Pleasant Grove High School in Elk Grove, California held a multicultural assembly on Friday, March 3, in which teens performed a school-sanctioned youth drag performance. The performance featured the high school’s LGBTQ+ group dancing provocatively in drag-inspired outfits.
The assembly took place during school hours and was mandatory for all students to attend. One student felt so uncomfortable, he had no choice but to put his head down. When his mother told him to leave, he said he was not allowed to.
The first drag performer states that the performance is a “protest” for “[drag] queens and transgender youth.” They then go on to slam a slew of red states for “targeting” transgender youth, “Our performance is for our community in Oklahoma, Idaho, Florida, Arizona, Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Alabama, and Tennessee, who are actively being targeted.”
Many parents were outraged that they were not notified about the drag performance in advance. In an email sent out prior to the event, the school made no indication there would be a drag performance during the assembly. This differed from previous years, in which parents were made aware of all of the groups performing ahead of time.
Pleasant Grove High School is no stranger when it comes to grooming teenagers. The District’s website offers a “Gender Support Plan” to students as a way to “create shared understandings about the ways in which the student’s authentic gender will be accounted for and supported at school.” Students are also encouraged to use facilities consistent with their gender identity, without respect to the gender listed on their records.
Read More: Parents outraged after students mandated to watch drag performance, school doubles down