{"id":1637248,"date":"2022-09-08T21:49:22","date_gmt":"2022-09-09T01:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637248"},"modified":"2022-09-08T21:50:36","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T01:50:36","slug":"tennessee-tech-cancels-campus-drag-shows-for-mocking-god-inviting-minors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/tennessee-tech-cancels-campus-drag-shows-for-mocking-god-inviting-minors\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Tech Cancels Campus Drag Shows For Mocking God, Inviting Minors"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftennessee-tech-cancels-campus-drag-shows-for-mocking-god-inviting-minors%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1637248&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>On Thursday, Tennessee Tech University (TTU) President Phil Oldham canceled two campus groups\u2019 future <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/drag-queen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drag shows <\/a>for mocking Christianity and exposing minors to explicit activity.<\/p>\n<p>Oldham declared that TTU wasn\u2019t aware or complicit of these \u201cobscene, lewd, or explicit\u201d drag shows, and that what he saw \u201cdisturbed and dismayed\u201d him. TTU will be investigating those behind the drag shows for mocking Christians and involving minors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do not feel the activities in the video represent Tech\u2019s values, and I do not condone explicit activity where minors are present. I also am offended by disparaging mockery toward any religious group,\u201d wrote Oldham.<\/p>\n<p>Until Thursday, TTU frequently hosted drag shows open to all ages at the Backdoor Playhouse theater. The offending drag show cited by Oldham went viral online earlier this month: children were handing cash to a drag queen performing a dance mocking Christians.<\/p>\n<p>In the video, the drag performer dressed as a sad monk crossing himself as he walked around the stage to the song, \u201cTake Me to Church\u201d by Hozier. Then the music changes to \u201cMiddle of the Night\u201d by Elley Duh\u00e9, a song about sex, and the drag performer strips down to a bodysuit, caressing his body and gathering cash from a cheering audience and minors who approach him onstage.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tennessee Tech University hosted a drag show that had little kids handing cash to the drag queen who was performing a dance clearly meant to mock Christians. Every parent who pays to send their kids to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tennesseetech?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@tennesseetech<\/a> deserves to know that this is what they\u2019re allowing on campus. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Q4I9uR2tcT\">pic.twitter.com\/Q4I9uR2tcT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Landon Starbuck (@LandonStarbuck) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LandonStarbuck\/status\/1567530842875957251?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 7, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Those behind the drag shows were planning on hosting another show open to minors at the end of this month. All of the shows took place at TTU\u2019s Backdoor Playhouse, the campus\u2019 60-year-old theater.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Are you ready to RUMBLE?!?! Upper Cumberland Pride VS. Kings Of Khaos will be September 24th at 6:30 PM. There is a $5 cover and is for all ages! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/syZKaXqlSo\">pic.twitter.com\/syZKaXqlSo<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Upper Cumberland Pride (@ucpridetn1) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ucpridetn1\/status\/1567183219707052034?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 6, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<p>A TTU senior \u2014 who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation \u2014 said she was pleased with Oldham\u2019s response. She said a lot of her peers share Oldham\u2019s sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>The senior added that there\u2019s a lack of awareness that drag culture is prevalent in the Cookeville, Tennessee, area where TTU is located.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of people weren\u2019t aware that this is something that is part of our city now, in a way. I don\u2019t think anybody really knew that this was such an active culture, or whatever drag is,\u201d said the senior. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t realize they were performing quite frequently on campus and what their target audience has been. It\u2019s disturbing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those organizing the event were Upper Cumberland Pride, TTU Lambda Gender and Sexuality Alliance, and TTU\u2019s drama club Tech Players. The Daily Wire reached out to one of the principal organizers, Upper Cumberland Pride, for comment. They responded with a statement given to the community in which they conveyed that they were \u201cdisheartened and dismayed\u201d by the \u201cmisrepresentation\u201d of the drag show.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe accusations made on social media are not only false but damaging to all those involved. Our hope is to resolve this misunderstanding with the university and continue to educate the community about our organization and the LGBTQIA+ community,\u201d stated the organization.<\/p>\n<p>Upper Cumberland Pride also claimed that the drag performer wasn\u2019t dressed as a member of the clergy, nor did his performance criticize any religion, including Christianity. The organization also claimed that no children were ever present at any of their events, and that no sexual connotation was present in their performances.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNo child was put in any sexual situation, nor have they ever been at any event held by UCP,\u201d said the organization. \u201cWhen we hold all ages events, performers are asked to ensure that song lyrics are clean and that there is no sexual connotation to their performances. We want everyone in attendance to feel safe, welcome, and to have a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Upper Cumberland Pride also hosted a Drag Queen Story Hour at TTU in April, in connection with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Dqshmidtn\/?ref=page_internal\">Tennessee chapter<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dragqueenstoryhour.org\/\">Drag Queen Story Hour<\/a> national network. According to the organization\u2019s Instagram page, their agenda is to free children from \u201cthe constraints of prescribed gender roles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDrag points out the silliness, the thrill, and the powerful feelings of challenging societal expectations,\u201d stated the organization.<\/p>\n<p>The latest upcoming drag show TTU canceled was an effort to raise money for Upper Cumberland Pride. As the organization noted in January, previous fundraising efforts average about $1,000 raised.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The UCPride Board would like to thank all the performers and everyone that came out to support the Upper Cumberland Pride event Stomp the Stage 2.0 Drag Show. We raised almost $1000! Our next Drag at the Backdoor fundraiser is February 26th, SAVE THE DATE.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ucpride?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ucpride<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/LGBTQPLUS?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#LGBTQPLUS<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ttu?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ttu<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Zlsweehcg1\">pic.twitter.com\/Zlsweehcg1<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Upper Cumberland Pride (@ucpridetn1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Thursday, Tennessee Tech University (TTU) President Phil Oldham canceled two campus groups\u2019 future drag shows for mocking Christianity and exposing minors to explicit activity. Oldham declared that TTU wasn\u2019t aware or complicit of these \u201cobscene, lewd, or explicit\u201d drag shows, and that what he saw \u201cdisturbed and dismayed\u201d him. TTU will be investigating those &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1637250,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1637248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1637248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1637248\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1637250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1637248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1637248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1637248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}