by Rachel Stewart

Yes, yes, absolutely they do good – even great – work. Yes, we need them more than ever. Totally and utterly. Free speech is the hill I’m willing to die on.

That said, why am I no longer a member?

Well, there’s an even bigger mound of earth I’m willing to die on and I was reminded of that hill when I saw an interview this week conducted by the FSU’s deputy chair Dane Giraud with NZ First’s Elliot Ikilei.

Like every other sane person Elliot supports the FSU but disagrees profoundly, as I do, on their defence of Drag Queen Story Time. That is, a group of men flouncing about in dresses and makeup who like to read to kids in public libraries.

Until I saw that interview I’d almost put the whole saga out of my mind. There’s been a massive change of staff at the FSU, and there’s no doubt that the previous boy-ish arrogance has gone with it. The new crew seem professional and mature.

Also, board member Ani O’Brien’s ‘Good Faith Yarns’ NZ tour, which is just now coming to an end, is a great initiative and has been about as popular as Abba in the 1970s.

But all of that aside, the salient points of my disagreement with them over DQST, are evident to most ordinary people but please indulge me while I try to explain once again to the “deep” and “serious” thinkers at the FSU where they’ve got it so wrong.

First though, drag queens exist. If they want to slap on their misogynistic idea of ‘womenface’ there’s little I can do to stop it, and neither will I try. They are ultimately free to express themselves as tackily and grossly as they like. And they do. Ad infinitum.

BUT when young children are a part of their “show” at a public venue – even with parental consent – there is simply no way that ‘free speech’ trumps all. It is a child safeguarding issue, and only a slave to an ideology, or a naive, uninformed fool, would present it as anything else. There is a third option, but I will restrain myself.

And I won’t get into the parental consent aspect too much here. Parents who don’t see that they’re exposing their children to the equivalent of scary clowns acting out their hatred of women using hyper-sexualisation methods, well, I can’t help them. Stupid is as stupid does.

Back in DQST’s heyday – 2023 – the FSU put out a press release that I’ve never forgotten. It was chock-full of mental gymnastics about them defending against the “rainbow community” attacking Bethlehem College re their beliefs around marriage – you know, a Christian School where parents consciously send their kids to learn Christian values – and so therefore they must be “consistent” and defend the free-speech rights of the drag abomination performed in front of kids.

But what about the free-speech rights of the lawful protesters who the NZ Police removed from one such event held at the Avondale Library? Not a word about them?

And I wondered whether they had not been made aware of the problems occurring all around the world where Drag Queen Story Time was bringing out increasingly lewd grown-ass men flashing their full kit and caboodle at infants?

And there is evidence up the wazoo that men with a thing for children tend to like to hang out with them. They often have a kink, and that kink would not be anywhere near satisfied if they just turned up at the library in their day clothes to read books to them.

So to see the intelligentsia of the FSU acting like this “just can’t be” and clutching their collective pearls about how cerebrally sound their “serious” thinking is, was sad to say the least.

And no matter how many folks told the NZFSU how they felt about their stance on an issue that they really coulda and shoulda stayed away from, they just doubled-down on their cute, but icy, ideological prowess. It was like, “we know all, you lowly intellectual peasants, so leave it to us.” 

The NZFSU’s mission statement is this: We are a registered trade union with a mission to fight for, protect, and expand your rights to freedom of speech, conscience, and intellectual inquiry.

When it comes to kids, I’m gonna call them out on the ‘conscience’ part. Because that’s what adults do. It’s our job to protect kids as best we can. And jumping to the ridiculous ‘free speech’ defence of drag queens getting their kink on, wasn’t it. And, anyway, what free speech? They read books and prance about looking overtly garish.

Deputy chair Dane Giraud is on record as a vociferous supporter of DQST, likening it to “performance art” rather than anything vaguely nefarious or grooming-like. Well, that’s his opinion.

But I do wonder if his constant revisiting of it is costing the FSU. Until they own and address that particular ideological error and realise kids and “free speech” are not a thing, I can’t bring myself to rejoin their generally noble mission.

Is it just me?