killjoy

Matt Gaetz makes a late bid to be biggest Pride Month douchebag

Matt Gaetz
Matt Gaetz (Photo: C-SPAN)

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz has spent much of Pride Month crying about one issue he clearly thinks is hugely important in the US right now: Military bases hosting drag shows.

The military has been hosting drag entertainment since at least the early 20th century. Even the famed comic Bob Hope donned drag to entertain the troops occasionally.

Despite this, Gaetz has made it his mission to end the practice. And yesterday, he took that a step further by introducing an amendment to military finance legislation to codify a ban on such shows.

The Hill reports Gaetz introduced an amendment to the draft National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). It would bar any funding that might go toward drag entertainment. Fellow Republicans on the House Armed Services Committee swiftly adopted the amendment. It passed 33-26.

Gaetz later retweeted a speech by his GOP colleague, Missouri Rep. Mark Alford, supporting the amendment.

“I think it’s time for us to do something to make our voice known that we will not let this happen in the U.S. military – woke ideology and the drag queen shows have no place in our military, zero, bupkis. That is not the way to recruit people,” said Alford.

The amendment was passed despite pushback from Democrats.

“I represent the largest military community in the entire country and I can confidently say that not a single service member or military family has ever, not once, complained to me about drag shows,” said San Diego Rep. Sara Jacobs.

“They call me about housing, they call me about childcare, they call me about food security, they call me about many, many things. They do not call me about drag shows.”

Matt Gaetz grills Defense leaders

In March, Gaetz grilled Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III and Chief of Defense Staff General Mark Milley during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House Armed Services Committee.

“How much taxpayer money goes to fund drag queen story hours on military bases?” Gaetz asked them. “Why are they happening on military bases?”

Milley expressed concern and said he would, “take a look at those, because I don’t agree with those.”

Harpy Daniels

Earlier this year, right-wingers discovered the US Navy used a serving member, who also happens to be a drag queen, to post some videos on social media about entertaining the troops and serving their country.

Yeoman 2nd Class Joshua Kelley performs as Harpy Daniels. In November 2022, Kelley announced the Navy recruited them as a “Digital Ambassador” to help boost recruitment. Presumably, Navy superiors felt Kelley promotes the fact LGBTQ people are welcome in today’s armed forces.

After the videos were picked up by the influential ‘Libs of TikTok’ Twitter account, Kelley was subjected to a tsunami of hateful messages.

Nevada Air Force base pulls drag show

Earlier this month, Gaetz celebrated getting a Pride Month drag show canceled at a Nevada air force base.

The show had met with the approval of Air Force leaders. However, according to NBC, Defense Secretary Austin and Gen. Milley instructed the Air Force it went against Pentagon policy to fund drag on bases.

The move came after Gaetz wrote Austin and Milley an open letter in late May. In it, he demanded to know Pentagon policy on the matter. His letter singled out shows at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

Gaetz is now hell-bent on cementing that policy into the law.

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