FL lawmaker's anti-drag show bill would make his wife's charity burlesque show illegal

FL lawmaker Randy Fine claims that drag queens are sexualizing kids. His wife (seen in the center) allegedly performed in a sexually charged show in front of kids.

On the next episode of Republican Hypocrites (which seems to be redundant these days) is Randy Fine, rabidly anti-LGBTQ Florida state lawmaker pushing to legislatively erase drag shows because he thinks drag queens 'sexualize kids.' And his wife Wendy, whose 'sexually charged' burlesque show was allegedly performed in front of kids.

From NBC News:

Florida Rep. Randy Fine, a Republican, on Wednesday fervently defended a bill he’s sponsoring to criminalize “adult live performances” in front of children. “If it means erasing a community because you have to target children, then damn right, we ought to do it,” he said on the floor of the Florida House. Fine acknowledged that the legislation might criminalize the work of some of the state’s drag performers, many of whom have deep ties to the LGBTQ community. 

And if the bill becomes law, it may also criminalize the work of a Floridian he neglected to mention: his wife. Wendy Fine is co-hosting an annual gala on Saturday, which she has previously performed in, to raise money for a children’s charity, Spring Forward for Autism, as local news site Space Coast Rocket first reported. The gala will take place at the Hilton Melbourne hotel in Melbourne, about an hour east of Orlando. It will be “an evening filled with sultry performers,” according to the nonprofit’s website, which lists Rep. Fine as one of the gala’s main sponsors. Images and videos on social media of past years’ events show women — including one who appears to be the lawmaker’s wife, who is tagged in the photos — posing and dancing in lingerie and revealing costumes. " 

According to Space Coast Rocket:

In April of 2021, Wendy Fine participated in a fundraiser for children with autism in Brevard County. From photos and videos of the event, Fine, scantly dressed in burlesque/lingerie, performed sexually charged and provocative dance routines on stage alongside members of the LGBTQ+ community for the audience in exchange for money….for children.

 A YouTube video was taken down of the performance for violating its terms and policies. According to some who attended the event, there were members of the audience under the age of 18 believed to be special needs. A toddler can be seen in a video from last year’s event. The event’s website does not say it’s for over the ages of 18. According to the website, Wendy Fine is the Chair for the event. 

NBC News points out that the show would be illegal under her husband's bill:

Such performances could be considered illegal under the legislation Fine introduced this year, which seeks to criminalize “adult live performances” in the presence of children. The bill’s text defines “adult live performance” as “any show, exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience which, in whole or in part, depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities.”

Also, according to Space Coast Rocket: 

 The live performance was also live streamed on social media. Because of the vagueness of Randy’s HB 1423, it appears that simply live streaming a live performance like this would also fall under the criminal nature of his bill.

Thus far, neither Fine nor his wife has issued any comments.

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North Dakota governor signs trans athlete bans into law - 20 states focused on an non-problem. 

Their Utah County school removed all pride flags. Now these LGBTQ+ kids are fighting back. - Good for them!

'Drag queens eating bleeding hearts, kids given sex toys to train' - The lies which failed to stop Pride in Franklin, Tenn

Franklin, Tenn council member shows a photo of what she claims is a drag queen biting into a "live, bleeding heart."

All of these horror stories about drag queens grooming kids, pride events trying to convert kids, and trans activists pressuring kids into surgeries are a bunch of lies. It always amazes me when people sound astounded that these lies continue. That's what hate is all about. It never goes away. It simply takes different forms. And, as we are seeing now,  covered up with less alarming, calmer verbiage and phraseology. But the root is always hate, ignorance, and foolishness. No matter how its dressed up as concern for children, community standards, and religious beliefs, we are still talking about irrational hatred. 

And sooner or later, it always comes out. 

A good example was Tuesday night in the city of Franklin, Tenn. The city council was voting on a motion to grant a permit for the Franklin Pride Festival. It was approved but only after a wild meeting in which several folks came out to speak against granting the permit. What got everything stirred up were rumors - not proven of course - of salacious behavior in front of children. Supposedly a "gyrating drag queen." You know how these scenarios progress. Someone spreads a story about children supposedly seeing something x-rated at a gay event and people come out of the woodwork because they feel free to express their hidden prejudices. For the sake of the children, of course.

And Tuesday night they came out in droves spewing all sorts of things. I want to spotlight two because they are the epitome of my general point.

During the meeting, Alderman At Large Gabrielle Hanson held up a picture of supposedly a drag queen biting into a "live bleeding heart." While holding up the picture, Hanson supposedly warned that "this could have happened here."

Correction: Her comment was about a drag queen biting into "a live, *bleeding* heart." And this was the photo she held up. https://t.co/pcQfXvVnGO pic.twitter.com/qNfD8Pw8WQ

— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) April 12, 2023

Hanson voted against granting the permit. But as outrageous as that was, another speaker probably stands in a category of her own. The unidentified woman with the "We The People" t-shirt claimed that in another place which had Pride, there was a "rainbow room" in which "eight-to 12 kids were given butt plugs and dildos and trained."

Tonight, Franklin, TN is set to take a vote on a permit for the city's Pride festival.
Here's some of the public comment.
"It started out as Pride coming in and I thought everything would be ok...it ended with a rainbow room where 8-12 y/o kids were given butt plugs and dildos." pic.twitter.com/wyKXaD4ZwQ

— Adam Mintzer (@adammintzer) April 11, 2023

Furthermore according to her it was "horrendous," a comment which left many folks on the thread asking if she has witnessed this then why didn't she report it. Of course a lot of those comments were VERY  skeptical of her claim. They made particular note of her extreme dramatics, fake crying, and super heaving. Between you and me, she did everything BUT pass out at the end of her testimony.

I guess sometimes you have let a bigot speak. That is after giving them two things - space for them to put their foot in their own mouths (because that is generally what happens) and barbeque sauce for when they complain about how their foot tastes.

My point is never be fooled by how normal certain things sound when it comes to undermining LGBTQ rights and health. Behind every excuse is a lie. Behind every claim of genuine concern is an irrational fear. And they always come out sooner or later.

Tweets by Mike Hixenbaugh, senior investigative reporter at NBC News.

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D.C. Library Pride Display Causes Outrage Among Right-Wing Authors, Influencers - This was funny and shows why kids probably prefer drag queens reading to them rather than right-wing propagandists.

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TX lawmaker who accused drag shows of 'grooming' kids faces complaint of 'inappropriate relationship' with young intern

Bryan Slaton

In June of last year, Texas state rep Bryan Slaton said that all-age drag shows "sexualize" children. He even threatened to sponsor legislation which would ban children from attending drag shows.  Less than a year later,  he now faces accusations of an "inappropriate relationship" with an intern under 21-years-old.

According to Vice:

Texas state Rep. Bryan Slaton has reportedly had a complaint filed against him with the Texas state legislature that claims he had an “inappropriate relationship” with an intern. A complaint filed with the House General Investigating Committee by a legislative staffer and obtained by the Texas Tribune, as well as a Tribune source with direct knowledge of the incident, said that Stanton called the intern, who is under age 21, after 10 p.m. on Friday, March 31, and invited her to his apartment, where he served her alcohol. According to allegations in the complaint obtained by the Tribune, Slaton later showed that intern fake emails that claimed to have information about the incident in an apparent loyalty test, and told her not to tell anyone about the incident.

Slaton's attorney denied the charges but according to the Texas Tribune, this is not going away anytime soon. Two lawmakers are already demanding his resignation:

Two state lawmakers have called for the resignation of Rep. Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, after The Texas Tribune reported that he is being investigated following allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a Capitol intern. 

 “The past few days in the Texas House, screams of everything that’s wrong with a small segment of its elected officials. Unfortunately calling the behavior of [Slaton] ‘inappropriate’ is a gross understatement,” state Rep. Steve Toth, R-The Woodlands, wrote on social media Tuesday morning. “He needs to resign.” 

 The resignation calls have come as Slaton has remained silent about the allegations beyond an initial statement from his lawyer decrying unspecified "outrageous claims." His usual political allies have also stayed quiet about the situation. Meanwhile, the intern has retained a lawyer, Julie Springer in Austin, who specializes in employment law. Springer confirmed Tuesday she was representing the intern but declined to comment further.

Vice took the time to remind folks just how extensively Slaton attacked drag shows for supposedly "sexualizing" kids:

Slaton, who is 45 years old, has spent more than a year denouncing all-ages drag performances, and last month he introduced a bill to ban drag shows from having kids in attendance. “In the wake of these erotic drag performances sweeping our state, I committed last year to filing legislation that would stop this disgusting practice in the presence of children,” he said in a statement announcing the bill. 

 “The State has a duty to protect kids from being sexually exploited, and HB 4129 is the most comprehensive bill to stop the sexualization of kids by these performances,” he continued.

Slaton has previously blasted an all-ages drag show as a “grooming event.”

 “This is just going to the grooming, the sexualization of our children,” he said last summer. “This comes down to decency, morality and ethics, and children should not be the object of your sexualization, your desires.”

If this situation turns out to be as bad as it sounds, it simply shows that drag queens are so popular that even karma has their back.

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How a Nashville suburb’s LGBTQ pride festival became a bitter flashpoint - Some bull about "gyrating drag queens" made people think that it was a good time for them to bring out their hidden prejudices.

TX Rep Dan Crenshaw tries to boycott Bud Light for partnership with trans influencer but ends up embarrassing himself

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (TX)

Conservatives keep attacking Bud Light for its partnership with transgender social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney. And they keep ending up looking foolish. 

The latest person is Texas Congressman Dan Crenshaw.

From Raw Story:

The Houston Chronicle reported Crenshaw was triggered by seeing a trans woman holding a can of Bud Light in an Instagram post this weekend. Crenshaw announced that he was going to throw out all the Bud Light in his fridge. "Saw Bud Light's stupid ad campaign," Crenshaw rants in the video. "So guess what we're going to do? We're going to throw out every single Bud Light we've got in the fridge." 

So, according to the article, Crenshaw showed his refrigerator full of other beers such as Karbach, Crush City IPA, Dos Equis and others.  However, folks watching the video noted something which Crenshaw obviously didn't.

 "Who wants to tell him?" replied JayWolfe3802 on Instagram. The comment comes from a user that clearly knows the Karbach in Crenshaw's fridge is owned by Bud Light's parent company Anheuser-Busch Inbev, which Crenshaw was ranting about. 

 Dos Equis, the Mexican lager known for its "Most Interesting Man in the World" is owned by Heineken, which tends to give more money to Democrats during four of the last five elections, Open Secrets said. 

 "You really gotta use those research skills you use when gerrymandering on bud lights beers bud," replied someone named kirby_carlock. "If you are going to do cancel culture make sure you do it right snowflake."

Way to go, Dan.

On one hand, it's funny. But the other hand, it's a sad commentary about how people are willing bend over backwards to make fools of themselves for social media. A little advice, Dan. People elected you to serve their interest on Congress, not to be a social media jackass