A drag queen bingo event slated for May 3 at The Centennial in Jefferson received some free publicity when resident Cindy Wise spoke against the event during the open forum of the April 22 Jefferson city council meeting.
Owners of the building, Why Not Us, has received financial assistance from the city and state for rehabilitation of the building. A payment from grant funds for upper story rehabilitation at the building was on the consent agenda.
Wise called the drag bingo event “perverse.” “It’s very, very grievous for our community to have such an event in such a lovely place as The Centennial,” she said, and asked “Are we going to lead our kids in the right way, or are we going to lead our kids to drag queen shows?”
She targeted council members Matt Wetrich, as a father with children still living at home, and Darren Jackson as a high school teacher, asking if they would take their children or suggest the event to their students. “I think it’s hypocrisy when people on this city council get to vote for things that affect my children and grandchildren, that influence all the kids in this community, but yet they hold out their students or their children from the events,” Wise said.
Wetrich said the city council doesn’t have power over an event in a public place. He also asked how the event is “perverse,” and when Wise pushed, he said that yes, he’d take his daughters if they asked him to. Jackson said he didn’t find dressing in drag perverse and reminded Wise that he performed as Juliet in the Community Players’ fall production of ”The Complete Works of Wm Shakespeare, abridged.”
Mayor Craig Berry held Wise to the 5-minute time limit for open forum comments.
Wise did strike a chord with council member Chad Sloan, as he voted against an item on the consent agenda approving a payment from an upper story housing grant for the building in which The Centennial operates. Sloan said he couldn’t vote for that particular item, asking for more review “due to some of the stuff they’re promoting in our community, and especially being named Main Street of the United States, and one of our main things is that kind of activity there. I cannot vote ‘yes’ for that,” he said.
Wetrich, who is also Jefferson Matters: Main Street director, was next in the roll call vote. “Part of what brings that recognition to this community is diversity and inclusion and equity. I think it’s very appropriate that this community has been recognized for making people feel welcome and everyone having equal rights,” Wetrich said.
