12-Year-Olds in Drag: A ‘Kids Only’ Pride Carnival in Indiana - The American Spectator

An Indiana LGBTQ youth group sponsored an annual carnival for minors and young adults between the ages of 12 and 20, refusing parents entry while the youth hosted a drag show.

The Indiana Youth Group (IYG) is a nonprofit organization located in Indianapolis that seeks to “foster community” and provide “programming that empowers LGBTQ+ youth.” As part of its mission, the group hosts an annual carnival to celebrate Pride Month. (READ MORE: Pride Month? Take Pride in Your Traditional Family Values)

It is unaffiliated with any religious organization or church.

According to IYG’s website, carnival activities include food, inflatable obstacle courses, face painting, dunk tanks, and a “King and Queen” drag show hosted by some of the youth at the event. As if drag shows for kids weren’t objectionable enough, the website stated that “only youth ages 12-20 with a valid ID will be permitted” entry for the event. The age of consent in Indiana is 16, meaning that half of the listed ages can legally consent to sexual activity.

In response to The American Spectator’s request for comment, IYG said that the event had already been covered and that IYG had nothing else to add to that coverage.

The Carnival as Another Example of Grooming

IYG’s hosting this carnival demonstrates another example of the organization’s grooming behavior. According to Lewis & Llewellyn LLP, a law firm specializing in prosecuting sexual abuse, there are six stages of sexual grooming — and IYG appears to meet all six.

The first step in grooming a child begins with targeting. “Child molesters target victims in households with less adult supervision, parents with drug or alcohol addictions, marital discord, domestic violence, or a history of emotional and mental problems,” Lewis & Llewellyn’s website explains.

IYG’s website states that one of the group’s primary services is to help homeless LGBTQ — particularly “transgender” — youth.

The second step in grooming, according to Lewis & Llewellyn, is to gain the trust of the victim. Activities such as discussing personal life issues and playing games are some of the methods an abuser might use to gain a victim’s trust.

“The behaviors can be challenging to differentiate from the warm compassion ordinarily offered by a caregiver or mentor,” the law firm’s website states.

IYG’s response to parents’ concerns about the event on Facebook epitomizes these two first steps. When parents criticized the age limit on Facebook, IYG claimed that it was in place for the kids’ “safety,” adding that every IYG staff member has undergone a “thorough” background check and “intensive training in cultural competency, safety, and crisis prevention.”

“To allow unvetted adults in our center would put youth at risk,” IYG officially responded on Facebook. “The general sociopolitical climate of the US is also inhospitable and hostile to LGBTQ+ children. There are organizations and individuals who wish to cause psychological and physical harm to queer youth. Our policies help to shield them from this onslaught of hate.”

The third step in child grooming, describes Lewis & Llewellyn, involves “filling a need,” whether that be giving children food, a safe space to stay, or “a sense of love and value.”

In an interview with local TV news station WTHR, IYG CEO Chris Paulsen said that preventing parents from attending this event allowed the youth to “be themselves.”

“We wanted a space where one, the youth could be themselves and, two, be around adults who are like them,” Paulsen said.

However, emphasizing exclusive interactions with adults who are “like” the youth — away from parental supervision — once again creates an environment in which no child should ever be placed.

According to Lewis & Llewellyn, after bonding with the child and securing his or her trust, groomers will seek to isolate the child from his or her environment. According to one employee who left an anonymous review on Glassdoor, IYG’s privacy policies are too lax.

“Youth safety and confidentiality is supposed to come first,” the staff member wrote. “Then why is ‘leadership’ allowing people to video record youth events and allowing non-background checked people into the center (with their cameras) during youth hours? You never know who you’re outing and how dangerous that can be.”

Isolation Leads to Sexualization

After isolation, Lewis & Llewellyn explains, the grooming becomes sexual — and IYG encourages sexual behavior from its young attendees, whether at the carnival or at separate events.

One of the carnival’s drag performers appeared to be college student “KWhit,” a rising sophomore dance major at Ball State University. According to his past Instagram stories, he also appeared to perform at the carnival last year, flirting with his boyfriend throughout the dance.

“KWhit” also collaborated with a 15-year-old at an Indiana Pride festival during a “community drag show.” Pride attendees, notably gay men, watched as “KWhit” and his underage partner shimmied and twerked on stage.

Other attendees also posted on Instagram about their experiences. One such user, who goes by “Griffin” and uses the pronouns “he, him, they,” posted a picture of a friend in a chalk circle, with the caption “TIME–OUT CRATER FOR NAUGHTY GAYS” written underneath.

This is not the first time IYG has hosted a controversial event. In one photo from 2019, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence — an order of drag queen “nuns” who “vow to promulgate universal joy and expiate stigmatic guilt” — attended an IYG holiday event.

As further evidence of IYG’s sexualization of children, the organization’s Amazon wish lists are rife with sexual items. In one of its wish lists, titled “Transition,” IYG asked for breast inserts complete with nipples, breast binders, and thongs that tuck men’s penises.

However, IYG does not limit itself to sexualizing children based on the content of their clothes. In another one of its wish lists, titled “Harm Reduction,” IYG listed condoms and mouth dams for oral sex. And, according to the group’s website, it also provides children with testing for HIV and STIs.

What Happens Behind Closed Doors?

As Lewis & Llewellyn’s website explains, the last step in grooming is maintaining control.

“Many groomed children are led to believe that nothing is wrong with sexual contact between adults and children,” the website states. “In some cases, perpetrators need only casually mention a need for secrecy to maintain participation and silence.”

A group of adults handing out oral sex instruments, condoms, and breast binders en masse to underage children are groomers. Even if the adults themselves are not performing sex acts with the children, handing out these items exposes and promotes content to children for which they are not prepared.

If IYG is openly promoting both this content and behavior, what else is happening behind closed doors when the cameras are turned off and the parents are away?

Elizabeth Crawford is a rising senior at Hillsdale College studying politics. A member of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class, Elizabeth enjoys drinking good tea and plans to pursue a career in journalism.

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