Rather than a plot to corrupt children, Drag Queen Story Hour, which started in San Francisco and has spread to cities across the country, is another sign that the cultural left has been domesticated. Instead of performing in seedy bars, drag queens are using their love of music, theatricality and elaborate costumes to help caregivers entertain little kids. It’s a way, said Jonathan Hamilt, a co-founder of the program, for the performers “to get out of the night life and into their communities, their neighborhoods, their towns where they live, and give back.”
On the right, by contrast, an online demimonde has developed where nihilistic subversion is celebrated. White supremacists recruit through video game culture. The alt-right lures disaffected adolescents with subcultural signals that baffle the uninitiated. I’d happily take my kids to Drag Queen Story Hour if it were held closer to my apartment, but I’d smash my computer to bits before I’d let them near a pro-Trump message board.
I wonder if Ahmari has any inkling of how preposterous it looks, from outside his right-wing bubble, for Trump apologists to posture as defenders of family life. Ahmari is a recent convert to Catholicism and advocates a greater role for the church in ordering public affairs. I can think of few institutions with less standing to lecture others about protecting childhood innocence.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member