What's the Deal with Drag Queen Story Hour?
For the life of me, I would never have thought that “Drag Queen Story Hour” would be the epicenter of a culture war, not just in America, but here in Australia too.
People have very strong feelings either for it, or against it, it is a kind of test case for where you sit on a political spectrum.
But why?
Well, in the musical La Cage Aux Folles, about a nightclub run by drag queens, there’s a key line in the show’s premier song.
I am what I am
I am my own special creation.
So come take a look,
Give me the hook or the ovation.
It's my world that I want to take a little pride in,
My world, and it's not a place I have to hide in.
Life's not worth a damn,
'Til you can say, "Hey world, I am what I am."
The drag queen is the ultimate symbol of the outsider, the marginalized, combined with a sense of will-to-power-to-create-my-own-self. It is sexual liberation meets expressive individualism to the max!
The opposition to Drag Queen Story Hour reaches far beyond the religious right. There are secular and even LGBTIQ objections to it. There’s some great articles on this topic by Sky Gilbert, Murray Campbell, Jo Bartosch, Christopher Rufo, and Claire Lehmann.
But there is more going on too! Drag Queen Story Hour has a political dimension, a religious dimension, and even creates a rupture in the LGBTI community!