Two of Alaska’s most prominent drag queens recently took to public radio to air their open contempt for Christians, Evangelicals, Republicans and parental rights advocates.
Clearly intended to sway public opinion in support of drag performances for young children, the April 17th “Hometown Alaska” show interviews cast drag queens as wholesome, prominent and respected leaders in the LGBTQ movement.
The show featured Anchorage drag queens Robin O’Donoghue (stage name: Lamia Lexicon Monroe) and Zaide Manzano (stage name: Dela Rosa).
O’Donoghue is a biological male who regularly takes to the stage wearing thong-exposing lingerie and fake boobs for adult performances in Anchorage’s gay bar scene. Manzano, a biological female who claims to be nonbinary, doubles as a mainstay dancer for toddlers and young children at Anchorage’s Cafecito Bonito, while also performing risqué dances before gay bar patrons.
Manzano told interviewer O’Hara Shipe that drag is the “expression of artistic gender,” and that “there is so much you can do in that medium.”
For her part, Manzano uses drag to aggressively advance the LGBTQ agenda, which includes influencing impressionable minds that are not yet made up.
Drag queens have become increasingly controversial in Alaska and across the nation, with critics documenting multiple instances of heavily-makeupped and scantily-clad performers prancing in front of young children wearing nothing more than sexy evening attire.
Manzano dismissed such critics, alleging that they aren’t really against drag so much as queer people in general. She claimed that conservatives simply “hide” behind the idea of protecting kids, while actually intending to undermine the LGBTQ community by decrying drag queens.
“Ultimately we are the easier target,” she said.
O’Donoghue agreed, and said that performing drag doesn’t necessarily mean someone is a pedophile.
“I got into drag because I wanted to look pretty and dance around like Lady Gaga,” he said, adding that some drag performances are “appropriate” for kids – some are not.
O’Donoghue said people “exaggerate potential harm” of all-ages drag performers, but that ultimately, he believes drag activists have “already won” the hearts and minds of most people. He then proceeded to blast “evangelical, Christian, Republicans who are angered by this and seeking to oppress marginalized groups, seeking to turn the tide against that progressive and positive movement.”
“The bigotry and transphobia is coded under things like targeting drag queens or the term ‘parental rights,’” O’Donoghue complained.
Interviewer Shipe asked for tips on how she and others might help promote the LGBTQ agenda in general.
“How do we get involved?” she asked.
O’Donoghue urged allies to elect LGBTQ candidates, engage in politics and push back on the narrative that drag queens are pedophiles. His hope is that people will begin to accept drag queens as “regular people,” rather than merely sexy late-night dancers.
He also called for boycotts on businesses, politicians and any other groups who don’t fully support the LGBTQ agenda.
These performances, she said, are often “a kids first time getting exposure to – it’s so wholesome.”
Following the drag interviews, Shipe spoke with the co-owners of Arciniega Street Productions, an Anchorage entertainment company that enlists local drag queens to perform before young children.
Kendra Arciniega said she and co-owner Mercedes Arciniega founded their company to promote LGBTQ entertainment across all ages – including children.
“There should be opportunities for queer youth,” Kendra said, while lamenting the fact that most “queer culture” is limited to gay bars where children are not allowed.
“We wanted an opportunity to bridge that gap,” she said. “We decided to do an all ages drag show.”
Mercedes agreed, saying kid drag shows are “a whole, full experience of absolute joy.”
Interviewer Shipe chimed in saying she has attended a local all-ages drag show and found it to be “an incredibly joyful experience.” She then blasted what she called “all these anti-LGBT bills that are going through the senate in multiple states, our state included.”
Mercedes acknowledged that certain people’s minds can’t be changed, but that kid-centered drag shows can be an opening for some.
Shipe asked the Arciniegas to address their critics who have expressed serious reservations about the appropriateness of drag shows targeting children. She asked whether they are ever forced to rebut claims that these events are intended to groom and sexualize youth.
“We know we are on some people’s radar, and I think we have to operate, knowing that perception is happening, and we can’t be naïve,” Mercedes said. “So, we do stay aware.”
The Alaska Watchman has published multiple reports about the all-ages drag shows in Anchorage, including photos of performers exposing thongs and undergarments to children.
Without naming the media outlet, Kendra said there is “a local blogger who is not the biggest fan of the queer community in general.”
“It just gets our hackles up a little,” she said, while claiming that any negative news coverage simply foments hate. Kendra said that her company is very careful not to “feed the trolls,” or “give them the attention that we know they are hungry for.”
Mercedes acknowledged that certain people’s minds can’t be changed, but that kid-centered drag shows can be an opening for some.
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She then attempted to distinguish between child-oriented drag and performances geared to adults.
Mercedes said youth drag shows frequently feature the singing of Disney movie songs, such as “Let it Go” from the movie, Frozen. These performances, she said, are often “a kids first time getting exposure to – it’s so wholesome.”
While asserting that all-ages drag shows are “not centered around sexuality,” Mercedes avoided describing the sexually suggestive dress performers wear as they dance in front of children.
“It’s not all centered around sexuality,” she said flatly.
Kendra concluded the interview by calling on LGBTQ activists to confront friends and family who might express what LGBTQ activists deem to be “transphobic or homophobic” ideas or sayings. She said people need to be a “voice of dissent.”
“What you permit, you promote,” she emphasized.
55 Comments
This people looks like a cartoon network
Human elephants, and smiling serpents.
Sorry… That is an insult to elephants, and serpents.
And yet “Rupaul’s Drag Race” has been popular enough to be in its 15th season. Go figure.
Degeneracy is popular. It always has been. The world is evil, that’s why Christians are in the world but not of it. What you believe in is sick and wrong. We will resist your sin along with our own until the end. As far as the societal consequences, I am willing to lay down my life to protect children from pedophiles as someone who was molested myself. You should leave the kids alone. You don’t seem to understand the the door you’ve opened or what parents are willing to do to protect their kids. You people are trying to normalize and legalize pedophilia on behalf of your masters at the top. Society will burn to the ground before that is acceptable to most people. That is a step too far, even though sin is popular.
randy a.: I think that’s kinda the idea. Drag as a concept, their costumes, their dance moves and songs are intentionally over the top, that’s the fun of it. They’re silly, goofy and engaging. They are no more sexual than a sports bra or a nude mannequin. It’s up up to you to interpret the visuals. If you share all the variety of culture with your kids, ten bucks says they can handle the gender roles. If you teach them that drag shows and love between two same genders is bad (Human elephants, and smiling serpents. freaks, circus side show), they’ll be an anchor, a drag (!) on our community. If drag isn’t your thing, don’t attend.
Those sports bras and mannequins are not girating and grinding around and shaking their booty at the audience. Just saw in the news where one straddled a jr. high school kid. Now that’s something I don’t see a sports bra or mannequin doing.
As a white woman, I wouldn’t walk around in black face or wearing Native regalia. Why are males tolerated parading around in an offensive manner mockingly dressed as women?
I know that’s the new right-wing narrative, that drag performers are somehow “mocking” women the way White men in “blackface” were mocking Black people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ask any woman who has gone to a drag show. There’s no comparison.
Says a man who has never been parodied by an obese, over-painted and under-dressed man. Of course drag is a parody of women, and not a flattering one. The only reason men engage in drag is because they get a sexual thrill doing so. Nothing about it is kind to women or children, and no amount of nonsense spouted by these perverts can change the simple truth.
Put these freaks back where they belong, the circus side show.
How do you propose to do that? Drag as an artform has been around FOREVER. Educate yourself.
Opposition to pedophilic run-of-the-mill degenerates who’ve tried to undermine healthy societies has been around FOREVER, groomer. Stay the hell away from kids.
You need a large hit of UDAP to the face.
Adult ‘art form’. It is not child entertainment. Children do not need to be sexualized by ‘artistic gender’. That is the issue here. No one cares if you enjoy a little drag in your life. Are you seriously taking your own kids or grandkids? This lush onto children is wrong and predatory.
They don’t belong anywhere. The only right they have is to repent and live as God intended.
Actually, I misstated that. God gave them a will to choose. But, they don’t have the right to push it down anyone’s throat. Now, they are doing the same thing Christians and conservatives are doing by suggesting that boycotts, electing their kind, etc. And…Yes, we should be trying to undermine their “communities” and protect our children and grandchildren. I saw a picture of a young, around 5 years old, child seated in a car seat with the caption, “I can’t choose my bedtime, but I can choose my gender?” That demonstrates the whole logic of this queer LGBTQIA++ agenda. As Christians and conservatives we need to do everything in our power to undermine every aspect of these movements. They are a minority and they’re taking over this country by storm. Where’s the resistance?
Haters gonna hate.
Hmm, wonder how these “queens” feel about today’s news from DC?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/just-in-house-republicans-pass-bill-to-ban-transgender-athletes-in-women-and-girls-sports/
So, if I’m opposed to strippers performing in public for kids, does that make me anti-heterosexual? If I oppose the Bush Company hosting an all-ages strip show, does that mean I hate heterosexuals?
I’m sorry, ladies and gentlemen, but prancing about dressed in garish, sexualized caricature of womanhood is anything but “wholesome.” It is degrading and offensive to women. Women need to stand up and defend our God-given dignity. We are not objects, we are persons. The proper response to the human person is love. The opposite of love is not hate, but use.
this is a serious problem. we have mental health issues that are not being addressed. these people need to be institutionalized, kept away from children and given the help they need, not encouraged to maintain thier condition.
Kendra states, ““What you permit, you promote,” she emphasized.”” I just saw on a social site, where an “transgender” made threats against anyone trying to stop alphabet soup people from using the opposite gender bathrooms. Is this the build up here? The alphabet soup group is going to push violence and that is what O’biden wants. Do not play their game. Keep it peaceful, legal, and lawful as much as possible.
Your knickers are in a knot over some drag queens. What a snowflake. A youngster at an all-ages drag show would presumably be brought there by their parents. Parental rights, Joel! And exactly what journalism awards has The Watchman, or you personally, ever won? You’re not a journalist, Joel. You’re a far right blogger, which you have every right to be. But don’t try to pretend you’re a journalist. No original reporting in this piece. Just regurgitating and opining about someone else’s original work.
What parent in their right mind would being their child to a drag show? Are you bringing yours? Is this a family activity for you? There is something called human development. As children develop there are levels of development mentally and physically and at each level they are alive to process and comprehend more sensory input. This is scientific and you can go do your own studying. To shove sexualization on a child before they are able to process chances to be traumatic, as well as mentally and spiritually scaring. Every child is different but I would put forcing children to view ‘artistic gender entertainment’ along with child abuse. Any parent who deems it more important to be ‘edgy’ and ‘cool’ than to protect their child, is not parenting well and essentially is abusing.
Found the pedo
You bring up an interesting point: parental rights undergird parental responsibilities -obligations parents have toward their children.
Have we, as Americans, ceded those rights as we’ve ceded our responsibilities?
We’re encouraged to drop our children off at daycare when they reach six weeks of age, then send them to a public school where they can eat both breakfast and lunch and attend after-school care. Then, parents pick them up for dinner, maybe homework and a bedtime story. So, we entrust our kids to someone else 5 days a week and basically function as parents on evenings and weekends.
Is it surprising that the state should presume primary rights over our children, when we hand our children over to them during the majority of their waking hours? And what have we gained in exchange for our children? Have we exchanged them for a double income? A bigger house? An electric car? Season tickets to whatever? A lifestyle that is only sustainable IF we turn them over so both parents can work?
It’s time to wake up and consider what impact our life choices as parents have had and will have not only our respective children, but on society at large.
And government interference has made it so expensive to have children and for any parent to stay home and take care of them. Yet they still want children. It is hard, if the government would just get out of the way, we could live our lives. Inflation is killing us. They don’t want people having more children.
You hit that right on! Parents have abdicated their most precious responsibility – to nurture and care for their children – all in the name of MORE!
Granted, today the government, medical care, insurance, cost of goods and services have made it close to impossible for a family to provide without both parents working. But, life and living take sacrifice!
A family can sacrifice the toys…or they may end up sacrificing their children.
You should stop parenting your a dude and just identify as the groomer you probably are
“Pretending”
But he has eight kids! That alone makes him a right wing hero!
Is this going to be your hill
Old dud : wisdom passed by and left you bereft of insight, knowledge, and understanding! So sad!
Where are the parents of that little girl in the photo? Their pic should be posted right there with this debauchery. They (the parents) should at the very least be faced with public humiliation and ridicule on social media for allowing their sweet child into this sick perverse world. This is borderline child abuse. Maybe we should be entertaining state laws that go after parents who are this reckless with the innocence of their kids? So sad.
If these all age shows are not about sexuality, then why don’t these ‘men’ do their shows dressed like men? First we want men to be sensitive, then lament that men are too weak, now we say it’s perfectly normal for men to go around dressed up as women and prance around in front of kids who have no need for this type of ‘entertainment’. Say what you will, but there is something seriously wrong with a man who dresses up like a woman and insists on entertaining kids. Heaven help us all.
Their Sick people, wake up Alaska to this Evil stuff happening in our sate
Reading this, It’s absolute joy, impressionable minds, opening for some, it goes on and on Sickening.
The little girl in the picture had her head down. Not a posture of a child happy to be in that environment. These things should be taught by the parents. Hey how about equal time with natural biological situations? You know stuff mostly not taught in schools anymore call Biology 101.
I will NEVER accept drag queens as “regular people”.
They insist that there’s no agenda, yet demand that everyone must accept their freak shows. It was the adoption of this kind of behavior into the general public (and many others) that eventually led to the fall of Rome. As a child, I guarantee that I would have run in fright at the sight of one of these garishly made up men. As a Christian, I won’t push my religion in your face nor demand that everyone must accept it. Don’t be fooled. This drag queen stuff is all part of a bigger agenda.
You know it, Bess. We even have an obsessed, diseased fruit from WV bescumbering the comments here with his warped insistence that groomers are normal and deserving of our acceptance. We can reasonably presume that he and some of the rest of his kind are running the same spam operation on conservative sites elsewhere.
The majority of Americans tolerate those expressing differing ideologies; even those ideologies they view as repulsive. However, the majority also views the innocence of childhood as sacred thing to be protected. Accordingly they believe NO ONE should be expressing themselves to children in a sexually-provocative manner–regardless of their sexual preference or persona. The term “NO ONE” allows for no exceptions.
Mental illness on full display..
People were afraid to be called transphobic,racists or whatever. Now those demonic clowns and their ilk rolled over everything.It’s too hard to stop them now.History rhymes.
Let’s get straight to the point. This is not about why children need to see drag queen shows but why drag queens need an audience of children. That right there tells you everything you need to know.
Children are innocent, they don’t think of perversion and sure as hell didn’t consent to it. This is an adult construct based on perversion, these people are sick.
Groomers for satan,,, nothing more nothing less.
Satan? How do you know he (?) even exists?
Here is a team (photo link) that could trigger lefties every time. Lol https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/136/209/042/original/97667f8bc1e162ed.jpeg
I definitely agree with one thing he said “ What you permit you promote”. We will never get ride of this kind of stuff because we live in a country that gives individual freedoms. But we don’t have to permit this stuff where children are and have public money paying for it.
And then there’s things like this: https://www.lifesitenews.com/blogs/media-pays-no-attention-when-drag-queen-mom-is-convicted-of-11-child-sex-abuse-crimes/?utm_source=top_news&utm_campaign=usa
Yep, if it does not fit the demon’s narrative, it will not be published in mainstream media! That man worked as a teacher until they got busted! Oh dear. Another strike against the school system!
Elon Musk has the right idea. Parents that expose their children to this and Dr’s that perform gender affirming medication and surgery on minors, and transgenders that perform in front of kids should get life in prison. with no parole.
Here’s an interesting article by Dr. Peter McCullough!
‘Elevated rates of autism, other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric diagnoses, and autistic traits in transgender and gender-diverse individuals’
https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/elevated-rates-of-autism-other-neurodevelopmenta?r=14jb45
A meme I read: “Just curious….Are there any drag queen story hours for senior centers/old age homes? Or is it only for children? Asking for a friend…” -Author unknown
We are discussing the wrong thing. The argument is not if it’s OK for these men to give a sexual performance in front of children.
The argument is how long the penalty in prison should be for these men to give a sexual performance in front of children. These guys are evil, and those who support them are evil.