(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Defense Department nixes drag shows on military bases in wake of manufactured moral panic [1] [] Date: 2023-06-02 Now that we’re basing key policy decisions on whatever right-wing cable channels think will scare your grandma into buying more apocalyptic pancake mix, drag shows have found their way into the spotlight. And, naturally, there’s a furor surrounding this venerable art form—because that’s just how Americans react to things they know nothing about and don’t understand these days. Well, now the moral panic over folks other than Rudy Giuliani wearing dresses has reached the U.S. military. Because Rep. Matt Gaetz needs something to do besides stare at K-pop album covers all day long, apparently. On Thursday, in response to Republican complaints about Pride Month events on military bases, the Department of Defense said it would no longer sponsor drag shows at its facilities. In a statement addressing the controversy, Sabrina Singh, a deputy press secretary for the DOD, said that such events were not a “suitable use” of government resources. RELATED STORY: It's Pride Month, so haters gonna hate The New York Times: The Defense Department did not specify what was not suitable about drag events compared to other military Pride events, which include speeches, panel discussions and road races. One of the canceled events was a drag show scheduled for Thursday at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, just northeast of Las Vegas, NBC reported. An ad for the show described it as a “family-friendly” event featuring three performers, including Coco Montrese, a former contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” As the Times notes, Nellis Air Force Base hosted drag shows in both 2021 and 2022. The 2021 show featured Montrese and other drag performers and was organized by Nellis’ Pride committee. In response to the cancellations, the Modern Military Association of America, a nonprofit that advocates for LGBTQ+ military personnel, noted that such events have “become increasingly politicized, stemming from the moral panic that drag may be harmful due to the perception that it is sexual in nature.” The group also noted that the events are often paid for by private groups, not the military itself. “Ensuring our ranks reflect the diversity of the American people is essential to morale and cohesion,” the organization stated. “It affects recruiting and retention of service members who do not feel welcome due to their sexual and gender identities.” Of course, the latest announcement comes against the backdrop of yet another manufactured culture skirmish. Conservatives have been in a frothing fit over drag performances ever since they discovered they could be used as a wedge issue. As the Times reports, since early 2022, more than 166 “protests, threats and violent actions” have been directed toward organizers of drag events. In this case, the DOD may have been reacting to complaints from moral paragon Matt Gaetz, the godliest Teen Vogue subscriber in the U.S. House of Representatives. At a House Armed Services Committee hearing in March, Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, asked military leaders about the Nellis Air Force Base event and other Pride celebrations. He mentioned a drag queen story hour at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in 2021 and a drag queen story hour at Ramstein Air Base in Germany planned for Friday, which Military.com reported has since been canceled. Of course, drag has a long history, both in the U.S. military and in the culture at large. As the Times notes, even the legendary Bob Hope, a USO tour staple, performed on television specials in drag, including during one show aboard the USS Lexington. And the art form goes back at least as far as William Shakespeare, whose plays often featured men playing women’s roles. In other words, it’s an innocent—and long-accepted—form of artistic expression that has exactly zero to do with “sexualizing” or “grooming” children. What it does do, of course, is raise the hackles of insecure men like Sen. Ted Cruz, who think our military needs to be as flinty and anti-woke as Vladimir Putin’s failed army, whose soldiers wouldn’t be caught dead at a drag show. Everywhere else, sure—just not at a drag show. At some point sanity will return to our government and its institutions and we’ll be able to focus on far more important issues, like how tawny your testicles need to be before you apply for Navy SEAL training. And then—at last—America will truly be great again. RELATED STORY: LGBTQ+ people flock to Florida for Gay Days festival Check out Aldous J. 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