When someone writes the political history of Florida in the early 2020s, they will have to answer one burning question: What was it about drag queens that made politicians lose their ever-loving minds?
The reality, of course, is that drag queens pose absolutely no threat to Floridians’ safety, health or wellbeing, and elected officials know that. Florida’s leaders don’t castigate cross-dressing performances because they are afraid of corsets, fishnets and feather boas.
Scott Maxwell: They stood up to Florida’s war on speech and drag and won
They do it to distract attention from actions that they know will otherwise be deeply unpopular.
The latest ridiculousness comes courtesy of the Volusia County Council, which earlier this month killed an entire cultural-grant funding program because of … well, you know.
At least, that was the pretense.
At issue: A $611,000 pool of grant funding that the council established decades ago — back when county leaders understood the economic and community-building benefits of arts and cultural programs. Every year, a volunteer committee reviews and ranks applications from area museums, theaters, historical societies and other community organizations.
This year, the committee recommended funding 33 requests, including art camps, history walks, art festivals and other activities. Specific requests included the DeLand Naval Air Station Museum’s Memorial Day event; a performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Daytona Beach Choral Society; an Emancipation Day exhibit at the Mary S. Harrell Black Heritage Museum in New Smyrna Beach and art festivals that draw tens of thousands of people to Volusia County each year.
You might be wondering where the drag queens are in that list. The answer is “nowhere.” None of the programs the county was being asked to fund had anything close to a whiff of scandal.
Naughty by association
That didn’t stop Councilman Danny Robins, who must have thought he struck pay dirt when he found a few drag-related events to holler about. At the council’s Oct. 10 meeting, right before the cultural grants were set for approval as part of the consent agenda, he asked that the grants be pulled for separate discussion.
Robins led off by exhibiting a web page touting an upcoming showing of the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at DeLand’s Athens Theater, along with two drag pageants that had rented the Athens and the Shoestring Theater in Lake Helen.
We hope you didn’t miss the word “rented.” Many Volusia cultural institutions will lease their premises to outside groups, and that’s what was happening here. After all, they want to follow a request made a few years back by the County Council to become more self-sustaining.
The annual showing of Rocky Horror predates that request, however. It’s become a Halloween tradition in DeLand and always draws a crowd.
Maybe the 50-year-old cult classic still sends Robins clutching for his pearls.But it’s not as if innocent children will be viewing the tale of a newly engaged couple that takes shelter from a rainstorm, only to be corrupted by intergalactic transvestites. Nobody under the age of 18 is allowed to attend drag performances. It might not be “family friendly,” as Robins kept muttering, but it didn’t have to be.
More importantly, this wasn’t the Athens Theater presenting the movie and drag events. Rocky Horror was sponsored by DeLand Pride, which rented the theater. The county grant the Athens was requesting was unrelated, meant to buy equipment to assist people with hearing and visual impairments. The Shoestring had requested money for a season of wholesome plays including”Fiddler on the Roof” and “The Lion In Winter.”
Robins eventually brought his comments — larded with pronouncements of how much he loved the arts — to a fumbling close. “It’s important to keep protecting the true arts and culture, which is some of the lifeblood of Volusia County,” he said “But like many of you I stand on principle.” That principle being, apparently, no programs with even the slightest whisper of a connection to drag queens.
An arts-aimed massacre
Volusia County’s large, politically active arts community had sensed that the council was about to go off the rails, and turned out in force, pleading with the council to rethink the dumb thing they were about to do. Community activist Julia Davidson Truilo, who coordinated the effort to persuade the council, talked about how important it was for parents to have access to cultural activities close to home, and reminded the council that every tax dollar spent on arts generates $2 in revenue. “Volusia County has long been a place where culture has played a very important part in the community,” she said — which is, if anything, an understatement.
After public testimony concluded, Brower revealed the end game. He wanted to strip away funding for arts programs altogether, he said — claiming that sidewalks and roads were a more pressing priority, as if the county couldn’t find room for both in its $1.4 billion budget. He then suggested that Volusia County replace that money by forming an organization similar to the Orlando-based United Arts of Central Florida. Does he not understand that Orange County and the City of Orlando also contribute significant public money to the arts?
They do it for many reasons. Of course, they want to educate residents and inspire them. But they also understand what an economic boost from cultural programs looks like. Exhibit A: Saturday’s Come Out With Pride festival, which claims to be the biggest single-day event in Central Florida. Pride regularly draws hundreds of thousands of people to downtown Orlando, and is expected to contribute upwards of $20 million in economic benefit. The Pride parade was well-populated with smiling elected officials waving from the back seats of convertibles, some decked out in rainbow regalia.
They understand that acceptance can win votes.
None of this inconvenient reality would have made a dent in Brower’s intentions. Instead of an up-or-down vote on the 2025 grant-funding list, he pressed the council to permanently end the program. Councilman Jake Johansson tried to broker a compromise that would bump the Athens and Shoestring grants off the 2025 list, and bring the fate of the program itself back for full discussion. Brower shut that down.
Only one council member was willing to fight to the end: Matt Reinhart, who cast the lone “no” vote. Just like that, a 37-year-old commitment was severed.
Put it back
Over the past few weeks, the council has had its collective ears blown back by the outpouring of sorrow and fury, and we suspect many of those protests came from people who have stroked four-figure checks to council members’ campaign funds. But one response stands out: A letter signed by 19 former council members, urging the current gang to come to its senses. The names include staunch, small-government conservatives such as former County Chair Ed Kelly and Councilwoman Deb Denys and liberals that include Frank Bruno, the council’s first elected chair, and the still-popular former Councilwoman Pat Northey. Clay Henderson, who served two stints on the council, laughingly noted that no other issue would have united this particular group so thoroughly.
But this is no laughing matter. Volusia County should not abandon its decades-long commitment to arts and cultural programs on Brower’s whim. The council meets again Tuesday, and has a chance to reverse course — which should be made easier by the drag-queen-spooked contingent by the fact that both the Athens and Shoestring theaters have withdrawn their applications for county operating funding.
This should be an easy decision for the council: Repent, restore the funding, and make time to visit some of the programs the county funds. They’ll quickly see the value to Volusia County’s culture and community.
The Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Opinion Editor Krys Fluker, Executive Editor Roger Simmons and Viewpoints Editor Jay Reddick. Contact us at insight@orlandosentinel.com.