NYC Education Department, PBS Face Backlash for Showing Drag Queen to Young Children

According to NYCDOE’s website, “Let’s Learn” is geared toward an audience of 3-K to second grade, or children between ages 3 to 8. It is meant to feature “lessons taped by educators” and “offers age-appropriate content that is aligned to education standards and lessons for early childhood education, focusing on foundational reading and writing skills, literacy, math, science, social studies, and the arts.”

In public schools, older methods of learning, such as memorization, have been abandoned long ago. Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock

New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) are facing intense criticism after inviting a drag queen book author to contribute to an education show aimed at young children.

“Today I’m going to read from my own book, which is ‘The Hips On the Drag Queen Go Swish Swish Swish,’” said the drag performer, who goes by the name Lil' Miss Hot Mess, during an episode of “Let’s Learn,” a TV series produced in partnership by NYCDOE and WNET, a PBS member television station for New York City.