The irony drips when Meghan Reckling, chair of the Livingston County Republican Party and NOT a Howell resident, manufactured outrage over the upcoming Drag Queen Bingo, and how Mike Detmer, who has announced his Congressional candidacy and IS a Howell resident, is fanning the flames. Just to be clear here: If you are angry the Melon Fest Beer Tent is closed, it was their rhetoric that started it, and Howell who actually did it, not the Drag Queens.
This ticketed-only bingo fundraiser by the hilarious Bingo Drag Queens — being held in a private theater building, and to which no one under 21 is allowed — is cited as why the City of Howell shut down the Melon Fest Beer Tent for security reasons. Talk about cancel culture!
Who is it they fear violence from? A bunch of fundraising comedians, or the intolerant Christian Right? Who do they fear exploding in drunken rage? I mean, “Lets get drunk and go beat up some drag queens” is hardly family values. Picture, if you will, those running the bingo getting their heels dirty walking to the beer tent to stir up trouble in a town that has already threatened them? C’mon, the idea is so ludicrous as to be hilarious. Truth be told, neither will happen. The framing is just to misdirect rage at the GLBT community. Allies like me will not be silent about this. Hate is never the moral path.
Historical facts: The Founding Fathers wore makeup and wigs; lipstick no less. At one time, all women’s roles were done on stage by men, for women were not allowed in the theater. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon did not shred the fabric of America by doing “Some Like it Hot.” So other than sowing division for votes, what is the purpose of this brouhaha?
It is signaling to their base that despite rhetoric, Livingston and more pointedly Howell, remain the seat of intolerance. If you don’t believe me? Look only to this post likening Drag Queen Bingo to a revival. First, the queens aren’t proselytizing; they are performing comedy. Secondly, it is lost on no one that this image looks like a burning cross. Cross dressing is not illegal. Not separating Church and State is.
It is not about “tolerance”; it’s about legality.
Diane Gee is a Pinckney resident.
