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MANSFIELD — Community partners of a downtown family destination did not dance around the issue when giving their disapproval of an upcoming event. Last week a group announced it was set to host a ‘queer prom’ for local teenagers at the Mansfield Buckeye Imagination Museum. When actual details of the event became public, the museum began having second thoughts.
All things considered, imagination did not meet reality when the interactive children’s museum decided to cancel the controversial venue. Deena Hamilton, founder of Love on a Mission, originally announced her group was having a ‘Queer Prom’ on February 10th at the museum. Hamilton said LGBTQ teens ages twelve to eighteen, their friends, and their allies, were all invited to attend. When news about the thirty-thousand square foot children’s facility was being rented out with drag queen performers, citizens and patrons complained. Museum officials were caught off guard.
The Museum’s Board of Directors said they were happy to host the event, but that because of the additional information on the venue involving the performers, the Board decided it was “no longer the right facility rental for the event.”
“We want to emphasize that we are open to feedback that is constructive and helpful in creating a community where everyone feels valued and like they have a seat at the table,” the Board statement said. “At this time we are taking steps to further ensure the safety and appropriateness of future events hosted at our museum.”
The sexually-motivated names of the drag performers leave nothing to the imagination. Love on a Mission organizers scheduled entertainers “Miles N. Sider” of Marion, Ohio, “Anita B’ Boned” from Ashland, and “Tina Jade Marlo” of Columbus to do stage acts for children ages twelve to eighteen. Potential criminal histories of the performers could not be tracked since listed names of the entertainers are aliases and their official genders not known. Some of the acts posted by the performers on social media are too graphic to display.
The Richland County Democrat Party was listed as one of the sponsors of the Queer Prom event. Presently, Democrats hold only seven elected offices in city and county governments, compared to twenty-three offices held by Republicans.
“I am grateful the Buckeye Museum saw the light and withdrew from hosting this event,” says Linda Harvey, President and Founder of Mission America, an organization that studies cultural and social trends in the state. “Ohio parents and citizens should be heartbroken that major political groups intentionally want to lead twelve-year-old children to depraved events involving high-risk behavior. What people of conscience can do is to continue to speak out and call these predatory acts to account.”
“I am grateful the Buckeye Museum saw the light and withdrew from hosting this event. Ohio parents and citizens should be heartbroken that major political groups intentionally wanted to lead twelve-year-old children to depraved events involving high-risk behavior. What people of conscience can do is to continue to speak out and call these predatory acts to account.”
Linda Harvey, Mission America
Besides the social grooming of young people that takes place, critics of drag queen events point out that these unseemly events can be traced to child abuse. In 2019, the Houston Public Library admitted that a registered child sex offender had been reading to children as part of their Drag Queen Storytime program. In 2022, a Pennsylvania drag queen who danced explicitly for children, was charged with twenty-five counts of child pornography.
In addition, controversial restroom policies allowing transgender students to use the restroom of their choice saw these students commit violent assaults to multiple female students in Oklahoma and Loudon County, Virginia. Area faith leaders have consistently gone on the record supporting biological restrooms and supporting religious freedom. History has a way of repeating itself.
The Buckeye Museum is located beside the Renaissance Theater inside Mansfield’s “Imagination District.” In 1979 the theater closed down from a lack of community support after it changed to ‘diverse’ programming that included X-rated movies. After reopening, the theater changed its standards, and has become the largest performing arts center in North Central Ohio and home to the Miss Ohio pageant.
One Buckeye Museum patron and mother of five commented, “Just as wearing “blackface” is culturally insensitive to many Blacks, grown men cross-dressing as drag queens can be just as offensive to women. These so called performers are wolves in sheep clothing trying to sexualize our children.”
The Bottom Line:
The Bible says in James Four, “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
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