North Charleston, South Carolina. After Rep. Nancy Mace uploaded a video on social media Tuesday stating that a family-friendly Halloween festival hosted by local LGBTQIA+ kids will feature a “teen drag show” and “benefit” a regional abortion fund, the organizations involved are attempting to correct the record.
Mace, a Republican candidate for South Carolina governor, objected to the “Creepy QT Halloween Party” held outside her district in North Charleston on Saturday, a carnival produced by the group QT Summer Camp. The camp provides outdoor activities for queer and trans children, with the purpose of creating a safe and inclusive environment through programming centered on education, empowerment, and self-advocacy, as well as connecting caregivers and families with community resources. The camps are free to attend.
“Let me tell you how this is going to work when I’m governor,” Mace says in the video, as the words “TEEN DRAG SHOW” are crookedly scrawled on a whiteboard behind her. “I’m going to ban drag shows for kids. You won’t be able to do this while I’m governor. “You will not be allowed to groom our children.”
Critics of drag shows for children frequently allege that their intent is to “groom” youngsters, either sexually assaulting them or influencing their sexual orientation or gender identity, and compare performers to pedophiles who entrap and exploit their victims, according to an Associated Press analysis. This false equivocation with pedophilia contributed to a climate of ongoing and targeted harassment directed against entertainers who exist primarily to entertain through comedy, singing, and dance.
According to organizers, the event’s lone drag performance, which will feature one adult performer and be age-appropriate, will not include children or teenagers.
“QT Camp provides age-appropriate education and activities that benefit LGBTQIA+ children’s development,” Camp Director Kyndra Luce told News 4. According to Luce, Mace and her colleagues did not contact the camp for details about the event before making their claims on social media.
“We’re so excited to provide games for kids and resources for caregivers from our partners across the Lowcountry, who support LGBTQIA+ families,” reads an infographic tweeted earlier this month by QT Summer Camp promoting the event.
The event is not being hosted by the Lowcountry Period Pixies, as Mace frequently said.
Lowcountry Period Pixies offers period goods and information to Lowcountry schools, shelters, clinics, and food banks. LPP was invited to the event by QT Summer Camp and stated that Mace’s framing encourages stigma around menstruation and that they do not screen who attends events based on identification or background.
“That framing misrepresents routine health education and access work,” the LPP stated. “It shifts attention away from a basic supply issue that local partners, including our organization, address every week.”
The LPP invited Mace and her staff to meet and discuss community needs and services.
“We invite Representative Mace and her staff to meet with our team and partners to review needs by school and service site, align communications that normalize menstruation, and identify procurement and donation channels that stabilize supply for Title I schools and safety-net providers in her district. We stand ready to brief her office and provide site visits. We believe collaboration will reduce confusion, eliminate stigma, and deliver practical results for families.” LPP said in a statement.
Mace responded to the invitation by delivering an erroneous ultimatum to discontinue their “sick drag shows,” which she claimed she had “exposed” them for hosting. “Because I exposed a group called ‘Period Pixies’ for hosting a DRAG SHOW FOR KIDS COMING THIS WEEKEND – they want to meet to tell me I’m hurting women and kids!” wrote the member of Congress.
The representative also claimed that the event will “benefit” the Palmetto State Abortion Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides logistical, financial, and informational support and resources to people seeking assistance with abortion-related expenses such as travel, housing, meals, childcare, and the operation itself. According to the Guardian, Mace reportedly had harsh words for Republican senators wanting to prohibit travel reimbursement fees for military soldiers seeking abortions before voting on an amendment to the defense funding bill in July 2023. PSAF is conducting a pumpkin decorating session during the carnival.
“All of the partner organizations are donating their time for this free event,” she stated. According to the QT Summer Camp website, other Halloween party partners include the Alliance For Full Acceptance and Charleston Pride.
“I fear [Mace’s post] may bring some unkind people over,” a Lowcountry Period Pixies administrator said on Facebook, urging the community to show support at the Halloween carnival. Luce also stated that security protocols are “always in place” at camp events, and that professionals trained to protect children will be present in light of Mace’s comments to her hundreds of thousands of online followers.
“QT Camp was created in 2023 as a response to South Carolina legislators failing our most vulnerable children,” Luce told reporters. “We will continue the important task of developing supportive, inclusive programs for these children. We hope for a future in which our elected representatives will join us.
