Ecuador needs our help. And wait —we know what you’re thinking: it’s not the nearly 4 million Ecuadorians living in poverty due to the country’s 30% poverty rate; it’s not the struggling families that can’t access clean drinking water; it’s not even victims of corruption and crime.
It’s the drag shows —they’re tragically underfunded. But President Joe Biden and the crackerjack squad at the State Department are going to fix all that with cold hard American cash.
According to a report from Fox News, U.S. State Department officials are providing $20,600 to the Centro Ecuatoriano Norteamericano (CEN), a non-profit organization supported by the U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Ecuador, to “promote diversity and inclusion” in the region.
Diversity and inclusion in the form of a dozen drag shows.
The $20,600 provided by the U.S. allows the CEN to put on “3 workshops,” “12 drag theater performances,” and produce a “2-minute documentary,” according to the State Department’s grant listed on the USASpending.gov website.
It’s all part of the State Department’s diplomacy program, “which seeks to “support the achievement of U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, advance national interests, and enhance national security by informing and influencing foreign publics and by expanding and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of the United States and citizens of the rest of the world.”
So it’s totally fine.
Funding to CEN wasn’t always so controversial, with hundreds of thousands being given out over the years —but never for a drag show, let alone multiple drag shows.
According to Fox News, “In 2016, the State Department awarded a $50,000 grant to the CEN to promote the College Horizons program, which teaches English to young people of color. In 2015, it awarded $234,000 to the CEN for the building of a new auditorium.”
“All-ages” drag shows and “Drag Storytime” at public libraries here in the U.S. have been lightening rods for controversy as governors like Texas’ Greg Abbott and Florida’s Ron DeSantis have taken action to ensure strict policies and laws are in place to protect young children from inappropriate, sexually explicit content.
Hopefully, someone will ensure that the children of Ecuador are being protected, as well.
