Mexico City officials put on drag show with young girl present

Denver Newsroom, Oct 25, 2022 / 19:00 pm (CNA).

The Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination of Mexico City (COPRED) organized a show in which a “drag queen” danced in front of an audience that included at least one girl, drawing strong criticism.

COPRED is an agency of the Secretariat of Inclusion and Social Welfare of Mexico City. The city is governed by Claudia Sheinbaum, who has the title Head of Government, a position similar to that of a state governor.

The video was shared on Twitter by COPRED Oct. 21 accompanied by the message “we begin the closing of the Week for #CultureNoDiscrimination at the COPRED facilities with a Drag King and Queen presentation. You still have time. We’ll see you there!”

Drag queens are mainly men who put on a show disguised as women, dressing in garish colors and clothing. Drag kings are the opposite: mostly women who dress like men, exaggerating their postures and dress.

Participating in the event, which concluded the “Cultural Week for Non-Discrimination,” was the president of COPRED, Geraldina González de la Vega Hernández. That same day, Sheinbaum reappointed her as COPRED president for the 2022–2026 term.

In addition to governing Mexico City, Sheinbaum projects herself as one of the candidates to run for president of Mexico in the 2024 elections for the Morena political party of current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

América Rangel, a member of Mexico City’s Congress from the opposition National Action Party (PAN), criticized the show, charging that COPRED and González de la Vega “are sexualizing minors with drag queen events.”

“Mexicans’ taxes are spent on this,” Rangel criticized.

Among the comments to the COPRED post on Twitter are messages such as: “Unacceptable. There’s a little girl witnessing an event for adults, with that they justify that there should be no discrimination, corrupting the minds of the little ones?”

“Why are there kids at that event when drag shows are directed towards adults? When will there be the protection of minors or because they put up a flag can they do what they want?” wrote another Twitter user.

“What trashy shows our taxes wasted on,” said another critic of the COPRED post.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.