A lawyer uses her TikTok to expose the pedophiles arrested in the US every week and, surprise surprise, despite what some right-wing pundits and politicians would have you believe, none of them are drag queens.
For the past few weeks, attorney Kristen Prata Browde of Browde Law has used her social media account to outline the weekly list of people arrested for child sex abuse in the United States.
The video series is an attempt by the New York attorney, who outspokenly supports LGBTQ+ people, to prove that drag queens are not a threat to children.
So far, their videos have summarized charges against 30 religious figures, a school official and three politicians. But not a single drag queen.
Her latest clip was released on Monday (March 13) and features nine youth pastors, a Catholic Church official and a school librarian.
Speaking to PinkNews, she explained that the idea came to her after a speech by former Florida LGBTQ+ Democratic Caucus President Stephen Gaskill.
“He started reading out the names of priests and pastors who had been arrested, and I said, ‘Wait a minute, let’s start seeing where that’s coming from,'” she explained.
“He gave me the source of his data and I started going through that data and I was like, ‘Let’s just look at last week.'”
What she found was that in the week beginning February 21, there had been a total of 17 arrests that had made the news — none of which were drag queens.
“There are plenty of cases that fly under the radar, but you can bet it’s a pretty big deal when a trans person or a drag queen — or a cop or a pastor — is involved.
“I’ve spent decades in the news business and I know what gets covered and what doesn’t. So a case would be reported through us.”
She also mentions the lawsuit against Idaho Republican legislator Aaron von Ehlinger, who was found guilty of raping a former intern.
The anonymous intern was 19 when she reported that the former House Representative raped her in his home in 2021.
Von Ehlinger, who denied the charges, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in August 2022. He must serve at least eight years. He was acquitted of a second charge of forced entry using a foreign object.
After Browde proved again last week that no drag queens were responsible for child sex abuse allegations, Browde stressed that it took almost a month to shoot videos and no drag queens hurt children, despite allegations by right experts.
She said because the data is incredibly valuable in proving drag queens aren’t a threat to children, she plans to go for as long as possible.
“I’d like to run it for a year and see what a year’s worth of data looks like,” she said.
“I’m not naive – there are people in our community and in every community who commit these types of crimes.
“But I think and what I’ve seen so far is that the proportions are so out of balance that it’s the same people who are complaining about us who are committing these crimes.”
Kristen Browde speaks about the level of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the US
Anti-drag rhetoric has increased dramatically in recent years due to an increase in misinformation about drag performers.
The term “groomer” is often used as an insult to drag artists, due to misinformed claims being made that age-appropriate child drag shows are somehow harmful to children.
In reality, the anti-drag streak derives from an underlying homophobic sentiment that sees LGBTQ+ people as inherently sexual.
“The accusations that have been flying around that trans people are child molesters and that drag queens are this and that — I live in this community and I know that’s not true,” she added.
Despite her valiant efforts to protect the freedoms drag artists deserve, Browde is not a fan of drag herself, but sees its value as a legitimate art form.
“Honestly, I’m not a fan of drag,” Browde explained.
“It’s not the kind of entertainment I aim for, but I appreciate that it’s entertainment — it’s an expression.”
“It’s certainly not a threat and like any other community that’s under attack, they deserve proper representation. The representation they get in places like Florida, Tennessee and Texas is just absurd.”
Browde pointed to a proposed Florida bill that could allow parents to “kidnap” a child across state lines if they believe the child is receiving gender-affirming care.
“I can’t imagine states allowing their children to be kidnapped by vigilantes who want to take them to Florida.
“It doesn’t even have to be a nursing case [being administered].
“This is the most absurd legislation, and I go to legislators in other states and say you have to protect your citizens.”
