And since then, another similar incident occurred in a small Texas town. Are there lessons to be learned?

First, let me say that I am not a fan of drag shows. I don’t find men with football biceps dressed in gowns and make-up intriguing, entertaining, or remotely sexy. At the same time, there are media and events far more shocking than drag queens bedecked in pearls. As the television critic for the Salt Lake Tribune wrote after seeing the HBO event, “There’s no sexual content, nudity, or violence. Kids see more risqué stuff on TV every day.” (OK, the show does contain a couple of F-bombs, something every high school student in St. George hears daily in a school hallway.)

And now to Taylor, Texas, a small town a 30 minute drive away from Austin. The traditional Christmas parade organized by a conservative religious organization initially approved a float from a group called Taylor Pride. Soon after the approval, the ministers discovered the float would be more than a rainbow Christmas tree; it altered the wording on the application thus canceling Taylor Pride’s entry.

Fearing a lawsuit and trying to tamp down controversy, the city manager created a new event. The drag float could, he said, be part of a separate parade following the traditional one. 

To me, this made perfect sense. No one was forced to see men dressed as busty women in sequined dresses and heels. The townsfolk could take the children to wave at Santa and pick up candy from the elves, then go home.

But that still wasn’t enough for a resident who complained in a Wall Street Journal article that Americans are derelict in allowing paid professional staff to overrule the feelings of small-town majorities. He said by farming out decisions to experts or educated professionals – you know, people who understand the law – small towns are being run by ideological (to him, liberal) colonizers instead of acting like hired hands.

That’s the same argument that led to the dismissal of the St. George city manager. With this logic, if the majority of residents didn’t want Black families to live in their city, the legal opinion of the city manager or city attorney should be muzzled. If the majority of a small town didn’t want to have their children learn about slavery or the fact that Native It’s simple: If you don’t want to see a bunch of drag queens, then don’t attend a drag show. I wouldn’t want to see a hoard of Nazi sympathizers gather in a public park either, but that’s their constitutional right. I don’t have to attend and I can let everybody else know that they are idiots, but my likes and dislikes should have no place in the legal arena.

As far as teaching values to children, that is the duty of individual families, not an elected official who is pandering for votes.