Ooopsie! Turns out the undercover agents scoping out the supposedly lewd and lascivious A Drag Queen Christmas event at the Plaza Live back in December — the one that led to Gov. DeSantis and cronies in the DBPR threatening to pull the venue’s liquor license — wasn’t actually lewd and lascivious and all.
According to reporting by the Miami Herald, there were a small squad of state agents working undercover at the Plaza Live on the evening of Dec. 28, filming the show on state-issued iPhones (your tax dollars at work!).
While the agents spotted three minors accompanied by adults (parents’ rights! right?), they did not spot anything happening on stage that fit the definition of sexually explicit.
“Besides some of the outfits being provocative (bikinis and short shorts), agents did not witness any lewd acts such as exposure of genital organs,” read the FDLE incident report. “The performers did not have any physical contact while performing to the rhythm of the music with any patrons.”
And yet, the governor disingenuously claimed it was (“a disturbing trend in our society to try to sexualize these young people”) and threatened to take the Milk District venue’s liquor license. And then did the same with the Miami venue that hosted A Drag Queen Christmas, the Hyatt Regency Miami.
“What you see here is the governor sending in investigators and then dismissing what the investigators have to say because it doesn’t fit into his narrative,” Orlando activist and former state representative Carlos Guillermo Smith said to the Herald.
“It’s more evidence that all of this … is contrived, it’s politically motivated. And it’s not about protecting children. It’s part of an ongoing effort to marginalize LGBT people and their allies because that’s the vehicle that will get him to … the GOP nomination.”
This was just the first volley of intimidation against venues in Florida that host drag events. We’re seeing more of this locally in recent weeks.
Just today, Boone High School canceled a “Donuts & Drag” after-school discussion program with drag queen Momma Ashley Rose (aka Jason DeShazo of the Rose Dynasty Foundation, the same Rose Dynasty Foundation that had to move the Miss Rose Dynasty Pageant from Orlando to Kissimmee earlier in March). Although the event was a club meeting — in other words, no student would be there unless they wanted to be — Boone HS staff informed parents that they received a call from the Florida Department of Education that “questioned whether it was age and developmentally appropriate,” before intimating that any participating teacher or staff member might be subject to investigation.
As yet, the governor seems unconcerned by sporting events where cheerleaders “perform to the rhythm of the music” while wearing short shorts, or parents accompanying children to R-rated movies.
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