Kari Lake: Another GOP Hypocrite

Kari Lake is a former news journalist and Republican running for governor of Arizona, and like a great many Republicans she is concerned about a threat to America. No, not climate change, silly, she’s a Republican and they don’t believe that; and not the rise in Hate Crimes, you nut, because Republicans feed off Hate Crimes; and certainly not all these mass shootings because I would imagine Kari gets coins from the NRA.

No, the great evil in America according to the GOP and Kari Lake is … drag queens. And she has come out strong, saying it is positively indecent that children have seen drag performances like when drag queens read to kids:

“They kicked God out of schools and welcomed the Drag Queens. They took down our Flag and replaced it with a rainbow. They seek to disarm Americans and militarize our Enemies. Let’s bring back the basics: God, Guns & Glory.”

Oh, the horror! But, since every time a Republican makes an accusation, it’s actually a confession, let’s meet one of Kari Lake’s friends, who has known her for twenty something years.

Rick Stevens is a drag queen, who has performed in Arizona for the last 25 years as Barbra Seville at theaters, bars and parties around town … including parties held at Kari Lake’s home, one of which he says was attended by Lake’s then-elementary school-aged daughter:

“She’s friends with drag queens. She’s had her kid in front of a drag queen. I’ve done drag in her home for her friends and family. She’s not threatened by them. She would come to shows constantly. To make me be the bogeyman for political gain it was just too much.”

Rick met Kari twenty years ago when she and her Fox10 co-workers started coming to the 307 Lounge, a Phoenix gay bar that hosted drag shows featuring Barbra Seville, Ms. Ebony, Pussy Le Hoot and Celia Putty, among others:

“They (Lake and her co-workers) would come down to the 307 Lounge which was about a mile or two from the station and they would hang out. She would come to the show pretty regularly. I wouldn’t say every week but it wasn’t uncommon."

He says Lake then sought him out for news stories on LGBTQ topics, and even invited him to her home to perform as Marilyn Monroe at her birthday party, and later to do a drag routine at a 2015 baby shower for a fellow news anchor. He remembers seeing Lake’s young daughter at one of the performances because she wore glasses and he sympathized, having hated wearing them when he was a child.

So, let’s get this queer: Kari Lake hung out at drag bars, befriended a drag queen, and hired said drag queen to perform at her birthday and another event, where her daughter was in attendance, but suddenly Kari Lake thinks drag queens are the worst thing that can happen in America?

Kari Lake’s team is hitting back, trying to spin Rick Stevens’ story as a lie:

“Richard’s accusations were full of lies. The event in question was a party at someone else’s house, and the performer was there as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator. It wasn’t a drag show, and the issue we’re talking about isn’t adults attending drag shows, either. The issue is activists sexualizing young children, and that’s got to stop.”

Or maybe she’s just pandering and lying to the conservatives to win an election. Either way, we also know one other thing about Kari Lake:

Kari Lake has done drag.

That’s Kari Lake, dressed as Elvis, a man; now, spin that as Halloween or a costume party but how is Kari Lake dressed as Elvis Presley any more different than Rick Stevens dressed as Marilyn Monroe.

It isn’t different, but it’s a hate-filled lie that people like Kari Lake will perpetuate just to win an election.

AZ Central