Drag Queen Story Hour will not be part of this year's Space Coast Pridefest according to a performer's Facebook post.
About a dozen speakers showed up to last week's Brevard Commission Meeting to speak against the inclusion of children at the annual event. Some speakers claimed they witnessed sex toys being handed to children at last year's Pridefest.
"I attending the Space Coast pride festival last year. What I witnessed was the sexualization of children. They were giving out sexual toys to children," resident Lisa Campana told the commission. "I think there are a lot of ordinances that they broke. We pointed it out to police officers and they ignored us."
"Some of the things that were handed to the youth while I was there were offensive and repulsive," said Frank Campana, who said he goes to pride fest to preach Christianity. "Parents drop their children off thinking it is a family-friendly event. It is not."
The commission was debating a motion on where to allocated a cultural support grant. They ultimately voted on giving the near $1 million to a lifeguard program and not to support the Pridefest.
"Thanks to you, the County Commission just voted 5-0 to reject funding Drag Queen Story Time in downtown Melbourne," State Representative Randy Fine posted to Facebook. "Despite the County Commission vote, the City of Melbourne still plans to "welcome" public performances of Drag Queen Story time targeting children on September 23. If you oppose the sexualization of children, let the Melbourne City Council know!"
Space Coast Pridefest is described on their website as "bringing together the community to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community".
Performer Jenna Ramsey claimed Fine was not being accurate in a Facebook post.
"In truth, they didn't vote against SCP. The grant SCP requested was accepted along with many other organizations looking for funds. The truth is they simply decided to not fund ANY aspirants for those funds (SCP was getting a very small portion of over half-a-million dollars devoted to organizations that encourage tourism in Brevard country. SCP does bring in people from out of the county). Instead, the committee chose to use those funds for lifeguards instead," posted Ramsey.
Drag Show in Florida Continues Exposing Minors to Sexualized Acts
According to Ramsey, Drag Queen Story Hour was removed from the lineup due to fear of violence.
"We didn't omit Drag Queen Story Time because we agree with Randy or that we think we're in the wrong. We omitted it to protect our entertainers and our festival attendees from potential violence perpetrated by people who are being mislead by people like Randy," posted Ramsey.
"We requested the full permit for the event," Fine told The Floridian. "It would be illegal under the new law I just got passed." Fine is referring to the law signed by Governor Ron DeSantis earlier this year restricting children from attending "adult live performances". A Federal Judge has put a stay on the law and the State of Florida is fighting to have it reinstated.
"An Obama appointed judge said you don't have to enforce it. Groom away!" said Fine.
Fine is happy with the outcome of last week's Commission meeting.
"When you bring the cockroaches out in the sunlight they don't like it. "That is what happened here," said Fine.
Space Coast Pridefest will be held September 23 in downtown Melbourne.
The Floridian, which was the first outlet to report that the Drag Queen Story Hour event was cancelled at the Mexican consulate in Orlando, reached out to Pridefest for comment but has not heard back at the time of the publishing of this story.
