Why Has America Gone Crazy for Drag Queens?

(Getty Images)

Just when you thought 2022 couldn't get any weirder, California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi—the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives—went on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars two weeks ago and declared that drag queens are "what America is all about."

Pelosi appeared at the end of the May 30 episode of the show, which features talent competitions between men dressed as women. In more recent episodes Drag Race has also featured transgender contestants who have transitioned from male to female. In her brief remarks, Pelosi thanked the show's stars for their "freedom of expression" and "for the joy and beauty you bring to the world."

Why does it seem that drag queens are everywhere these days? A few decades ago this kinky form of burlesque was relegated to smoke-filled clubs or gay bars. Today, RuPaul's TV show has more than a million weekly viewers in the U.S. And the trend is spreading:

  • Last week in Dallas, parents were urged to bring their children to a special gay pride brunch that was billed as "family friendly." But local residents were incensed when they saw video footage of young children watching drag queens doing sexually explicit dances.
  • News reports surfaced this week revealing that public elementary schools in New York City have spent more than $200,000 to send drag queens into classrooms to read to students. In 2022 alone, "Drag Story Hour" events have been sponsored in 34 of the city's schools.
  • Several schools in Colorado teamed up to host "Drag Queen Story Hour" featuring a male teacher, Stuart Sanks, who says he performs as a drag queen during his off hours. He told Westword magazine: "We tend to giggle a lot in my [class]room, and there is always glitter, much to the chagrin of some parents. But, hey, a drag queen is your child's teacher. This is what you signed up for."

Is this what we signed up for? What we are witnessing is not just about glitter in a classroom, or about men wearing women's clothes and makeup. It's a blatant attempt to normalize sexual perversion in the name of "inclusivity." And while transvestism is still considered a mental disorder among many psychologists, the LGBTQ+ community is working overtime to groom children to accept it as a normal lifestyle choice.

It's time for rational people to cry foul before this lunacy gains more traction. This is not just an attack on family values; it's an attack on basic intelligence. We were constantly told during the COVID-19 pandemic that we should "believe the science." So what do we do with science as it relates to gender? Here are three simple reasons the "logic" of transgender activists is faulty:

1. Gender is a biological reality, not just an emotional feeling. In 2015 a woman named Rachel Dolezal was exposed as a fraud because she claimed she was African American even though she was born to white parents. Dolezal even became a local leader of the NAACP until her elaborate scam unraveled. She told NBC's Matt Lauer: "I identify as Black." But she was laughed off the national stage because everybody knows you can't change your race just because you want to. DNA determines race. You can't "become" Black.

So why don't we apply the same scientific standard to gender? Today's code of political correctness says if you were born a woman but you "feel" you are a man, you can use the men's restroom and change your official gender identity. But if a woman can "become" a man, what's next? Will someone defy the laws of science and change from human to some species of animal? Where does this end?

2. Gender must be affirmed. I don't know what people are smoking these days, but something has clouded the judgment of educators who think children should be encouraged to "explore" their gender possibilities. While gender is genetically inborn, a boy must be trained to be a man, and a girl must be trained to be a woman. Parents play a huge role in developing gender identity in their children.

We live in a fallen world; that's why people are susceptible to gender confusion. Sexual abuse, bullying, shaming, lack of parental nurture and many other factors can cause a child or a teenager to question their maleness or femaleness. Yet if a person with gender confusion gets counseling and encouragement, they can overcome their emotional struggles.

Proverbs 22:6 says: "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it" (ESV). The opposite is also true: If you withhold training from a child, he or she will wander in a confused state and never reach his or her potential. An educator or parent who encourages a child to "explore" his or her gender options is really abusing that child in the worst way.

3. "Gender fluidity" is a hoax. Secularists view the Bible as archaic and irrelevant, so they ignore the fact that the first chapter of Genesis says God created mankind as "male and female" (Gen. 1:27). But in the past, even non-Christians believed in what America's Founding Fathers called "the laws of nature and of nature's God." Some things are just plain obvious when you look at scientific reality.

But when people rage against God and rebel against His laws, they reject obvious truth. Educators today have adopted the wacky idea that gender is fluid and changeable—even though science doesn't support this. If a man decides he is really a woman "inside," he is urged to take the hormones, put on the mascara, wear a dress and maybe even become one of RuPaul's drag queens. Many Americans can wave rainbow flags to cheer that decision, and Nancy Pelosi can put her stamp of approval on it, but that doesn't make it right.

Read articles like this one and other Spirit-led content in our new platform, CHARISMA APP.

J. Lee Grady was editor of Charisma for 11 years before he launched into full-time ministry in 2010. Today he directs The Mordecai Project, a Christian charitable organization that is taking the healing of Jesus to women and girls who suffer abuse and cultural oppression. Author of several books including 10 Lies the Church Tells Women, he has just released his newest book, Set My Heart on Fire, from Charisma House. You can follow him on Twitter at @LeeGrady or go to his website, themordecaiproject.org.


To contact us or to submit an article, click here.


Get Charisma's best content delivered right to your inbox! Never miss a big news story again. Click here to subscribe to the Charisma News newsletter.

Charisma News - Informing believers with news from a Spirit-filled perspective