It’s Not Drag Queens Our Children Shouldn’t See

by Ernie McCray

How silly are we,
as a society,
to talk about
getting rid of
drag queen performances
to shield the productions
from the view of our children
as though our kids
sneak out at night
going to drag venues
and strip clubs
and the like.

Yikes.
Are homo sapiens’
brains on strike?
Who’s next to be attacked
for their differences?
Polar Bear Clubs?
I mean we don’t
want our children to see
somebody toying with
freezing to death
do we?

The Society of Happy People?
Having our children susceptible
to all their “feel good” energy
could lead them
to grow up so full of jollity
that they might someday
wander into a place
where a man wearing a dress
trimmed in pink lace
is lip-synching Bette Midler’s
“Wind Beneath my Wings,”
dreaming of heroes
who are everything
he wishes he could be.

Why is he so scary
to the state of Tennessee
that they would go so far
as to deny him the right
to be who he is,
by his very nature,
meant to be.

What would make the state’s
Governor, Bill Lee,
and his friends,
in high places
in the GOP,
stomp on a people’s dignity
as easily
as taking a breath?
What is it in their privileged lives
that would render them so
mean and heartless,
always in a frenzy
to get together
in events like CPAC
where they feel free
to do what they’re best at:
giving birth to
ideas and theories
that hurt
whomever they’re directed at
and my reaction to such as that is
these folks,
with all the woes
they bestow,
as opposed
to a Drag Queen Show
that overflows with
dancing and strutting
and singing,
should be the folks
our children shouldn’t see.

Not if there’s to be hope
for a better country
further down the line
in this century.