As the United States enters what some folks claimed the month of June to be “Pride Month,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley have announced the cancelling of a drag show set for today at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, according to an NBC report.
“The DOD will not host drag events at U.S. 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, confirmed in an email.
The show had been claimed to be “family friendly” and was previously approved by Air Force officials.
This event was one of six drag shows cited in a May 23 letter from Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz to both Milley and Austin to “further highlight the DoD’s pervasive and persistent use of taxpayer dollars for drag events.”
“Drag queen story hours is not something that the Department funds,” Austin said during the March 29 House Armed Services Committee hearing.
Milley chimed in, asking to see the flyers for the events Gaetz was referring to after claiming that he was not aware of such events and does not support their being held on military bases.
“I’d like to take a look at those, because I don’t agree with those,” Milley said.
According to an Air Force official, commanders have been directed to either cancel or relocate the events to an off-base location.
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