James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian running for U.S. Senate from Texas, headlined an LGBTQ festival that featured "the absolute cutest & youngest of our drag performers," an 11-year-old boy "drag queen" who goes by the stage name Kween Kee Kee.
Taylor PRIDE, a group in the town of Taylor, Texas, held the June 26, 2021, event to raise money to help "rural LGBTQ communities." The Pride Month festivities included a series of pro-LGBTQ speakers, live music, a "drag story hour," and adult drag performers such as Brianna Brinxx and the provocatively named Sedonya Face.
Talarico and Kween Kee Kee, a local preteen named Keegan, were the biggest attraction for Taylor PRIDE organizers. "[Taylor PRIDE] will be hosting numerous speakers such as State Rep. James Talarico, talented musical guests such as Venus Loves Mars, the absolute cutest & youngest of our drag performers Kween Kee Kee," the group wrote in promotional materials.
"Not only … will this amazing pre-teen be performing a number at Texas Beer Company but they will also host Kee Kee Storytime … where children will find lots of PRIDE inspired craft activities," Taylor PRIDE wrote of Kween Kee Kee in a post publicizing the event.
Talarico, running against Texas attorney general Ken Paxton (R.), is seen in photos speaking to the audience and posing with attendees at Texas Beer Company, which hosted the festival. Kween Kee Kee, sporting a shimmery blue dress, heavy eye makeup, and a platinum blonde wig, performed a drag routine as part of the group's "Youth Drag Show," event photos show.
One attendee posted a video on social media of Kween Kee Kee doing the splits.
Taylor PRIDE lamented afterwards that an unnamed conservative organization "ridiculed & protested" the event "for being sexually explicit and exploitation of a child," an allegation the group denied.
"You tell us if that rings true," the group wrote in a Facebook post with photos of Kween Kee Kee and adult performers Sedonya Face, a short-haired blonde man with a tattoo visible on his chest, Belladonna Dior, and Felecia Enspire, whose photo was captioned with "Hot Mama."
Talarico's attendance at the festival—in a small, conservative town almost 50 miles from the liberal enclave of Austin—underscores how his positions on social issues, including exposing children to sexually charged subject matter, may differ from the views of the broader Texas electorate. Republicans have hammered Talarico, elected to the Texas Legislature in 2018, over a litany of far-left remarks on gender and religious issues. Talarico testified at a State House hearing that "God is nonbinary," and at a sermon at his Austin church in 2022, Talarico referred to women as "our neighbors with a uterus."
Talarico expressed his "love" for transgender children in a 2023 podcast interview after a group of them showed up at the State Capitol in Austin to rally in support of a pro-trans bill.
"It was an inspiration to watch," said Talarico, whom Republicans have dubbed "Talafreako" over his non-mainstream views. Talarico has also voted and spoken out against a Republican bill to criminalize drag shows when children are present.
"We produce some of the best drag performers in the nation," Talarico, a member of the Texas House's LGBTQ+ caucus, said in 2023. "We didn't want to hurt them."
Talarico has distanced himself from some of those remarks since his Senate primary victory in June. He called his remarks about God's being nonbinary "cringey" and scrubbed his campaign website of references to Republican attempts to "bully trans children," the Washington Free Beacon reported. Talarico has tried to combat allegations that he is out of touch with traditional Texan culture. In one example, Talarico posted a photo of himself eating a giant barbeque turkey leg while wearing a Texas flag shirt. That was a response to the release of a 2022 clip of Talarico pledging to make his campaign vegan.
Taylor PRIDE stoked controversy months after the drag event when it sponsored a float at the city's annual Christmas parade. Felecia Enspire and Sedonya Face, two of the drag queens who appeared months earlier at the Talarico event, manned the group's float, angering town residents.
Talarico's campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
