Template letter re InsideOut promotion of drag queens as role models

Kia ora [name]

I write as a parent who is extremely concerned about an upcoming Pride event organised by InsideOut. On Thursday night 15 June, InsideOut will host a Zoom meeting for teens aged 13+. There will be a panel of four drag Queens who will, in their words, “school” the teens on “everything from beginner tips and tricks to inspiration and community”. The details of the meeting are on InsideOut’s facebook page. Apparently, the drag artists will talk about “artistry, identity, representation and pride.”

Please look at the photos on the facebook pages of two of the drag queens, Willy Smackntush and Miss Geena. These pages are, of course, readily accessible to any child. I do not consider these drag queens to be suitably qualified and appropriate people to be  talking to young teens about identity.  

I also wonder how InsideOut will stop children younger than 13 from joining this Zoom.  

I believe this Zoom meeting is a gross breach of trust by an organisation that is recommended by the Ministry of Education as a reliable source of information about relationships and sexuality. When students are told at school that InsideOut is a “trusted organisation” they are very likely to trust everything that comes from the group and may be exposed to this kind of sexualised content without their parents knowing.  

I do not see anything respectful about drag queens being presented as role models to school children. Drag queens are sexualised performers who are meant to entertain adults and they have no relevance to the everyday lives of children. The sort of explicit material depicted on the above facebook pages exposes children to a side of life they are not emotionally ready to understand and teaches them that lampooning women is a normal and acceptable behaviour.

I note that InsideOut is not run by well qualified and experienced people from a range of professions.  None of the 12 school co-ordinators, who go into schools to provide sexuality education ‘training’ to teachers, has any academic qualifications. Only 5 of the people profiled on the InsideOut website mention being parents, yet the organisation promotes itself as having the necessary skills and knowledge to instruct teachers on how to educate other people’s children!

I object to the more than $1million of taxpayer funding that has been supplied to InsideOut, some of which is being used inappropriately to promote sexualised adult entertainers as role models. Most parents would not choose drag queens as the ideal people to teach their children about sexuality.

It is an offence under Part 7, Section 124A of the Crimes Act 1961 to expose a person under the age of 16 to indecent materials. Therefore, I ask what action will you take to prevent InsideOut from breaching this law on 15 June and at any later date?

Please also advise when and how you will review InsideOut’s status as a “trusted organisation”, as its actions in planning and promoting this video to children who are under the age of consent proves they do not warrant this accolade.

Ngā mihi nui

[your name and qualifications, if appropriate]