Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio has been epically called out by a drag queen whom he featured in a campaign attack ad.
The campaign video includes footage of drag performer Lil Miss Hot Mess reading to children at a Drag Queen Story Hour, as Mr Rubio says: “The radical left will destroy children if we don’t stop them. They indoctrinate children, try to turn boys into girls.”
Upon learning about the consentless use of her image by Mr Rubio’s campaign, Lil Miss Hot Mess put out her own video clapping back: “Why are you so obsessed with me and Drag Story Hour?”
Lil Miss Hot Mess, who lives in Arizona and performs in Los Angeles, said a friend had alerted her last week about the an ad for Mr Rubio airing on the Weather Channel in Florida.
In her response video, which was shared by the LGBT+ advocacy organisation GLAAD, the performer ripped into Mr Rubio for his “hateful” attack on Drag Queen Story Hour. The nationwide programme began in 2015 with drag performers reading stories to children to highlight the benefits of reading and to boost diversity, its website states.
“We’re simply out here reading books to children, encouraging them to use their imagination to envision a more just and fabulous world,” she said. “You, on the other hand, are out here during a hurricane that is pummeling your state spreading hateful, homophobic and transphobic bigotry.”
She argued that the senator should instead be working to combat the climate crisis and gun violence in schools or to improve the economy.
“You can either stand up for those of us who deserve justice and rights in this country, or you can stand out of our way, because we are here to spread joy, justice and a more fabulous future,” she countered.
She told NBC News that the ad aired on the Weather Channel on the same day that Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida.
“It just seems so shocking that this was how he was prioritizing his campaign dollars and the kinds of messages that he was crafting,” she said. “It’s ridiculous to come after drag queens for simply reading books to kids.”
At least 96 people have died in Florida as a result of the storm.
The performer noted that this isn’t the first time that Mr Rubio has lashed out against Lil Miss Hot Mess. A Drag Queen Story Hour event in May at a US Air Force base in Germany was cancelled following several complaints, including a letter from Mr Rubio.
The senator wrote to the secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall, that the event was “politically divisive” and that it would “place young children in close proximity with adults who are intentionally and explicitly sexualized”.
He went on to criticise The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish – a book written by Lil Miss Hot Mess.
“The author of the book said they wrote it so that children could ‘experience the magic of drag and to get a little practice shaking their hips or shimmying their shoulders to know how [they] can feel fabulous inside of [their] own bodies,’” Mr Rubio wrote in the letter. “As I hope you can agree, decisions over children and their bodies should be left to moms and dads serving our nation, not mediated through publicly funded propaganda on US Air Force bases.”
In an NBC News op-ed in June, Lil Miss Hot Mess argued that Mr Rubio was employing “dangerous rhetoric suggesting that drag queens sexualize children”.
She instead said that “drag activates creativity and play, expanding traditional ways of thinking”.
Lil Miss Hot Mess noted that she has published research alongside assistant professor Harper Keenan at the University of British Columbia noting that Drag Queen Story Hour employ effective learning methods as it prompts a sense of wonder and curiosity.
It also “encourages children to ask why things have always been done in certain ways,” the paper states.
Mr Rubio’s campaign ad is one instance in a long line of examples of Republicans claiming that LGBT+ events and drag performances are dangerous for children. Some have argued that it’s “grooming” – using an old stereotype based on falsehoods about LGBT+ people.
As many as three events were targeted by white nationalist groups during Pride month in June, according to NBC News.
When a Texas church hosted a drag bingo event last week, armed protesters showed up at the scene, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Lil Miss Hot Mess told NBC News that Drag Queen Story Hour helps to open up “children’s imaginations” and that it helps “them be their best selves”.
“We’re not out here on the defensive,” she told the outlet. “We really are out here doing this because we believe that it’s right and because we believe that it does open up new possibilities for our world and for our future.”
The Independent has reached out to the office of Mr Rubio for comment.
