BOISE, Id. – The Boise Pride Festival, which occurs this weekend, lost three sponsors after the chair of the Idaho Republican Party Dorothy Moon released a statement claiming the companies involved were financing the “sexualization of our children. Organizers also cancelled a family-friendly children’s drag show event.
Moon, a serving member of the Idaho House of Representatives in addition to her GOP chair, has a lengthy record of far-right political ideology. In her statement issued earlier this past week, Moon criticized Boise Pride Festival’s sponsors for encouraging the “sexualization” of children.
Idaho NPR reported that “instead of bringing “investment and jobs” to Idaho,” Moon said, “…they are financing the sexualization of our children and the perverse idea that children should engage in sexual performances with adult entertainers.” The GOP lawmaker was taking specific aim at a kids ages 11-18 drag show that was planned. She said the festival’s sponsors should “disavow this attack on Idaho’s children” and instead redirect their donations to the Boise Rescue Mission.
In a tweet Moon showed a picture of herself outside a Boise branch of Wells Fargo, a sponsor of Boise Pride which did not withdraw its support of the weekend festival.
I closed out my account at @WellsFargo. A real inconvenience, especially in a recession. But Americans have long practiced forms of peaceful civil disobedience. We shouldn’t patronize businesses that are committed to undermining our values or that target the innocence of children pic.twitter.com/F926FbWfmZ
— Dorothy Moon (@moonforidaho) September 9, 2022
As a result of Moon’s statement, the Idaho Statesman newspaper reported that Zions Bank withdrew its sponsorship followed by both Idaho Power and the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare.
In a statement posted to Twitter, Zions Bank said it wasn’t aware of the Kids Drag event when it partnered with Boise Pride Festival and withdrew its participation.
Despite that, the bank said its support for its employees and the LGBTQ community “remains unchanged.”
— Zions Bank (@ZionsBank) September 7, 2022
Boise Pride later cancelled plans for the drag show telling the paper the decision was made because of safety concerns for the children and their parents.
“The kids who were going to perform have the enthusiastic support of their community and support and consent of their parents,” organizers said in the statement. “We support the kids 1000% and their choice to be themselves, stand their truth and express themselves. They are brave, beautiful and deserve their chance to be in the spotlight, and we want to give that to them at a later date.”
Riley Burrows, co-producer and host of the Drag Kids program, which had been on the schedule for Sunday, said the decision was extremely difficult to make, but security and safety are priorities.
Donald Williamson, executive director of Boise Pride Festival, told Boise State Public Radio in an interview that far-right Republican officials like Moon feel more emboldened after the last several years of pushing anti-LGBTQ legislation.
Boise Pride continues to endorse the sexualization of children & will host the drag kids performance at a “later date”. Concerned citizens should continue to contact any Boise Pride sponsors so long as they openly advocate for children’s participation in sexualized drag culture. https://t.co/FILMRip0JB
— Idaho GOP (@IdahoGOP) September 9, 2022
All performers in Drag Kids have the “enthusiastic” support of their parents, Williamson said, with one participant set to perform alongside their mother.
“The only perversion and sexualization of this performance are coming from extremists and people like Dorothy Moon, who is twisting it into something that it is not.”
Safety issues however, are of real concern after earlier this summer heavily armed Coeur d’Alene police officers and Kootenai County Sheriff’s deputies in riot gear arrested armed anti-LGBTQ+ protestors, and a few self-labeled ‘street preachers’ who were attempting to disrupt the “Pride in the Park” in Coeur d’Alene City Park.
Law enforcement arrested 31 people who had face coverings, white-supremacist insignia, shields and an “operations plan” to riot near the LGBTQ Pride event. Lee White, the police chief of the Coeur d’Alene police department said those arrested were affiliated with Patriot Front, a white-supremacist group whose founder was among those arrested.
Boise Police Department spokesperson Haley Williams said police met with Boise Pride event organizers after the Patriot Front arrests. “As with any special event, the Boise Police Department works with event organizers to evaluate the security needs,” Williams said in an email to the Idaho Statesman. “Based on that evaluation and other information, the department makes a plan to staff the event accordingly.”
Boise Mayor Lauren McLean issued a statement about the controversy on Thursday applauding Pride organizers for taking action “to protect everyone who will join in the celebration this weekend.” She also said that “the inflammatory rhetoric of the past few days has put a spotlight on the critical need for our community to have a conversation about standing together in times like these to encourage, embrace and support the diversity and dignity of all people.”
Boise Pride Festival commenced Friday evening at Cecil D. Andrus Park in downtown Boise and runs through Sunday afternoon.
Source: losangelesblade.com
