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AARP’s Sordid History of Promoting “Family Friendly” Drag Events

Posted on Monday, March 13, 2023
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by AMAC Newsline
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88 Comments

AMAC Exclusive – By B.C. Brutus

As concerns mount over so-called “family friendly” drag shows and the sexualization of children, AARP’s history of promoting such events is coming under increased scrutiny.

In May 2021, just as the cultural left began their effort to rebrand drag performances as kid-friendly, AARP published an article encouraging “drag queen story hour” as a way for “the whole family” to celebrate “Pride Month.”

The article specifically mentions the “beloved Drag Queen Story Hour NYC,” which “brings drag performers to read stories to children in libraries, schools, bookstores, museums and more, with virtual livestreams opening up the experience to anyone who wants to tune in.”

Four months later, AARP published another article entitled “The 9 Most Fabulous TV Shows and Movies About Drag Queens,” noting that “these aren’t just movies and shows that use cross-dressing as a plot device – these works truly celebrate the art of drag in all its gender-subverting, over-the-top, glamorous glory.”

AARP has also advertised drag events to its members. In just the past few weeks, the AARP website has featured “viewing parties” for drag shows in New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia.

As more and more viral videos emerge showing young kids at sexually explicit drag performances, AARP’s repeated promotion of drag shows in general and “family friendly” drag events specifically looks increasingly dangerous and irresponsible.

For example, while it is unclear if the events promoted by AARP allowed or encouraged children to attend, one clip from an “all ages drag brunch” in Texas last October shows a drag queen lifting her skirt and gyrating in front of a small girl who clearly looks uncomfortable. A video from another Texas “all ages” drag show in January shows a small boy hiding his face in shame as a man in a thong performs on stage. In Florida, an ostensibly Christian church hosted a drag event for kids last May.

Even worse, kids aren’t just being exposed to drag – they’re also participating in it. In one example posted by the Twitter account “Libs of TikTok” last August, an adult drag performer teaches a young girl to perform drag as adult men throw money at her. A similar incident occurred in Florida last December.

As far back as 2019, a bar in Ohio was sparking outrage for allowing a 9-year-old boy to dress in revealing clothing and simulate sexual activity in front of adults. According to the Dayton Daily News, the boy first became interested in drag after watching the reality show “RuPaul’s Drag Race” – one of the “9 Most Fabulous TV Shows and Movies About Drag Queens” that AARP recommends.

The left’s attempt to normalize drag performances for children began in large part with the “drag queen story hours” that AARP suggests as a good way for families to celebrate Pride Month.

While liberals insisted that such events were a harmless way to teach “tolerance” and “inclusion” to children, the Manhattan Institute’s Chris Rufo outlined the much darker history behind the practice in a piece for City Journal Magazine last October. “The drag queen might appear as a comic figure, but he carries an utterly serious message: the deconstruction of sex, the reconstruction of child sexuality, and the subversion of middle-class family life,” Rufo writes.

As Rufo describes, although drag traces its origins to the 19th century, it was only with the development of postmodernism and “Queer Theory” in the latter half of the 20th century that it became less about rebelling against society and more about social engineering: “As the dark side of drag pushed transgression to the limits, however, some drag queens toned down the routines, pushed the ideology deep into the background, and presented drag as good old-fashioned, glamorous American fun.”

From there, it was only a matter of time before “enterprising queer theorists used the commercialization of drag and the goodwill associated with the gay and lesbian rights movement as a means of transforming drag performances into ‘family friendly’ events that could transmit a simplified version of queer theory to children” – drag queen story hours.

As conservatives raised opposition to drag story time for kids, liberal activists, Democrat politicians, and the mainstream media labeled those concerns “bigoted” and “transphobic,” insisting that grown men reading to children in burlesque couldn’t possibly have any far-reaching negative societal implications or be considered “grooming.”

Now, drag queens aren’t just reading to kids, they’re performing specifically for them, and even openly recruiting them to become drag performers as well – all the culmination of a slippery slope made all the more slick by leftist organizations like AARP treating inherently sexual behavior as innocent, family friendly fun.

B.C. Brutus is the pen name of a writer with experience in the executive and legislative branches of government.

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Georgie
Georgie
1 year ago

I left AARP a long time ago and we are members of AMAC. I shared this article with several friends. A couple belong to AARP. Both have asked if this has been fact checked. Is there some way I can get them proof of this drag queen stories?

Jeri
Jeri
1 year ago

If you as a parent NEED to expose your children to this, it is beyond obvious that you have personal sexual inadequacies/problems and are determined to use your children to solve your sexual problems. If there is another reason why parents would do this, please share, I will be open minded.

Terry White
Terry White
1 year ago

Not only is AARP the most unholy company in the world by promoting this crap, supporting lgbt lifestyle, they the largest financial supporter of planned parenthood. So then, aarp is nothing more than baby killing, cross dressing liberals that should receive ABSOLUTELY NO FUNDING from the people who are unknowingly supporting this GOD hating organization.

Paul W
Paul W
1 year ago

a.a.r.p. is a hotbed of leftism. I find it hard to believe that most people in their membership range support much of what a.a.r.p. stands. for. Further proof that there are FAR TOO MANY ignorant people out there that jump on anything merely do to name recognition. Pathetic.

sdgorton
sdgorton
1 year ago

I dropped AARP years ago and tell every senior I meet to not join AARP, its an evil satan supporting organization that has never done anything good. They only support the Marxist filth that is controlling the destruction of America

William Hodge
William Hodge
1 year ago

Why would any conservative belong to this scam operation. They are nothing more than the democrat’s mouthpiece. FJB!

Paul DAscenz
Paul DAscenz
1 year ago

I’m not a Hater,but I’m a Christian Man.
I don’t Condon or agree with the LGBTQ Lifestyle.
I was asked by my Doctors office.
Do I identify as a male from birth?
????????‍????.
Yes, I do and so does my significant other.
I’m not apologizing for being Straight!

Ann S
Ann S
1 year ago

This drag pushing onto our kids is disgusting but did you expect any different? The left wants to destroy America from within and what better way than to start with young children. Only their parents are to blame for allowing it and taking their kids to those shows. All this has been ordered by the dept of education and if a parent complains they hide behind those regulations. Taking your child out of the public school system is the only way they are going to learn. And eliminate the federal dept of education and give the power back to the parents regarding curriculum and hiring of teachers. Wake up America before America becomes amoral.

Cheryl B
Cheryl B
1 year ago

I’ve always disliked AARP. They put on a front like their standing up for seniors but really don’t. I’ve never been a member and because of this article, I will never be a member. This is an abomination to the Lord. I’m glad the truth is finally coming out about just how corrupt our politicians really are.

Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell
1 year ago

Need AARP drag shows here:

Wash DC
Moscow
Beijing
Jakarta
Teheran
Jiddah
Hollywood
NYC
Kennedy Center
Radio City Music Hall

Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
Kyle Buy you some guns,and learn how to shoot
1 year ago

Suprised AARP is still around. Maby all the seniors that still suppot it have dementia. Biden is a pergfect example. Kyle L.

Bigeasy
Bigeasy
1 year ago

My .02 cents!
Ever since AARP received over a billion dollars from the Obama White House for supporting Obamacare – they’ve been on my s- – t list! Just a bunch of progressive dweebs, scamming money from unsuspecting democrat voters. They probably don’t even know!
AMAC to the rescue always!

Mike
Mike
1 year ago

There’s only one good place for all this drag stuff – the botom of the Mariana Trench!

Chuck
Chuck
1 year ago

I was an AARP member several years ago until I realized how “woke” and Marxist their articles and interviews were becoming. I’m really glad AMAC is available as a conservative alternative to the crap AARP puts out and supports.

Patriot Will
Patriot Will
1 year ago

Sometimes I joke and say that the AARP stands for the Association of Arrested Reptilian Punks. Instead of being a patriotic and inspirational organization which promotes free speech and the American Way, the AARP frequently promotes division and dysfunction. It makes absolutely no sense for an organization, which should be promoting physical and mental health, to force young children to be exposed to controversial social and sexual behaviors before the children have even had a chance to develop their own identities. AARP should be doing their best to nurture healthy young minds free of controversial political views. Instead of bombarding our precious children with age inappropriate propaganda, AARP should be doing their best to make all children feel respected and loved in a world free of sexual concerns. In my humble opinion, AARP should be promoting activities that help develop the intellectual enthusiasm of young and innocent minds and spirits.

Frances
Frances
1 year ago

I will never join AARP

nate
nate
1 year ago

AARP is a misleading organization.

Jerry
Jerry
1 year ago

AARP has turned into an evil organization and I am glad got out of there years ago.

Bill
Bill
1 year ago

AARP officers supported obama care and look where that got us..

Ron St. Martin
Ron St. Martin
1 year ago

We also will not be renewing our aarp memberships.

PIDL
PIDL
1 year ago

I have known for a long time that they are the AALRP. They were complicict in getting the farce of Obama care implemented because they were in line to make tons of money because of it.

vicki smith
vicki smith
1 year ago

For the life of me I can’t understand why in the world these “gays” are so damn proud of being so screwed up & mentally ill.

Wayne Mieth
Wayne Mieth
1 year ago

I just cancelled my AARP membership and am a proud Conservative AMAC member. AARP only exists due to a lack of common sense on the part of their membership or inability of AARP members to think/reason.

Barbara Williamson
Barbara Williamson
1 year ago

One of the MANY reasons I never joined AARP. Things changed after the founder left/died. Like so many other entities (ie Disney) that started out wholesome and helpful, every time they changed CEOs the integrity and caring went south, never to be found again. Then, only money mattered.

Sharon Ormsby
Sharon Ormsby
1 year ago

I know gay people and they have never promoted the drag queen idea to children. In fact, this would be truly horrifying to them. A lot of them were sexually abused as children so their partners are very protective of them. I wish the entire gay community was more open about this, but they aren’t. In fact, our area, was the first, to have a brochure written on this subject and it is now a national brochure, for kids to get and report abuse. We also were the first to have gay abuse in partners recognized and it is now nationally recognized. It is just like heterosexual abuse and just as horrifying. I hope school nurses and hospital nurses will use and report these things, but others can report this as well. You can also get these brochures and share these with these kids and gays and lesbians. You’d be surprised that they appreciate it.

John Riley
John Riley
1 year ago

I may be old, but I am not senile. Adios AARP!!

CoNMTX
CoNMTX
1 year ago

Back when Obummer ran for his first term, AARP was backing him to the hilt. That’s when I cut up my card, mailed it back to AARP and told them where to put it.

Tim Toroian
Tim Toroian
1 year ago

Is RuPaul a communist?

Granny
Granny
1 year ago

This is why I’m a member of AMAC. Sanity reigns here.

George M
George M
1 year ago

God Created Males & Female’s. All else is Man’s rebellion against God lead by the Devil. Lost Souls………..

Nancy W
Nancy W
1 year ago

AARP employees and Board all probably radicals, so dues only enrich them.

steve
steve
1 year ago

I hope now those company associations get wise and cut aarp lose

David Millikan
David Millikan
1 year ago

No surprise AARP supports Drag Queens since they support Obamacare.
Bet they even support ILLEGAL ALIEN TERRORIST INVASION.

Carol
Carol
1 year ago

All this over sexualization is just EVIL! This reeks of Sodom and Gomorrah and we all know what happened to those cities! What is so sad is that so many leftist sheep see no harm in any of this! They are so lost they can’t see when evil is right in front of their faces and their kids will pay the price for this!!!

Marc Ziegler
Marc Ziegler
1 year ago

AARP has become the mouthpiece of the liberal left Dem’s for many years. I never joined AARP after turning 55 because of their continued liberal views, like promoting Obama Care and Abortion. It does not surprise me that AARP is in the game of grooming children with loose morals because that is just what the Dem’s want! The first thing you do to corrupt a countries culture is to corrupt the mines of children. These children grow up to be the slime balls we have in government now!

mytake
mytake
1 year ago

Children should not be exposed to such. Their minds are not ready and don’t need this complication in their lives. It is downright wrong and evil to confuse them and try to take advantage of their innocence in such a way. This is emotional and intellectual abuse.

Beverly Welch
Beverly Welch
1 year ago

AARP Has been the mouth piece of the Left for Years..Promoting Obama care, along with large donations to the Leftist groups..Amac should not promote them in any way or give credit for any purchase that will benefit this organization..

Granny26
Granny26
1 year ago

More reason I dumped AARP. I don’t want my grandkids exposed to that crap. Glad they are mostly home schooled.

Donald King
Donald King
1 year ago

I dumped AARP way back. They are principally in the business of selling bridge insurance coverage.

Barbara
Barbara
1 year ago

My husband and I once belonged to AARP many years ago. I was reading my mother’s copy of the magazine AARP put out and I thought it had some good things in it. But then I became old enough to join AARP and the magazine for Baby Boomer’s was quite different. One of the articles was about how to safely pick up someone in a bar. Many of the articles talked about ways to act irresponsibly as an adult and we got so disgusted that we dumped AARP. Sadly too many people don’t realize exactly what they are up to and it isn’t supporting causes that benefit senior citizens.

Dickster
Dickster
1 year ago

My wife and I dumped AARP when saw they were nothing but left wing hacks. TRhen they shilled for O’bummer’s crooked health plan and we found AMAC.

Linda Sweet
Linda Sweet
1 year ago

BARF!

Valerie
Valerie
1 year ago

So glad this is coming out in the light and being revealed !! Thank you AMAC

Chris Karl
Chris Karl
1 year ago

The #1 killer of children is gun deaths, not seeing Trans people. If the right is so caring then please do something about it.

Derby
Derby
1 year ago

I joined AARP about 15 years before AMAC was founded. They used to have polls in their magazine and the results mostly favored conservative points of view. I noticed that, in spite of the POV of their members, AARP always supported the liberal view.

I never renewed my initial membership.

A-Trumper
A-Trumper
1 year ago

Wow! I WAS a AARP member. My subscription ends next month. I had began adding things up that they were really leaning lift. Once I read this AMAC article, it makes me sick! Bad enough for grown adults to be acting like, (well you know how), but parents permitting young innocent children to subjected to such is sickening. I am done with AARP!

Amy Syrell
Amy Syrell
1 year ago

I am very glad that I never joined AARP. Not only are their politics all wrong for me but their policies on Drag Queen activities is totally disgusting. If they want children to learn something and to listen to a book being read, there are plenty of book about families with 2 mommies or 2 daddies. It is unnecessary to have a Drag Queen to read the stories!! A librarian or a library staff member experienced on reading to children would be the best way to go. In terms of Drag Queens on stage, they aren’t any different than scantily clothed women dancing on stage. Do you allow children to see those dancers? NO. I have no problem if adults want to go to a Drag show and watch the dancers and throw money at them. However I do believe it is a crime to advertise Drag stage shows as family friendly and expect adults to bring young children to not only watch the show but watch the adults in the audience and the way they behave. As with scantily clad women dancing on stage, I believe that the Drag shows on stage should only be for adults that understand what’s going on. The same would also be for stage show such as Chippendale’s with men dancing. Adults only!

Max
Max
1 year ago

AARP will continue to show and support the leftist agenda. Waste of your $$$$$.

Alex
Alex
1 year ago

That’s it for me too! My subscription is ended and I will not
Renew! Disgusting and immoral!

Kathryn
Kathryn
1 year ago

I abhor this abomination to children and Families. AARP will be done with their leftist demonic agenda for me and most Christians! GOD FAMILY and Country ????????????

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