Michigan Democrat Attorney General Dana Nessel made some startling statements Wednesday about drag queens in schools, but then tried to clarify that her comments were made in jest.
Nessel, who made Michigan history in 2018 as the first openly gay person elected to a statewide office, was speaking at a civil rights conference in Lansing when she decided to talk about drag queens, Detroit News’ Craig Mauger reported.
“Drag queens make everything better. Drag queens are fun,” Nessel said, according to Mauger, before adding, “A drag queen for every school.”
"Drag queens make everything better. Drag queens are fun," Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says at a civil rights conference in Lansing while speaking out against what she describes as efforts to divide people.
"A drag queen for every school," she adds.
— Craig Mauger (@CraigDMauger) June 15, 2022
Following her comments, Nessel responded to a critical tweet from Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon later in the day, claiming her comment was “made in jest.” The attorney general said she joked around to make the point that concerns with children being exposed to drag queens is a “fake issue.”
“Attorney General Dana Nessel ‘proudly’ announced she is coming for our kids,” Dixon accused. “When I am governor, schools will answer to local parents, not progressive activists, drag queens, and trans-supremacists. The days of radical activist politicians sexualizing our kids are over.”
Nessel hit back at Dixon, calling her tweet a “humorless take,” and criticizing one of her supporters, former Trump Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos.
“This is the most humorless take imaginable on a comment made in jest,” Nessel wrote. “I expect more from the star of Buddy BeBop vs the Living Dead. Your benefactor, Betsy DeVos, has been a greater threat to school children in Michigan than drag queens have ever been.”
This is the most humorless take imaginable on a comment made in jest. I expect more from the star of Buddy BeBop vs the Living Dead.
Your benefactor, Betsy DeVos, has been a greater threat to school children in Michigan than drag queens have ever been. https://t.co/mdkDHxN7XU
— Dana Nessel (@dananessel) June 15, 2022
While Nessel says she intended her drag queen comments as a joke, Matthew DePerno, who is one of the three Republicans running to unseat Nessel in November, took her words seriously.
“Dana Nessel continues to show just how out of touch she is with Michiganders,” DePerno said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “Our students suffered through some of the most extreme measures put in place backed by Dana Nessel that kept them away from the classroom and her answer is to over-sexualize elementary schools.”
Nessel’s drag queen comments come as parents and politicians across the country express anger over those targeting children with radical gender theories, including exposing kids to drag shows.
Another Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate is set to release an ad Thursday targeting radical gender theories in public education. In the 30-second ad, Garrett Soldano takes aim at what he calls the “woke groomer mafia,” who he blames for pushing radical gender theory on Michigan kids. He is one of a handful of Republican candidates on the August 2 primary ballot.
“I don’t co-parent with the government,” Soldano says. “My pronouns: conservative, patriot. The woke groomer mafia wants to indoctrinate and subjugate our kids to their woke fantasies. It’s time to fight back.”