Shame on Drag Queens

Shame on Drag Queens

Strength for Life recently published a short video alerting the citizens of our home city, Pensacola, that the local Saenger Theatre intends to host A Drag Queen Christmas in December. Obviously, our church opposes such a depraved production. It doesn’t take much discernment to know that the drag queen persona rebels against God’s design. It takes a little more discernment—though not much more—to know that “live and let live” is not an appropriate response to a production that displays sin as brashly as a drag show does.

The brazen defiance of a drag show also indicates what Pensacola is actually facing. By publicly opposing this production, we have thrown our hat into the ring of a fight. We are contending for the opportunity to shame our moral opponents. And to be clear, it is also the intent of the drag performers to shame those who would condemn them on moral grounds. While some sins can be committed “in a corner,” this kind of thing is obviously meant to be a public display. Drag shows are unique among sexual sins because by their nature they are intended to be flaunted publicly. Such a warped spectacle of effeminacy is meant to defy an array of God’s commands from “he created them male and female” to “I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety” (1 Tim. 2:8-9). Just as God directs women to adorn themselves meekly as an expression of godliness , so the garish face paint and flamboyant outfits are symbols of rebellious men’s attitude of shamelessness.

We live in a God-designed world where shame can be distributed, but it cannot be destroyed. Cities like ours have two options: shame the drag performers by using our influence to get their local performance canceled, or bring shame onto ourselves by allowing them proceed with their presentation in the face of our gospel presence. At the end of December, someone will have inflicted shame, and someone will be ashamed. By God’s grace, we want it to be the drag show.

Some may question whether it is appropriate to desire the public embarrassment of another person. Isn’t it un-Christian to have someone else’s shame as a goal? Is it not better to prevent A Drag Show Christmas by indirect means? Is shame an inappropriate reaction to something in which we are not directly participating? To all these questions, no. To the question of whether shame is an appropriate response, remember that we measure shame against our objective guilt before the Lord. Men and women in Scripture understood the association of guilt with shame. For example, Ezra the priest reflected on the sins of his people and prayed the following: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens” (Ezra 9:6). In the New Testament, Paul spoke of enemies of the Cross “whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (Philippians 3:19). The drag queen may be the most pointed example of men who glory in desires and behaviors they should be ashamed of. Likewise, in Ephesians 5:12 Paul says that “it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” The culture of the drag queen promotes behaviors that, in a properly functioning society, would be indulged in by men who were ashamed to be identified by their twisted desires.

To the question of whether it is appropriate for Christians to shame another image bearer, various events in the New Testament provide an answer. Consider how Ananias and Sapphira were publicly shamed for their sin of lying to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5. Consider how Paul publicly rebuked Peter, one of the 12 apostles, for turning the grace of God into a double standard (Galatians 2: 11-16). By reasoning from the lesser to the greater (a method of reasoning frequently used by Jesus and the apostles), we can conclude that, if Christians are to be shamed when their sin is public, how much more should those who commit the most overt acts of wickedness be publicly identified and rebuked?

To the question of whether or not it is better to defeat the December drag performance by indirect means, we may answer the following way. The Christian faith and God’s moral standards are the universal metric for human behavior. While there is a place for shrewd political engagement, Christians must not behave in ways that could justifiably be considered hiding our light under a bushel. Whenever possible, it is best for the conscience of a city’s citizens if they are protected from evil influence in a way that also confronts them with the objective truth of God’s Word. Our city ought to know where we stand on important issues. The battle over A Drag Queen Christmas provides us with just such an opportunity.

---

The above article was written by Jonathan Kyser. He is a pastoral assistant at NorthStone Baptist Church in Pensacola, FL. To offer him your feedback, comment below or email us at strengthforlife461@gmail.com.

Every Tuesday, SFL publishes relevant Bible-based content. Check back next Tuesday to read the next SFL article.

---

More SFL...

The Self-Sufficient Church: Laodicea