Somehow those crazy mixed up Trump/MAGA zombies have fallen for the propaganda that Drag Queen’s groom our kids to be LGBT. When in fact it is nothing more than a harmless performance art that goe back Centuries.

The origin of the term drag is uncertain But female impersonation can be traced back at least as far as ancient Greece. There was little to no gender equity then and women held a lower social status. This meant male actors would play female roles during theatrical performance. his tradition continued for centuries but began to be less prevalent as motion pictures became popular.

In the age of Shakespearean theatre, during the late 16th century.  At the time, the church was heavily connected to the stage and only allowed men to perform, and so it was that any female roles were played by the men in the cast dressed as women.

During the era of vaudeville it was considered immodest for women to appear on stage. Due to that circumstance, some men became famous as “female impersonators”, the most notable being Julian Eltinge. At the peak of his career he was one of the most sought after and highest paid actors in the world. Meanwhile, in San Francisco, Bothwell Browne was the top female impersonator of the West Coast. He performed at the Grand Opera House and Central Theater, among other venues, went on tour with United Vaudeville, and later appeared in the film Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919), produced by Mack Sennett.

In the early to mid-1900s, female impersonation had become tied to the LGBT community and thus criminality, so it had to change forms and locations.

 In the 1940s and 1950s, Arthur Blake was one of the few female impersonators to be successful in both gay and mainstream entertainment, becoming famous for his impersonations of Bette Davis, Carmen Miranda, and Eleanor Roosevelt in night clubs.^[ At the invitation of the Roosevelts, he performed his impersonation of Eleanor at the White House.^](I guess he groomed the Roosevelts)  He also impersonated Davis and Miranda in the 1952 film Diplomatic Courier.

Even today many male stars have dressed in drag in movies and theatre. Some Like It Hot, the 1959 Billy Wilder classic, remains a comedy favorite in part because of the hilarious pairing of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in drag!, John Travolta played voluptuous and bubbly Edna Turnblad in the 2007 musical remake of John Water’s cult film Hairspray. Even in the In 1999’s The Boondock Saints, Paul Smecker (Willem Dafoe) tries saving the day by showing up at a dangerous location dressed as a woman.

And there are so many more they are literally too many to list.

So did Travolta, Curtis, Lemmon and Dafoe groom anyone?

No. They acted. They are performers, thespians, and artists.

And so are Drag Queens.