You have to hand it to the geniuses at the local schools….

I never thought I would say that line! But give credit where credit is due.

Now that exposing children to the ill-disguised genitals of horny men dressed as women has become just a bit controversial, school districts in Pennsylvania have figured out a way to camouflage their grooming by representing their field trips to drag shows as innocent theatrical performances.

Students in Chester County, PA were taken on a school field trip to watch “Alice in Wonderland.” The show allegedly turned out to be a drag show with drag queens twerking on stage.

Parents were reportedly not informed of the true nature of the show. pic.twitter.com/SREOIxmAbX

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) December 11, 2022

You and I know Alice in Wonderland as a popular and mostly harmless story about a young girl’s adventures. Sure, it is easy to imagine that those adventures are actually a drug-fueled fantasy, as portrayed in the Jefferson Airplane song, but most productions stemming from it are more benign.

More importantly, most parents think of the story as innocent, and the book itself started a new genre of children’s literature intended to stimulate imagination more than teach moral lessons through scaring the bejeezus out of kids.

It is this image of the book that inspired the People’s Light Theater to hide a drag show as a children’s play, and it is the theater’s drag show that attracted the schools to haul children on a field trip to witness the spectacle. I think we can safely assume that the schools weren’t attracted to the literary or dramatic value of the performance, but were drawn by the desire to expose children to men parading around as parodical women.

If Lewis Carroll were alive today, “curious” might be the word he would use to describe the People’s Light Theater performance of his world-renowned novel, Alice in Wonderland.

The theater, located in Chester County is currently running a holiday, pantomime rendition of the classic. The website says the show is appropriate for ages five to 105 and includes a drag queen performer in the cast. Eric Jaffe, according to the theater’s casting page, “is a genderfull [sic] glamour monster and the recipient of the 2018 Philly Drag Awards, Best Host, Best Alternative Drag Queen, And Drag Queen of the Year as well as 2020’s Performer of the Year.”

Just as curious is the fact that multiple school districts in Chester County are sponsoring field trips for students to attend the performance, including West Chester Area, Tredyffrin/Easttown, and Downingtown. Students as young as second grade and up to sixth grade attended the performance.

The theater website makes a point to highlight Eric Jaffe’s role on the main page. “This year, People’s Light is thrilled to welcome award-winning drag performer Eric Jaffe as the audience’s new guide through the magical mayhem in the role of Dinah/Cheshire Cat.” None of the other performers are mentioned in the overview.

Controversy erupted after some children attended the show with their school and informed parents that they were required to wear masks at the performance. As parents started looking further into the show, they realized that a drag queen was appearing as one of the main characters and that the theater was promoting this performer above the rest.

You have to admire the parents in this case. Their outrage was sparked by the mask mandate, and it was only after looking into the performance that they discovered the true purpose of the event.

There is nothing inherently wrong or evil about enjoying drag shows. They are not my cup of tea, but if they are yours have at it. If I were the censorious type there are a bunch of vile movies I would would ban before I ever got around to burlesque of any kind.

But drag shows are not, as they say, “age appropriate” for 7 year olds. That is so obvious it shouldn’t need to be said.

Drag queens are inherently engaged in a sexual display, if in parody most of the time. They mimic strip shows more than plays, and drag performers make few bones (or boner jokes) about it. “It’s not going to lick itself.”

School officials do this sort of thing as part of an indoctrination program. By exposing kids to this sort of gender bending they are desensitizing them to it and attacking gender norms.

They may believe that is a good thing, but it surely isn’t what parents intend when they send kids off to the public schools. And it surely isn’t how public schools are advertised to parents.

Whatever you think about the values being taught, it is pretty difficult to argue that the schools are doing a competent job educating students in the basic academic skills they are designed to impart. As much as educators complain about having to counsel and discipline kids as substitutes for parents, it is notable that substituting for parents as moral educators seems to be in their wheelhouse.

The public schools are a mess. Frankly it is time to transition away from them entirely, and allow parents access to the dollars poured into those schools and use them to purchase educational services themselves. Private schools are superior, even when dealing with difficult to educate children.

If government wants to do something “for the children,” allowing parents to guide their education would be a great place to start.

“We’ll convert your children. Happens bit by bit. Quietly and subtly, and you will barely notice it.”

Turns out they weren’t joking. #GaysAgainstGroomers pic.twitter.com/hY1KwCdge4

— Gays Against Groomers (@againstgrmrs) December 11, 2022