America Has Our First 'Drag Laureate'

You may know that the United States has a “poet laureate” named Ada Limón. (She was actually featured in last night’s Jeopardy! Masters show.) But did you know that we also have our first “drag laureate”?

San Francisco Mayor London Breed has designated for this drag laureate position D’Arcy Drollinger, described by the Associated Press as “a well-known drag performer and nightclub owner.” This person is “a man who uses feminine pronouns when in drag” and will receive a $55,000 stipend for the eighteen-month role just conferred.

Lest you think this is a story that could only happen in San Francisco, the central public library in Des Moines, Iowa, hosted a drag queen last Sunday afternoon for a “drag story hour.” When a group gathered outside to pray for God to “protect the innocence of our youth,” a transgender protester disrupted their gathering and had to be directed away by police.

Here’s another sign of the times: when I left the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem last week, I had to weave my way through a group of tourists who specified their preferred pronouns on their name tags. I had not seen this before in the Holy Land.

Why LGBTQ activists are focusing on children

Pride Month begins next week. We will especially see advertising that focuses on our children, from Disney paraphernalia to Legos toys to cartoon characters to drag queen story hours.

Why is this?

Andrew Sullivan, a cultural commentator who is himself gay, explains the “core belief of critical queer theorists”: “There is no such thing as human nature,” so “everything is socially constructed, even the body.” Their goal is therefore to “liberate humankind from the prison of gender,” beginning with children.

Sullivan writes: “If they could get into kids’ minds, bodies, and souls from the very beginning of their lives, they could abolish the sex binary from the ground up. And so they got a pliant, woke educational establishment to re-program children from the very start, telling toddlers that every single one of them could be living in the wrong body, before they could even spell.”

Consequently, “Endless kiddie books reiterated the queer theory mantra about gender: ‘You can be a girl or a boy or both or neither or something else entirely!’ And if the sex the child chose did not match their physical body, they were told they could just change it—and change it back if needed—no questions asked.”

A playground with no fences

Once a society decides that there are no moral boundaries, we get what we should expect to get. If a school playground has no fences, kids will wander into traffic they’re not equipped to avoid.

But I can hear my critics’ immediate response: Who put you in charge of the fences? Since tolerance has replaced truth and no one has any right to impose their beliefs on anyone else, who or what gives me the authority to “legislate morality” for others?

Of course, I would respond by appealing to an authority much higher than myself: God and his word. We could spend the rest of this article (and the rest of the year) setting out biblical answers to the moral issues we face.

But my critics will raise their hands again and say, “But that’s just your interpretation of the Bible.” On same-sex marriage, for example, they will point to theologians who claim that such “marriage” is as biblical as my marriage to my wife. On abortion, they will cite denominations endorsing the view that ending an unborn child’s life is “reproductive justice.”

And so, they are convinced that they are “liberating” children from the “prison of gender” into lives of complete self-expression and self-fulfillment. In their view, traditional biblical morality is dangerous to children and society at large. You and I are just as convinced that they are enslaving children to the same lie that enslaves all sinners: you can be your own god (cf. Genesis 3:5).

Three biblical responses

If you’re tempted to give up and withdraw your children and grandchildren from our fallen culture, you understand the gravity of the situation. But there is nowhere to hide from this. Next month, every tool in the arsenal of social media, television, music, and other popular culture will be conscripted in this comprehensive strategy to normalize LGBTQ ideology and behavior, starting with our youngest children.

I suggest that we make three biblical commitments now in preparation for what is coming.

One: Pray fervently for our children and grandchildren, asking the Holy Spirit to hedge them with his protection.

Pray for God to equip and empower parents, teachers, coaches, and other role models who can help them think and live biblically. Remember: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness” (Ephesians 6:12).

Two: Discuss these issues with them personally and practically.

It is important to choose our words carefully and in age-appropriate ways, of course. But it’s never too soon to begin teaching kids that God made them as they are—boys and girls—and loves them as they are. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). (See also Janet Denison’s “Why is he wearing a dress?”)

Three: Use our influence to stand for biblical truth and morality as clearly and compassionately as possible.

Your place at work, school, and home is your mission field. “Speaking the truth in love” is your commission (Ephesians 4:15).

"The central basis of Christian assurance"

As we seek to serve our children in these troubling times, let’s remember that their Creator loves them even more than we do. He calls them to himself (Matthew 19:14) with a love we cannot imitate but only emulate.

Dr. Tim Keller, the great Christian pastor and apologist whose homegoing last Friday is still making news, was right: “The central basis of Christian assurance is not how much our hearts are set on God, but how unshakably his heart is set on us.”

With whom will you share this assurance today?

NOTE: This is my last note about The Coming Tsunami. I greatly encourage you to request your copy today of my most pivotal book as its message is urgent. By understanding four key seismic shifts in culture, you will know how to respond to others in personal and public ways that advance God’s kingdom and draw them to our Lord. It’s not too late to turn the tide.

Publication date: May 23, 2023

Jim Denison, PhD, is a cultural theologian and the founder and CEO of Denison Ministries. Denison Ministries includes DenisonForum.org, First15.org, ChristianParenting.org, and FoundationsWithJanet.org. Jim speaks biblically into significant cultural issues at Denison Forum. He is the chief author of The Daily Article and has written more than 30 books, including The Coming Tsunami, the Biblical Insight to Tough Questions series, and The Fifth Great Awakening.