Ron DeSantis threatens to investigate parents who take children to drag shows

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says he could get child protective services to investigate parents in the state who take their children to drag shows.

The debate over whether youngsters should be allowed to drag shows boiled over among conservatives after videos emerged of children tipping entertainers at an event in Dallas, Texas.

“We have child protective statutes on the books. We have laws against child endangerment,” said Mr DeSantis.

And he added: “It used to be kids would be off-limits. Used to be everybody agreed with that. Now it just seems like there’s a concerted effort to be exposing kids more and more to things that are not age-appropriate.”

Right-wing pundits and lawmakers have criticised the “Drag the Kids to Pride Drag Show”, which was held at the Mr Misster gay bar in the Texas city.

“That is totally inappropriate. That is not something children should be exposed to,” Mr DeSantis said of video of the event.

“And so, we probably, we may have the ability to deal with something like that if something like that happens.”

Mr DeSantis was the latest in a string of Republican politicians to criticise the event, after it was attacked by both Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert.

“It should be illegal to take children into Drag Queen shows and strip clubs,” tweeted Ms Greene, the GOP congresswoman from Georgia, who now has Milo Yiannopoulos working for her as an intern.

“There should be no federal funding for any school that intentionally confuses children about gender/sexuality. Any teacher or school employee caught doing so should be fired and lose all benefits.”

Ms Boebert, a Republican lawmaker from Colorado, also took to Twitter to say, “Take your children to CHURCH, not drag bars.”

Activists have been fighting against a record number of anti-LGBT+ bills introduced in state legislatures across the US, more than 320 in total according to the Human Rights Campaign.