High School Drag Show Ignites Fury in Elk Grove
Angry parents showed up at the Elk Grove Unified School District board meeting last Tuesday to complain about a student drag show, which they say their children were forced to attend.
The show was put on by Pleasant Grove High School’s LGBTQ club as part of a multicultural assembly on March 3. The student performers dedicated the show to “our community in Oklahoma, Idaho, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Alabama and Tennessee, who are actively being targeted,” apparently referencing anti-LGBTQ legislation in those states.
Those who complained about the show said their children felt “uncomfortable” and even “mortified.” One parent accused the school of “grooming the little kids.”
“You’re exposing them to this, or allowing them to be exposed to this, to where now they’re going to be desensitized to allow adults to get close to them and abuse them,” the parent added.
Others said they should have at least been notified before the show took place.
The outcry over the performance at Pleasant Grove High is part of a larger debate over LGBTQ rights and activism in schools. Drag performances have been a major flashpoint.
As CalSchoolNews reported earlier this month, the Roseville Joint Union High School District revoked a permit for its campus theater after parents learned a drag show was taking place there. The show, which was scheduled outside of school hours, prompted “numerous complaints” and “concerns as to potential threats to the safety of students and staff,” according to the district.
