The Biden administration is facing scrutiny after it was revealed that it has spent over $20,600 in taxpayer money to fund drag queen workshops and theater performances for minors and young students at Ecuador’s Abraham Lincoln North American Cultural Center.
The grant will go towards a two-minute documentary, 13 drag performances, and three workshops, which are aimed at kids as young as 15 years old.
Over a dozen GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, demanding a reason for why the money was sent to the country.
“Promoting the radical Left’s woke ideology is not an appropriate use of taxpayer dollars and promoting drag does not relate in any way to the objective above,” the letter said, adding “instead of funding drag theater programs, your department should focus its limited resources on advancing America’s national interests, not the left’s agenda.”
Politician and former member of Ecuador’s National Assembly Héctor Yépez said that it is disturbing to see that the U.S. is willing to expose young children to such sexualization.
“It saddens me that the taxes of American families are wasted in perverting values of other countries when rather we need to strengthen public safety during the worst crime crisis in Ecuador’s history,” Yépez said, adding “it seems to be an attack against the values of the great majority of Ecuadorians that the United States is practicing a ‘diplomacy of gender ideology.’”
However, the State Department has defended its actions, claiming that the program seeks to “promote diversity and inclusion” and provide a space for “cultural exchange and creative expression for adolescents and young adults to promote tolerance.”