When President Joe Biden signs the radical Respect for Marriage Act on Tuesday, at least one Drag Queen Story Hour performer will likely be in attendance.
“To be a non binary drag artist invited to the White House is something I never imagined would happen,” Marti Cummings said in a Twitter post featuring an invitation from the White House. “Thank you President & Dr. Biden for inviting me to this historic bill signing. Grateful doesn’t begin to express the emotions I feel.”
The invitation reads: “The President and Dr. Biden request the pleasure of your company at the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act to be held at The White House on Tuesday, December 13, 2022 at three-thirty o’clock.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment from The Daily Signal sharing who else is invited to the signing.
Cummings’ website describes the drag performer as an “NYC drag artist, television personality, and political figure.” Cummings, who has tweeted about participating in Drag Queen Story Hours, formerly ran for New York City Council and is outspoken in critiquing conservative lawmakers like Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
One viral video from 2019 shows Cummings in full drag sitting cross-legged on a bar singing “Baby Shark” to a 2-year-old child.
“Anyone who thinks drag isn’t for children is wrong,” Cummings tweeted afterward, addressing the wide reach the video had. “Drag is expression, and children are such judgment-free beings; they don’t really care what you’re wearing, just what you’re performing.”
“It’s the same when I do Drag Queen Story Hour,” the drag artist continued. “They don’t care that I am a gay man in a dress; they care about the story I am reading. It would be nice if us adults could let the child inside of us out for a little bit, so maybe we could all be a little more accepting of others ourselves.”
“Drag is a leadership role model for everyone,” Cummings tweeted on another occasion, adding, “kids, too.”
Cummings, who declined to comment for this story, weighed in on Drag Queen Story Hour on yet another occasion, asking, “What traumatizes kids more…drag queens reading children books to them or putting on a family friend show OR grown adults screaming outside the spaces w guns, bats w barbed wire on them, yelling & cursing – trying to incite violence……hmmm I wonder which one.”
The Respect for Marriage Act, or HR 8404, “provides statutory authority for same-sex and interracial marriages,” repealing provisions that define marriage as between a man and a woman.
The legislation, which was passed by the House in July, also “repeals and replaces provisions that do not require states to recognize same-sex marriages from other states with provisions that prohibit the denial of full faith and credit or any right or claim relating to out-of-state marriages on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin,” allows “the Department of Justice to bring a civil action,” and “establishes a private right of action for violations.”
The bill’s supporters claimed that the much-discussed legislation protects religious liberty. But opponents of the Respect for Marriage Act, including religious institutions like the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, desperately warned ahead of the Senate vote that it “puts a giant target on people of faith.”
Twelve Republican lawmakers voted for advancing the Respect for Marriage Act: Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Shelley Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Todd Young of Indiana.
It’s unclear who else will attend the bill signing.
Drag queen Brita Filter, whose real name is Jesse Havea, according to the New York Post, commented on one of Cummings’ posts about the signing of the legislation, “See you there!!!!!”
Havea infamously gave a live performance in a church to students at a private Manhattan high school, singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and prancing up and down the aisles of the church before sitting down with the school’s director of vocal music to answer any questions students might have about drag and “pride.”
This article has been corrected to reflect the date of the signing of the so-called Respect for Marriage Act.
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