Dundee-based MSP Jenny Marra has waded into a row about an SNP MP inviting a sexually explicit drag act to a primary school.
Mhairi Black has been attacked for defending a visit by the sexually-explicit drag act, called FlowJob, to Glencoats Primary in her Paisley and Renfrewshire South constituency.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B81uPsIJdft/?fbclid=IwAR1OscFza_qvVIeOviVkXjf7O7Iae4G7KE-btR4y3VMeorTVZ-tCParSehM
The drag artist, who goes by the pronouns she/her, read to young children during the visit, which was to mark LGBT history month.
FlowJob has insisted that her act is tailored to suit the age-range of her audience, but the artist’s social media accounts contain explicit material.
Renfrewshire Council has been forced to apologise to furious parents about the event, which was organised to discuss the legacy left by Section 28 of the 1988 Local Government Act.
Me to my toxic ex of 4 year who cheated on me for 3 left me pic.twitter.com/FsASHC2o3C
— flowsaphine occupation (@flowjobqueen) February 17, 2020
Section 28 banned the “promotion of homosexuality” in schools and was repealed in June 2000 in Scotland in what was one of the first pieces of legislation enacted by the Scottish Parliament – later joined by the rest of the UK in 2003.
Ms Black, who is openly gay, came under fire after taking to Twitter to justify the visit, claiming in tweets that people were “pretending to be livid” and claiming their “homophobia is transparent”.
You just know that the people pretending to be livid that a drag queen read a book in a school in my mentions rn are also the people who run out to buy their kids the latest Grand Theft Auto on release day. Your homophobia is transparent.
— Mhairi Black MP🏳️🌈 (@MhairiBlack) February 24, 2020
She said in another tweet: “If my school had invited a gay MP and a drag queen to visit during LGBT History Month, or even acknowledged that LGBT History Month existed, it would have made an immeasurable difference to the difficult childhoods my LGBT classmates and I had.
“Yet so many people in my mentions want acknowledgement of LGBT people shut down because you still think there’a something inappropriate in our existence.
“You’re willing to see another generation of LGBT people growing up believing that who they are should be hidden away.
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“Never mind the fact that doing so in the past has left a massively disproportionate number of LGBT people, generation after generation including my own, suffering severe mental health problems and higher suicide rates.”
She added: “I completely applaud @PS_Glencoats for putting on such a great day, and I’m so grateful to have been invited along.”
However, Dundee-based MSP Jenny Marra, who represents the North East region, questioned why any primary school “would promote sexualised content”.
Spot on.👇Why are primary schools promoting sexualised content at all?Extremely worrying this happened and has been endorsed by an MP. What about children’s innocence? https://t.co/bQ5V7YbsxX
— Jenny Marra (@JennyMarra) February 24, 2020
Responding to a tweet by user Jason Michael, the Labour MSP said: “Why are primary schools promoting sexualised content at all? Extremely worrying this happened and has been endorsed by an MP. What about children’s innocence?”
On Twitter, FlowJob defended herself in a series of tweets, saying she had been introduced to the children as “Flow”, and in another tweet said her only crime “was not wearing lashes on TV”.
Don’t bring your negativity to my profile, I am a drag queen yes who does adult jokes, but I also do under 18 Venus and cater around children https://t.co/P1kSxP60NN
— flowsaphine occupation (@flowjobqueen) February 23, 2020
The only crime a did was no wearing lashes on tv
— flowsaphine occupation (@flowjobqueen) February 24, 2020
A Renfrewshire Council spokeswoman said: “The school pupils at Glencoats Primary are currently organising a series of activities and events to mark LGBT history month.
“In discussion with pupils in their Rainbow Club, one of their requests was to invite people from the LGBT community to hear about their own experiences growing up and they wanted to invite a drag queen to talk to this group to hear about their own personal experience.
“Learning about values including equalities and diversity has an important role in the school curriculum.
“All school visits are arranged and managed with the wellbeing of pupils first and foremost however it is clear in this case, the social media content associated with the speaker’s stage persona is not appropriate for children and had we been aware of this, the visit would not have been arranged.
“We are sorry for the concern this has caused and are investigating.”
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