George Santos: Drag queen claims embroil embattled congressman

He admitted helium was blameworthy of "embellishing" his biography and resume - but Republican lawmaker George Santos said helium was decidedly ne'er a resistance queen.

Or astatine slightest that was until photos and videos of what appears to beryllium the New York congressman performing successful resistance during his younger days successful Brazil surfaced online.

"I was young and had amusive astatine a festival," Mr Santos, 34, insisted to the battalion of reporters chasing aft him astatine the airdrome connected Saturday.

More grounds has since circulated, further corroborating that the performer known to friends successful the Rio de Janeiro country arsenic "Kitara Ravache" is successful information the recently elected subordinate of Congress.

An unbowed Mr Santos took to Twitter connected Monday, calling those impersonating him connected late-night tv "embarrassing" and past feuding with resistance property Trixie Mattel.

The congressman was lone sworn successful 19 days ago, but is already facing aggregate calls to measurement down. He has allegedly lied astir his assemblage degrees, his enactment experience, his run finances, his carnal foundation and adjacent his faith. He has besides falsely claimed that his grandparents survived the Holocaust and that his parent died successful the 9/11 panic attack.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Mr Santos would beryllium removed from Congress if the House Ethics Committee finds helium broke the law.

But the revelations of his resistance queen past person near adjacent much questions to reply arsenic helium settles into the ranks of a Republican Party progressively hostile to resistance culture.

While nary Republican members of Congress person straight addressed the resistance allegations, resistance has go a hot-button contented successful the party.

At slightest 8 states person introduced Republican-backed authorities to restrict oregon censor resistance shows, according to the Pen America free-speech group.

Right-wing groups crossed the country have targeted resistance communicative hours - successful which resistance queens work stories to children successful libraries, schools and bookstores - and parental rights' groups person opposed resistance events, which galore successful blimpish media assertion are "grooming" and "sexualising" children.

Moms for Liberty, a blimpish activistic group, argues resistance should beryllium confined to "adult spaces" and that "bringing resistance into our children's schools is intentionally provocative. They privation to provoke radical to respond to this."

Mr Santos' ain colleague, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, has said the resistance "agenda" is "targeting our children".

Critics of that presumption reason it sits wrong a agelong past of anti-LGBT rhetoric.

"It's a backlash to 50 years of expanding state of formal and expanding visibility for the LGBTQ community," says Michael Bronski, a Harvard University prof who has written extensively connected sexuality and LGBT politics.

Organised absorption of this benignant was past seen successful the 1970s, helium says, erstwhile activists and evangelical Christian leaders launched a "moral panic" that came to beryllium known arsenic the Save Our Children coalition.

Drag opponents contiguous are employing the aforesaid "old enactment of attack", Mr Bronski notes, but are up against an LGBT assemblage that has made "inescapable" advances woven into the cloth of American culture.

There is small denotation yet of wherever Mr Santos, who ran his run arsenic an openly cheery Republican, stands connected the right's anti-drag authorities and rhetoric - but helium has embraced different anti-LGBT talking points prevalent successful immoderate Republican circles. In 2020, helium said same-sex couples are "an onslaught connected the household unit" and children raised successful specified households thin to turn up "troubled". He is besides an enthusiastic protagonist of the Florida instrumentality that restricts LGBT acquisition successful superior schools, labelled "Don't Say Gay" by its critics.

Jeff Livingston, a resistance queen from Long Island - a information of which is represented by Mr Santos - has performed for astir a decennary astatine clubs and communicative hours nether the sanction Annie Manildoo. As Republicans person ramped up their rhetoric against the resistance community, helium has encountered much protests astatine his resistance events successful the past twelvemonth and typically does not permission events successful afloat resistance anymore, for information reasons, helium said.

"Drag has go truthful mainstream that it's an easier people now," helium says. "Any clip a number radical grabs immoderate benignant of power, the bulk gets a small anxious astir it."

With a inheritance successful acting and education, helium besides works regularly astatine theatres and summertime camps. "There are a batch of queer folks who enactment regularly with kids of each ages with nary issues ever arising, contempt the representation conservatives effort to overgarment of america being intersexual deviants," helium said.

At the New York-based Screaming Queens company, Alex Heimberg manages implicit 100 resistance performers, who helium says are much successful request than ever, for everything from birthdays to fundraising galas.

"The state is precise divided [but] it's not similar everybody hates resistance and is protesting," helium said.

Mr Heimberg, 55, who performed successful the 1990s and 2000s arsenic the salient resistance queen Miss Understood, says helium thinks it is hypocritical for Republicans to support George Santos successful Congress portion decrying drag.

"His misdeeds are much important than the information that helium was a resistance queen," helium added. "The information that helium was a resistance queen is conscionable an other crushed to person a giggle astatine his expense."