State Rep. Scott Stadthagen (R-Hartselle), Majority Leader of the Alabama House Republican Caucus, thinks it’s time for lawmakers to step up and make sure that drag shows for children doesn’t become normalized in the state.
Stadthagen filed HB67 last week that sets forth, “a public K-12 school or public library shall not knowingly present or sponsor any drag performance in the presence of a minor without the consent of the minor’s parent or legal guardian.”
“I think those are to the effect of being a sexual predator, you know, putting certain things in front of kids that they shouldn’t see at that age,” Stadthagen said Wednesday on FM Talk 106.5. “And it’s indoctrinating, it’s grooming them to accept this and make this the new norm. And we’re going to make sure that that’s not the new norm. That’s not the way this, our state’s going to be in the future.”
The bill defines a drag show as a “performance in which a performer exhibits a sex identity that is different from the sex assigned to the performer at birth using clothing, makeup, or other physical markers.”
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“[I]f you get any parent in the state of Alabama, and if you say, ‘Are you know, are you okay with your child experiencing this type of event? Are you okay with a grown man in a dress, sharing and expressing himself in a sexual explicit manner to your six year old or your eight year old or your 10 year old, are you okay with that?’” Stadthagen continued. “I can’t imagine a single parent in the state of Alabama saying, yes, yeah, that’s perfectly okay.”
The second part of the lawmaker’s bill also prohibits minors to share certain facilities as a person of the opposite sex while at state-sponsored overnight programs. The issue is related to a recent incident a Space Camp in Huntsville. An exception is made for relatives or guardians with parental consent.
“[W]hen that child goes to the camp, as a parent, I drop that kid off, I drive away. I need to have the safe feeling in my stomach that my kid is going to be okay,” he explained. “There’s not going to be males that are going to be sleeping and showering and in the bathrooms with my daughter. And I think that’s it’s common sense, but it’s sad that we’re to the point where that’s where we are in our society, we have to do this kind of stuff, which is really sad.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee
