BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — Brevard County Representative Randy Fine is firing back at the calls of hypocrisy leveled at him after it was discovered his campaign sponsored a “sultry” charity gala that children have previously attended.
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The Spring Forward for Autism annual gala, scheduled for this weekend, raises money for Brevard County families who have children on the spectrum.
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Marketing materials for the gala promise, among other things, “sultry performers,” with references to circus entertainers and dancers in skimpy outfits. Nowhere on the materials does it restrict children from attending the otherwise adult-oriented event.
Photos from past years of the event show at least one child in attendance, surrounded by women in short dresses.
Rep. Fine is the sponsor of legislation that would threaten the licenses of businesses that admit children to “adult live performances” featuring simulated sex acts or exposed body parts or prosthetics. Opponents of the bill claim it targets drag shows and is so vague it tramples on the First Amendment’s freedom of expression.
It was filed in the wake of “A Drag Queen Christmas,” a nationally-touring drag performance that drew criticism from conservatives for some of the risqué acts. Though it had come to Orlando for years, the host Plaza Live now faces the loss of its liquor license because investigators saw at least one minor in attendance.
Reports from the investigators, however, showed that at least one believed none of the acts in the holiday show qualified as obscene.
Rep. Fine said he did not attend the gala every year and had never seen children in attendance. His wife is the chair of this year’s gala, but in a follow-up conversation, Fine clarified that this was her first year stepping into the leadership role. Fine said the event was not marketed to children.
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“These deviants have shown no evidence of anything actually occurring at these events that would violate the bill that I’m proposing,” he retorted.
Fine accused those critics of advocating a so-called leftist transgender agenda bent on attacking “real” women.
“I don’t think kids should be going to stripper story time, and I don’t think kids should be going to men dressed like strippers story time,” he said.
During the interview, Fine conceded some drag performances, including Drag Queen Story Hours, would be appropriate for children depending on the content of the story and the outfit of the reader, which is why his bill didn’t institute a blanket ban on the event.
The organizers of the national Drag Queen Story Hour say the events have multiple purposes: reading to children, teaching them to be confident and showing them it’s okay to be themselves.
Neither Fine’s wife nor the charity hosting the gala has responded publicly to the controversy surrounding their event, nor have marketing materials been changed since it erupted.
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The gala and charity, which began in 2014, has donated tens of thousands of dollars to dozens of Brevard County families in the form of grants over the years, though it has not filed updated paperwork with the IRS since 2019. Its tax-exempt status was revoked in 2022, though the agency website notes it may have since been reinstated.
An emailed question asking if the reinstatement had occurred and if any updated paperwork had recently been filed was not immediately answered.
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