can be edited or deleted. Thanks for making me aware of how my choice of words can be misconstrued.
NYT headline-Dec 14, 2022: “Gun violence recently surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for American children.” Gun deaths have also surpassed cancer, suffocation and drug-related deaths for ages 1-18. How many kids have died at drag shows?
So sick of political theatre. The constant stream of lies perpetuating hate is sickening. It's a symptom of how unhappy people are with their own lives that they need to heap hate on people who aren't just like them....miserable and unhappy. It's even worse when those are the people in power. Let's not be fooled that DeSantis is any better than Trump.
I cannot imagine how much DeSantis would undoubtedly abuse presidential powers, but I think he would be far worse than Trump ever was. Never mind the theater. He would do much, much worse.
Welcome to 1938 Germany. This is part of a much more insidious platform to destabilize democratic democracy. It'll be librarians next, then bloggers, then....
It starts with drinking fountains, Jews, Blacks, and ends with hate. It may not be the gas chambers this round. It will be poor without healthcare, seniors without medications, and anyone homeless being rounded up and interned. This is dangerous, Nazi shit. And we should be VERY, VERY scared.
All the while reading this I kept wondering how these same advocates of banning Drag Queen shows in the name of protecting kids reconcile their thoughts with the many many very famous entertainers who do dance routines in costumes that rival strippers and undulate and gyrate and bend over and leg lift and touch themselves as part of the show in large auditoriums of patrons with kids. Never hear about how those kids need protecting. None of these Florida hypocrites mention the public beaches where nothing is left to the imagination in skimpy swim wear and drunken partying and lewd dancing and making out right next to other spring break families. If they are going to use some concocted justification to show moral outrage on what kids are exposed to why not against the child abusers and sex traffic or the horrid conditions in some of the foster care systems. Where is there concern and protection then? DeSantis and his ilk sound more like the morality police used by the Taliban than somebody who wants to genuinely help make it a safer place for kids.
Republican right wingers have found a way to express their terror about society's growing recognition of gender complications (it ain't simple!) by highlighting drag shows. They used to aim their fire at all LGB folks -- but were rendered just dinosaurs by the growing recognition that most of us just want to live quiet lives together. Brave T and other gender-complex people scare the crap out of people who encounter them anew, unless they can meet complexity in benign visages. Yay for the drag shows!
If I believed in Hell I know who I wish would go there. That these wingnuts get their jollies from fomenting fear and hatred of ther fellow human beings makes me feel physically ill.
They have created a formula they should patent: take a few tweets of outrage, stir in some random outside “influencers,” and then create a false narrative to justify the fascist action. Oh, wait, I think it’s been done many times before in the 20th Century, but DeSatan probably will have that removed from the curriculum as well. Then, the same heads pop up out of the proverbial mire - MTG, Randy Fine, Chaya Raichik, etc., - to pile on with their BS. Perhaps MTG can comment on “the intentional grooming of children” by Rep. Massie and others normalizing the use of AR15s as childhood toys. Next up - cue the faux outrage and ad hominem attacks against Mr. Legum from Mr. Griffin, Ms. Pushaw, et al. Sad but predictable.
If any of this was about sex, it would apply first to R rated movies and such. It's first of all, about targeting a vulnerable group in order to accumulate power through hatred and harm. Second, it's about teaching hate to children, so that they are afraid to be whoever they may actually be and accept others whoever they actually are, and will grow up to serve their tormentors. Both are in service to supremacist rule by white straight-appearing Christian men. (Apologies to any actual followers of Jesus here, who want a world based on kindness not hatred, and share the same label of Christian with a very different meaning.)
Next thing we know, movies like "Some Like it Hot" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" will make this showboating schemer shut down TV service providers who show them.
DeSantis is going to such bizarre lengths to sell fear and fake sanctimoniousness, that I honestly think he might have psychological problems. It's as though he's acting out his lifelong fears. In fact, he's probably struggling with personal sexual issues.
Can’t help wondering whether the national tour of The Book of Mormon ever stopped in Florida, and whether they shut it down. The play includes some pretty lewd stuff. (My adult son was offended, but I thought it was hilarious.) The entire state of Florida is pretty lewd, as other commenters have pointed out. I will never go there again, or send another dollar to a Florida-based business if I can possibly avoid it.
If the Florida Republicans are so concerned about children, then I would suggest they might make some changes that would really protect children: expand Medicaid (Florida is one of only eleven states that has not done so), make affordable housing available, increase the minimum wage, & improve public schools, among many other things that would make a positive difference. Drag show performers are not “grooming” children, they are entertaining, & if the parents take their children to a show, then isn’t that the “freedom” that the Governor is always preaching about? Or does DeSantis define freedom as you are free to agree with his dictates, or if you don’t agree, then you are wrong & to be punished.
And how could I forget to mention guns? Florida has proposed a bill where you don’t need a permit for concealed carry & there will be no training requirement.
One problem in Florida is that the demographics skew old. Retirees don’t vote to spend money on other people’s children.
I’m 78 years old with no grandkids & am more than happy to pay my school taxes. I think the ones that don’t want to pay taxes for other peoples’ kids don’t want to pay any taxes, especially if it doesn’t benefit them personally.
In the past I always voted for more public school funding (I have no children). No longer. In Miami-Dade, the school board is dominated by DeSantis endorsed and appointed members. Their values align with his. I do not have confidence they will spend tax payer money to actually increase teacher pay and improve education of students. With book banning, destruction of teachers’ unions and nixing of AP African-American history, “Stop Woke” and “Don’t Say Gay” laws (for starters), my lack of confidence is well-founded.
Exactly. It appears that DeSantas & his supporters would like all public schools to be privatized. I thought there was a separation between Church & State, but the Republicans don’t seem to have read that part of our Constitution. Note the June 2016 decision of the Supreme Court in Trinity v. Missouri regarding funding of a grant for resurfacing of the church school playground. (This was just a start.) The “conservative” majority of the Court feels that denying public funds for church schools is discriminatory & therefore unconstitutional. Maybe then it is discriminatory for churches to be exempt from income taxes, & that they should pay as corporations do.
Me too
I have voted for school taxes all my long life (75 now). I had a child in public school only 4 of those years. Educating children is a public good.
And those retirees chose to live in FL not only for the beaches, but because they pay no income tax.
Yes. I'm tired of being categorized. It's offensive to be labeled as right wing, senile, and stupid. Remember, we passed the Civil Rights Act and Roe v Wade. Our protests got us out of Vietnam. Women went from being chattel to men, to having our own identities and rights. On the other hand, look at how many people under age 35 are MAGA Republicans.
My sentiments exactly. I try hard not to take such misinformed remarks personally, but it’s not easy.
Thank you. I get sick of it, too.
So well stated. I'm going to share this on desantis's Facebook page, if that's ok with you.
You are most welcome to share. I am obviously not a fan of DeSantis.
I don't get the hatred and bigotry; I truly don't. Leave these poor people alone!
And, the last I checked, it wasn't drag show performers who were molesting young children. Maybe someone ought to tell Republicans that................
Those "poor people" are perceived to be weak and defenseless by the republican jackals. Perfect foils to be used by the RW'z to further divide the unwary among the populace.
Right. See Cree Hardegree’s FB posts on child molesters. I researched all the child molesting authority figures he cites, and his documentation is accurate.
That the facts don't match DeFascist's allegations is immaterial. He will pull the venue's license, put them out of business and let the state pay damages in the lawsuit later. But the club will never reopen. It's like the DA that he fired. It was illegal, the court ruled it was illegal, but the DA is still out of a job. Banning drag shows may be unconstitutional. It looks like prior restraint to me (I'm no lawyer but I did teach American Government for years). But no matter. By the time the Federalist Cabal at SCOTUS rules, the damage will have been done and all of the offending clubs in Jesusland will be closed permanently. And that's the point.
Anti-drag show legislation and anti-gender affirming care and book bans to stop LGBTQ support--all under the guise of protecting children--are all part of a scare campaign softening up the public for the end of K12 public education. We are being distracted and turning against one another while behind the scenes those who plan to cash in on schools requiring tuition (no doubt some subsidized by government for the poor who can’t afford to pay) are setting things up to make education for profit like literally everything in this country. You name it--it’s gonna cost you. This is all smoke and mirrors. Wait and see how charter and voucher schools pop up (with anti LGBTQ curricula) and then look who’s making the money. Just like mass incarceration has become money-making, after we were first softened up with Willie Horton scary stories followed by a war on crime and then tough on crime legislation. Now look what we’ve got. A massive system of caging people that we cannot unravel--a monster of our own creation. This is the U.S. playbook. Look at many other institutions--militarized police with enormous budgets--healthcare that can bankrupt you--a gigantic military that generates enormous profits but has actually has made the world less safe. Our retirement savings now in 401Ks and vulnerable to the market. And at the very core--it is OK to harm people to make money. We are just commodities folks. We are on track to perfect the art of exploitation.
Brava, Mary Ellen! Your wisdom and power of observation is clearly evident! Thank you for your keen insight!
I meant this as a compliment, but after reading it several times I realized it could misinterpreted as sarcasm. I totally agreed with your conclusions and thank you for sharing!
You are 💯 percent correct. And there’s one party driving that bus. And the ignorant voters who are all hopped-up on hate don’t even realize or care about the generations of harm they’re causing because the fascists they elect to power hug flags and hide behind Bibles.
Yes sir! One party or philosophy, I think Libertarians like Rand Paul (native Kentuckian here) are just as dangerous. They sure know when to ring the bell and keep their constituents frothing at the mouth!
Straight swinger communities and venues abound in Florida. There are strip clubs along every county stroad. And the state has become a magnet for pornography producers because it does not regulate porn performers health and workplace conditions like liberal California does.
I’m not pointing this out to castigate sex work,adult entertainment ,or consensual non-monogamy. I’m simply observing that Florida has more than enough heterosexual promiscuity and sexual displays to keep the dreary guardians of other peoples virtue busy for years to come.
But they’re not targeting straight people. Many DeSantis voters go to strip clubs and swingers events. But they aren’t worried about crackdowns. DeSantis isn’t coming for them.
Nobody lives in Florida for the self denial and moral purity, so turning down the sexual thermostat is not going to happen. But the governor has decided it’s politically expedient to set straight libertines against gay ones.
It doesn’t get much more cynical than that.
The Florida Keys have been a popular vacation destination for gays for many years.
I think what DeSantis dreams of is running Disney World, and driving out much of what generates revenue by drawing vacationers. My mother would've called it "cutting off your nose to spite your face." No adult entertainment, nude beaches, drag shows, or men kissing in public. DeSantis is trying his best to stay in the closet.
He's obsessive about "wokeness" too - as are most Republicans.
Ugh. I am the parent of a gay person, and I find the "food chain" analogy a little offensive. There is no hierarchy of whose right to live freely supersedes another's.
What the Catholic DeSantis might want to do is repeal Obergefell and end marriage equality. And he will try to criminalize certain forms of contraception simply because they prohibit the implantation of a fertilized egg inside the uterus.
My deepest apologies. My choice of words was a reflection of DeSantis’ and accomplices’ ignorant view of the most vulnerable people and attacking them first. I agree with your view. I will see if my comment can be edited or deleted. Thanks for making me aware of how my choice of words can be misconstrued.
NYT headline-Dec 14, 2022: “Gun violence recently surpassed car accidents as the leading cause of death for American children.” Gun deaths have also surpassed cancer, suffocation and drug-related deaths for ages 1-18. How many kids have died at drag shows?
So sick of political theatre. The constant stream of lies perpetuating hate is sickening. It's a symptom of how unhappy people are with their own lives that they need to heap hate on people who aren't just like them....miserable and unhappy. It's even worse when those are the people in power. Let's not be fooled that DeSantis is any better than Trump.
I cannot imagine how much DeSantis would undoubtedly abuse presidential powers, but I think he would be far worse than Trump ever was. Never mind the theater. He would do much, much worse.
Never was. This guy projected "BULLY" from the very beginning.
Welcome to 1938 Germany. This is part of a much more insidious platform to destabilize democratic democracy. It'll be librarians next, then bloggers, then....
It starts with drinking fountains, Jews, Blacks, and ends with hate. It may not be the gas chambers this round. It will be poor without healthcare, seniors without medications, and anyone homeless being rounded up and interned. This is dangerous, Nazi shit. And we should be VERY, VERY scared.
And we should vote and work to encourage more people to vote out these fascists.
All the while reading this I kept wondering how these same advocates of banning Drag Queen shows in the name of protecting kids reconcile their thoughts with the many many very famous entertainers who do dance routines in costumes that rival strippers and undulate and gyrate and bend over and leg lift and touch themselves as part of the show in large auditoriums of patrons with kids. Never hear about how those kids need protecting. None of these Florida hypocrites mention the public beaches where nothing is left to the imagination in skimpy swim wear and drunken partying and lewd dancing and making out right next to other spring break families. If they are going to use some concocted justification to show moral outrage on what kids are exposed to why not against the child abusers and sex traffic or the horrid conditions in some of the foster care systems. Where is there concern and protection then? DeSantis and his ilk sound more like the morality police used by the Taliban than somebody who wants to genuinely help make it a safer place for kids.
Republican right wingers have found a way to express their terror about society's growing recognition of gender complications (it ain't simple!) by highlighting drag shows. They used to aim their fire at all LGB folks -- but were rendered just dinosaurs by the growing recognition that most of us just want to live quiet lives together. Brave T and other gender-complex people scare the crap out of people who encounter them anew, unless they can meet complexity in benign visages. Yay for the drag shows!
They are terrified of non-binary because it confuses them. They need everything to be black and white so they know exactly where to direct their hate.
If I believed in Hell I know who I wish would go there. That these wingnuts get their jollies from fomenting fear and hatred of ther fellow human beings makes me feel physically ill.
They have created a formula they should patent: take a few tweets of outrage, stir in some random outside “influencers,” and then create a false narrative to justify the fascist action. Oh, wait, I think it’s been done many times before in the 20th Century, but DeSatan probably will have that removed from the curriculum as well. Then, the same heads pop up out of the proverbial mire - MTG, Randy Fine, Chaya Raichik, etc., - to pile on with their BS. Perhaps MTG can comment on “the intentional grooming of children” by Rep. Massie and others normalizing the use of AR15s as childhood toys. Next up - cue the faux outrage and ad hominem attacks against Mr. Legum from Mr. Griffin, Ms. Pushaw, et al. Sad but predictable.
If any of this was about sex, it would apply first to R rated movies and such. It's first of all, about targeting a vulnerable group in order to accumulate power through hatred and harm. Second, it's about teaching hate to children, so that they are afraid to be whoever they may actually be and accept others whoever they actually are, and will grow up to serve their tormentors. Both are in service to supremacist rule by white straight-appearing Christian men. (Apologies to any actual followers of Jesus here, who want a world based on kindness not hatred, and share the same label of Christian with a very different meaning.)
Christians are all reading from the same book, so...
My 13-year-old just said “if those kids live in Florida my guess is they’ve seen plenty of people in short shorts and bikinis.” 😂
Next thing we know, movies like "Some Like it Hot" and "Mrs. Doubtfire" will make this showboating schemer shut down TV service providers who show them.
DeSantis is going to such bizarre lengths to sell fear and fake sanctimoniousness, that I honestly think he might have psychological problems. It's as though he's acting out his lifelong fears. In fact, he's probably struggling with personal sexual issues.
They are ALL suffering from sexual issues. There is a reason why there is a surfeit of RW sex offenders compared to dems or indies.
Can’t help wondering whether the national tour of The Book of Mormon ever stopped in Florida, and whether they shut it down. The play includes some pretty lewd stuff. (My adult son was offended, but I thought it was hilarious.) The entire state of Florida is pretty lewd, as other commenters have pointed out. I will never go there again, or send another dollar to a Florida-based business if I can possibly avoid it.