Protest planned against ‘all-ages’ Christmas drag show with ‘adult content’

A Kansas City mom’s group has planned a peaceful protest against a traveling Christmas-themed drag show welcoming children despite its adult content, as reported Monday by The Lion.

The event is “the most sexual and inappropriate family-friendly drag show I have ever attended,” wrote independent journalist Taylor Hansen of the performance in Austin, Texas. “From simulating sex, talking dirty to the crowd, sexualizing children’s stories, and much more.”

The Kansas City show, “A Drag Queen Christmas,” begins Tuesday at 8:00 p.m., and the protest has been planned from 6:00-8:00 p.m.

“Join us for a peaceful protest against the sexualization of children,” reads the flier. “This is a call to action. Please make your voices heard. We hope that, with enough attention and pushback, any similar events in our city will not be open to children.”

The protest is to be held across the street from even venue, The Midland Theatre in Kansas City, Missouri. The organizers are also asking those who cannot attend in person to make a call to the venue to express their concerns. The Midland Theatre has not responded to a request for comment sent Thursday by The Lion. 

The flier emphasizes that the protest, which will have a police presence, is to be peaceful. 

“Remember: Practice your First Amendment rights respectfully and safely,” the flier reads. “This is a peaceful event in the presence of KCPD. Any violence or disrespect will not be tolerated.” 

Cassie Bradley Vaughn, a homeschool mom and one of the protest organizers, told The Lion she felt the need to stand up against sexualization of children in her city:

“I am a mom to two kids. I believe a parent’s job is to give their kids the best foundation and start to life possible. When they are children, that includes protecting them from unnecessary confusion. It means providing as many healthy, positive examples as possible. I believe exposing young children to sexual, adult content is not in line with any of those things. 

“I believe it should be criminal, just as a child is not allowed into a strip club or a pornographic movie, they should not be allowed to attend a drag show. I’ve seen these events covered in other cities by people like Sara Gonzales. When I heard this Christmas drag show was touring the country and open to all ages, I wanted to make sure it wasn’t happening here. As it turns out, it is, but I hope that enough decent and moral people will speak up and stand up.” 

Vaughn hopes her actions, and those of other protestors, will influence venues like The Midland Theatre to think twice about offering similar shows in the future. She would also like to see legislation prohibiting adult content being offered to children.

“My goal would be to bring enough attention to the matter that a venue would opt to only allow adults to a drag show in the future. Ideally, there would also be laws to prohibit this in the future. I’m in the process of trying to navigate that.” 

Having been a children’s pastor, she says she’s seen firsthand the damage such exposure can cause to impressionable young people and just wants kids to be safe, not “sexualized.”

“We homeschool. I’m a former children’s pastor. I’ve worked with a lot of kids and have seen the path it sets them on when they are exposed to unhealthy, damaging things early on in life,” Vaughn says. “I’m happy to take a stand to stop that in whatever way I can. Adults can make their own lifestyle choices. America is supposed to be a free country. 

“The kids should be safe to just be kids instead of being sexualized.”