'No Way to Recruit People': GOP Seeks to Codify Pentagon Drag Show Ban

After a drag show advertised as a “family-friendly” event was canceled at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada in early June, at the start of Pride Month, the Defense Department issued a statement to say that such events were “not a suitable use” of resources.

After a de-facto Pentagon ban on drag shows in the military went into effect at the start of June, Republicans at the US House Armed Services Committee have urged seeing this codified in law.

An amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) was put forward by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to bar funding for such performances.

"I think it’s time for us to do something to make our voice known that we will not let this happen in the US military – woke ideology and the drag queen shows have no place in our military, zero, bupkis. That is not the way to recruit people,” Rep. Mark Alford (R-Mo.) said about the provision, which was passed 33-26.

The NDAA, the annual defense policy bill, passed the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday night after a session that considered over 800 amendments. The Committee also passed a provision put forward by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) to suspend a contentious initiative called the Navy Digital Ambassador Program. After the Navy had opted to select sailor Joshua Kelley, a TikTok drag queen known as Harpy Daniels, to reach out to potential recruits on social media, it had triggered a flurry of criticism.

The current move by the House Armed Services Committee comes as Matt Gaetz wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, and "demanded answers" on "why these drag shows are still occurring" despite the two officials having testified in March that the Department of Defense did not endorse them. Both Austin and Milley had claimed that they were not aware of such performances on military bases. According to US reports, drag shows have been hosted at Nellis Air Force Base both in 2021 and 2022.

The event cancelled by the Pentagon at the military base in Nevada had been advertised ahead of the scheduled performance as a “family-friendly” one, involving three artists, including a former contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

“As Secretary Austin has said, the DoD will not host drag events at US military installations or facilities. Hosting these types of events in federally funded facilities is not a suitable use of DoD resources,” Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary for the department, had stated in early June.

Further, members of the GOP have asserted that the use of taxpayer funds to host such activities diverts them from the mission of the US military to "deter war and ensure our nation's security."

"Our military is in a historic recruiting crisis. <...> The military's purpose is to defend America and her interests <...> - not to use taxpayer money to advance woke ideology," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, was cited as saying.