Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon joined state House Republicans Thursday to announce legislation targeting drag shows in public schools.
The proposed bill supported by Dixon and six House lawmakers would allow parents to sue public school districts for up to $10,000 if children are exposed to drag performances. Michigan lawmakers are also reportedly considering a new workgroup to develop a slate of bills that will address the “oversexualization” of children, according to Bridge Michigan.
“We’re here to fight the culture war,” Dixon said at a Thursday press conference introducing the legislation.
The move follows a Dixon campaign promise that, if elected governor, she would pursue criminalizing “adults who involve children in drag shows,” The Daily Wire previously reported.
The gubernatorial candidate pointed to recent comments made by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel (D) on drag queens as a reason for pursuing legislation targeting drag shows in public schools.
Earlier this month, Nessel was speaking at a civil rights conference in Lansing when she said, “Drag queens make everything better. Drag queens are fun,” before adding, “A drag queen for every school.”
Later, Nessel claimed the comment was made “in jest,” trying to make the point that concerns with children being exposed to drag queens is a “fake issue.”
During Thursday’s press conference, Dixon acknowledged that Nessel claimed she was joking, but said she and Michigan Republicans take her comments “as a trial balloon.”
The new bill’s announcement continues a squabble between the attorney general and GOP gubernatorial candidate. Immediately following Nessel’s comments, Dixon criticized her on Twitter. “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.”
Dixon joined state Reps. Beau LaFave (R-Iron Mountain), Ryan Berman (R-Commerce Township), Andrew Fink (R-Hillsdale), Steve Carra (R-Three Rivers), Luke Meerman (R-Coopersville), and Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) to announce the legislation.