Parents are furious with a Pennsylvania high school after they say a teacher hosted a drag queen show without their knowledge.
Footage shared with The Daily Wire shows multiple drag queens performing lewd dances in front of students. The after-school event at Hempfield High School was hosted by the Gay Sexuality Alliance (GSA) club — provoking shock from parents who were not aware of the event until after it had occurred.
A Pennsylvania teacher hosted a drag show event for students as part of the GSA club. Parents were reportedly not notified. The district has confirmed this morning that the teacher is on leave. pic.twitter.com/NSjkJELl6e
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 29, 2022
“Our concern is that grown men entered our high school with or without background checks,” Meridith Hilt, a mother of two children in the school district, told The Daily Wire. “They were dressed scantily and performed in a provocative, sexualized manner for minor children.”
In one social media post, Kelly Tyson, co-adviser of the GSA club, included pictures of the drag queens and appeared to say the event had been hosted twice before.
“I don’t know how to explain the sheer joy I feel in my bones when these queens come take time out of their busy schedules to perform for us (year 3!) and to be with my students,” the post said. “As GSA co-advisor and a queer teacher, it makes me emotional to think of this space we have created. I would have loved nothing more than to have a space like they have, an opportunity to attend their own drag show.”
Tyson also shared Instagram handles for the four drag queens — “Hexxa,” “Majestee,” “Enigma,” and “Nebula” — with her students via learning management system Schoology, thereby giving students a way to reach out privately to the performers, as confirmed by two separate Hempfield parents. All four accounts include sexually suggestive content.
A Schoology post from Hempfield High School teacher Kelly Tyson.
Images of the April 25 drag event obtained by The Daily Wire also confirm the lewdness of the performance.
Hempfield School District did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Wire, but in a message to the community, apologized for the event and confirmed that an individual was “placed on administrative leave.”
“We are appalled at what took place and in no way condone this type of activity in our schools. Neither the dress of the invited guests nor the performance was appropriate in our school setting,” the message said.
“We are taking the incident seriously in our ongoing investigation and follow-up actions. It is important to district administrators that the district has the trust and confidence of the community, and we realize that an incident such as this completely undermines that trust,” the statement continued. “We commit to completing a thorough investigation and holding those involved accountable, up to and including disciplinary action that is commensurate with any findings.”
Parents of children who attend Hempfield School District told The Daily Wire that administrators haven’t been transparent.
Meridith Hilt — who previously started a parents’ Facebook page called “Let’s Talk Hempfield” — claimed that “parental consent was not required” for the event and said attendees “did not necessarily have to be members of the GSA club.”
“Most parents are outraged and shocked,” Hilt explained. “Parents filed a Right to Know request for details. We want to know who attended; allegedly, seventh and eighth grade children reported being present at the show. We asked for video surveillance footage and financial records for the club. The dancers were paid, and we would like to know if it was taxpayer money.”
“We have also asked administration if these people had clearances to allow them in the school,” she added. “No answer yet.”
Likewise, Stacy Hernandez — a parent with three children in Hempfield School District, including one son in the high school — told The Daily Wire that students initially thought the event “was a joke” when it was announced over the loudspeaker. “When he saw the videos of it that everybody was showing him, he was like, ‘I can’t believe this just happened in my school.’”
“Hempfield has a problem with spreading information out that should be going to people,” Hernandez claimed. “There’s been a pattern with a lot of things happening.”
Though her son did not attend the drag event, one of his friends attended and said he could not “believe what I just saw,” Hernandez explained. She added that her middle schooler was shown video of the event from a classmate who was in attendance.
Meridith Hilt obtained footage of the event — originally recorded by a student attendee — through “Let’s Talk Hempfield.” She cropped the video for the student’s protection and posted the video on her social media page.
Hilt, however, said that “the outrage that parents are feeling is directly coming from the inappropriate nature of the performance.” The parents do not “want to shut down the GSA club” or “want the performers targeted personally.”