Wednesday, June 01, 2022

Marco Rubio obviously thinks drag queens are more dangerous to children than gun violence

Sen. Marco Rubio won't support gun control legislation but drag queen reading to children gets him very angry.


In wake the school shooting in Uvalde, TX, several members of the GOP have been hemming and hawing about why they still don't support comprehensive gun control legislation. Florida Sen Marco Rubio is no different.

 According to Mediaite, Rubio had this to say on March 25: 

CNN’s Manu Raju talked with Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio about gun control on Wednesday in the wake of the horrific school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, asking about background checks and specific weapons bans. 

 “I caught up with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican whose state witnessed that Parkland massacre at the high school just a few years, four years ago, and I asked him whether or not he would support expanding background checks,” said Raju to introduce the clip on CNN. “He made clear he is not on board with that approach.” 

 In the clip Raju asked Rubio, “Why not just expand background checks to take more commercial sales? Even if it doesn’t prevent every tragedy, it could surely prevent some, right?” “No, every commercial sale requires a background check,” objected Rubio. “Gun shows and internet?” interjected Raju. “There hasn’t been a single of these mass shootings that have been purchased at a gun show or on the internet,” said Rubio. 

“So if people want a deal, we can have that debate. But don’t link it to these horrible events because they would have nothing to do with it.” 

 “Okay, but what about getting rid of AR-15s?” asked Raju. “Why are these semiautomatic rifles necessary?” 

 “No, if people want to talk about banning specific guns, they should propose that, but it wouldn’t prevent these shootings,” answered Rubio.

On the next day, Rubio got called out for accusing the NBA of  'politicizing' the shooting.  He did this after Miami Heat announcer Michael Baiamonte called for a moment of silence and afterwards, asking the audience to calling their lawmakers and press for gun control legislation.

Fast forward to May 31:


Since the Daily Wire article is behind a firewall, I looked up another source for what was going on. It wasn't difficult to find since conservative publications generally trade content. According to the Family Research Council, there was supposed to be an event until Rubio sent a letter to off a letter to the secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall. FRC's rendition shouldn't be taken as the complete truth in the matter, but the group did post what Rubio wrote to Kendall, including his lie that Drag Queen Story Hour is a sexually charged event:

“U.S. military installations exist to serve the needs of the warfighter for training, logistics, storage, testing, and deployment,” Rubio wrote. “Simultaneously, the installation must also support the needs of servicemembers and their families, including creating a safe, healthy environment for parents raising children … In light of this, it is completely insane for Ramstein AFB to use on-installation resources for rituals like ‘Drag Queen Story Time.’ These inappropriate events are extremely divisive at home for good reason; in all cases, they place young children in close proximity with adults who are intentionally and explicitly sexualized.”

 Pointing to an author highlighted at last year’s event, Rubio shook his head that anyone — let alone military officials — would consider it appropriate to expose children to the “magic of drag” — and, worse, encourage them to “get a little practice shaking their hips…” 

“As I hope you can agree,” the senator argued to Kendall, “decisions over children and their bodies should be left to moms and dads serving our nation, not mediated through publicly funded propaganda on U.S. Air Force bases. The last thing parents serving their nation overseas should be worried about, particularly in a theater with heightened geopolitical tensions, is whether their children are being exposed to sexually charged content simply because they visited their local library. I urge you to cancel this event…”


Rubio's letter is nonsense. Drag Queen Story Hour happens to be a very educational, totally innocent event which is popular with parents and kids alike. The event has nothing to do with sex. It teaches children to importance of literacy and respecting differences. Parents generally attend the event with their kids.

But more to the point, it is rather self-serving and highly despicable for Rubio to claim that Drag Queen Story is dangerous to children while not supporting common sense gun legislation even after a classroom of children and adults were the victims of gun violence.

Maybe it's just me but a drag queen reading a book is less harmful to a child than being shot.

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