US Air Force promoted drag events on military bases, internal documents show
Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by Judicial Watch and CatholicVote.org purport to show that the U.S. Air Force has used taxpayer money to promote drag shows, drag queen story hours and other LGBT pride events for military personnel and their children.
After multiple "no records" responses to their repeated inquiries, the U.S. Department of Defense ultimately released 25 pages of documents detailing the funding of drag events on U.S. military installations, according to the conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.
The nonprofits requested "all emails and text messages sent to and from the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd J. Austin, III, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks and the members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding drag shows and drag story hours on U.S. military installations."
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Among their findings, the nonprofits uncovered a social media post by the Ramstein & Vogelweh Air Force Libraries in Germany that promoted Pride Month in 2021.
Judicial Watch noted that graphics in the post included a rainbow pride flag and two books that involved drag-related themes. Another graphic promoted a "Drag Queen Story Time" event at the Ramstein Library.
Another advertisement promoted a seven-week summer reading program in June 2021 that included "Drag Queen Storytime" and mentioned events such as virtual story times, teen socials, and scavenger hunts.
An additional advertisement for those 18 and older promoted another event called "Drag Karaoke," which included drink specials and prizes.
An invoice from June 2022 also shows that $400 was paid to Ms. Lexi Andrews, a drag queen who appeared at "Drag Queen Bingo" on June 23 and performed at a "Glow Party" the next day.
The records also pinpointed other adult-themed events, Judicial Watch noted.
Last May, DoD leaders intervened to halt a drag show scheduled at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, according to two defense officials and a U.S. official who spoke to NBC News.
U.S. Air Force officials reportedly approved a drag show scheduled on the base to celebrate pride month, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley shot down the plan and said its funding went against Pentagon policy, according to the outlet.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., grilled Austin and Milley during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on March 29, 2023, about reports of taxpayer-funded drag shows on U.S. military bases in Montana, Nevada, Virginia and Germany.
"Drag queen story hours is not something that the department funds," Austin told the committee. Milley requested to have the flyers promoting the event Gaetz was referring to and claimed he was unaware of them.
"I'd like to take a look at those, because I don't agree with those," Milley said at the time.
The Christian Post has reached out to the DoD for comment and will update this story if a response is received.
Tim Huelskamp, Ph.D., who serves as senior adviser at CatholicVote, said the DoD "has once again proven that radical leftist ideology is more important than military preparedness and protecting Americans from tangible threats at home and abroad."
"After an entire year of stonewalling, the DoD finally returned materials from just one command in one branch, which confirmed what we feared — that taxpayer funds were being used to promote drag shows and radical gender ideology on military bases, with full approval from Air Force leadership," he added.
"How on Earth is it appropriate to spend our limited defense dollars on promoting these sexually themed events for children and adults, rather than on advancing the military's mission?" Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
"As we see in these troubling Air Force records, our nation's military is being ruined by woke ideology," he added.
Jon Brown is a reporter for The Christian Post. Send news tips to [email protected]
