Fox News guest thinks Drag Queen Story Hour is ‘grooming America’ and ‘normalising paedophilia’
Rob Smith’s comments about drag acts is just another example of the anti-LGBTQ+ campaign that’s been growing in America over the last year. (Facebook/Rob Smith)
A gay Fox News guest has insisted that Drag Queen Story Hour events are “grooming the American public towards normalising paedophilia”.
Rob Smith is a gay Iraq war veteran, who “came out as Conservative” in the Daily Mail in 2018.
He appeared on Fox News’ women-led panel show Outnumbered where hosts and guests discussed a man who was arrested by an undercover cop when he confronted anti-LGBTQ+ protesters at a Drag Queen Story Hour event at New York Public Library in Manhattan.
Though the hosts appeared to have little idea of what was going on – one described the library as a “beautiful bookstore”, while the other said the event was “drag queen happy hour” – they had no problem with declaring it was “unhealthy” and “not appropriate” for children to see a drag performer.
But things took an even darker turn when Smith decided to start ranting about “paedophilia”.
Drag Queen Story Hours accused of ‘grooming’
“In New York City, these are very far-left liberal parents who think that taking their kids to things like this is a way to, quote, unquote, own the conservatives,” he said.
“But I want to make a point about Drag Queen Story Hour’s origins. It seems to be this thing that just popped up, [but] this didn’t come out of nowhere… This is the work of very far-left radical sort of queer theory people, right? And so these far-left radicals, the end goal is the normalisation of paedophilia.
“I know this is a little bit controversial, but we cannot look at Drag Queen Story Hour as anything more than grooming the American public towards normalising paedophilia among a very, very far-left crowd.
“I cannot look at this any other way, and I’m a gay man. I see it.”
Smith’s comments are especially concerning as far-right bigots across the US ramp up attacks on Drag Queen Story Hour events, which have become a political pawn.
Hate directed at drag events has also come from politicians, with Republican Texas state representative Bryan Slaton announcing plans in June to ban children from attending drag performances, while in Florida, supported by anti-LGBTQ+ governor Ron DeSantis, state representative Anthony Sabatini said he wanted to make it a felony offence and “terminate the parental rights of any adult who brings a child to these perverted sex shows”.
A recent report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED) found that the number of anti-LGBTQ+ protests had shot up by 340 per cent within 12 months.
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