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A California state senator who has advocated on behalf of the transgender community in the past joked Tuesday that he had an idea for legislation that would require the teaching of “Drag Queen 101” to schoolchildren.
Sen. Dan Wiener, a Democrat whose district encompasses San Francisco, made the comment in response to a tweet from Texas Republican state Rep. Bryan Slaton, who said he was filing legislation to ban drag shows in the presence of children.
“Drag shows are no place for a child,” Slaton tweeted. “I would never take my children to a drag show and I know Speaker Dade Phelan and my Republican colleagues wouldn’t either. I will be filing legislation to address this issue in the new #txlege.”
In response, Wiener offered up his own idea.
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“This guy just gave me a bill idea: Offering Drag Queen 101 as part of the K-12 curriculum,” he wrote. “Attending Drag Queen Story Time will satisfy the requirement.”
Slaton then responded to Wiener’s comment, saying: “This man is a California legislator. He is clearly sick. Please join me in praying for him.”
In a news release, he said the law was necessary after a viral video circulated online showing children attending a drag show in Dallas. The event was advertised as “DRAG THE KIDS TO PRIDE – A Family Friendly Drag Show” at the Mr. Misster Dallas bar.
The show attracted negative responses from some members of Congress, including Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
“The events of this past weekend were horrifying and show a disturbing trend in which perverted adults are obsessed with sexualizing young children,” Slaton said in a statement. “As a father of two young children, I would never take my children to a drag show and I know speaker Dade Phelan and the rest of my Republican colleagues wouldn’t either.”
Wiener’s office told Fox News his remarks were a joke.
Wiener has been an advocate for the trans community in the past. Most recently, he introduced a bill that would require physicians and medical staff to undergo transgender, gender non-conforming and intersex cultural humility training.
Another would have gotten rid of a requirement that convicted sex offenders have to automatically register as sex offenders if their age is within 10 years of the minor victim. The bill said such laws discriminate against LGBTQ youth because sex acts between a male and female in the same scenario are not automatically registrable.
In May, Wiener altered a bill to add protections for families from outside California who are seeking healthcare treatments for transgender minors following a slew of transgender-related bills in red states. In 2017, he also came out in support of a bill signed into law that reduces penalties for knowingly exposing a sexual partner to HIV.
“Legislators passed a number of laws three decades ago, at the height of the HIV epidemic, that criminalized behaviors of people living with HIV or added HIV-related penalties to existing crimes,” Wiener said in a news release at the time. “These laws were based on fear and on the limited medical understanding of the time … In the decades since, societal and medical understanding of HIV has greatly improved. Effective treatments dramatically lengthen and improve the quality of life for people living with HIV — treatments that also nearly eliminate the possibility of transmission.”
California state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, discusses his proposed measure to provide legal refuge to displaced transgender youth and their families during a news conference in Sacramento in March. On Tuesday, Wiener joked that he might author a bill requiring children be taught “Drag Queen 101” in school.
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
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He also authored a bill last year that would decriminalize certain hallucinogenic substances, including ecstasy.
