Oregon's Political Circus: Legislators Applaud Drag Show In House Chamber

The moment elected officials prioritize spectacle over substance, democracy suffers--and that moment arrived in Oregon's legislature with a controversial drag performance.

In a display that would be more at home in a nightclub than a government chamber, Oregon's House of Representatives descended into political theater last week when Democrat lawmakers hosted a drag show on the legislative floor. 

Yes, in the very place where laws are debated and decisions affecting millions are made, elected officials cheered as performers lip-synched and paraded down the aisle to the sound of Aretha Franklin, waving pride flags and basking in applause.

The event was organized to promote a resolution from Portland Rep. Travis Nelson honoring the Black drag community in Oregon. Nelson, the state's first openly LGBTQ African American legislator, gushed over the performance, calling it "incredible" and praising the "cultural impact of drag." 

Speaker Pro Tempore David Gomberg encouraged lawmakers to applaud during the event. The local press, unsurprisingly, was effusive in its praise, describing how Isaiah Esquire and Aqua Flora "sashayed down the chamber's center aisle" in shimmering gold.

But this isn't diversity. It's decadence parading as progress. This isn't inclusion. It's intrusion--into the last remaining spaces of solemnity and order in our republic.

Lawmakers are elected to serve, not to stage. The floor of the Oregon House is not a theater for ideology or a catwalk for cultural agendas. It is a sacred space--a chamber where the people's business is conducted. To turn it into a platform for political performance is not just inappropriate--it's disgraceful.

Republican Leader Christine Drazan condemned the event with justified outrage, calling it an "ostentatious display" and saying the chamber had been reduced to the atmosphere of a "smokey bar." Her words are not hyperbole. The transformation of a legislative session into a drag spectacle is not just a breach of protocol--it's a vivid metaphor for a government that no longer knows how to take itself seriously.

And that's the real tragedy here. This isn't about drag or personal lifestyles. It's about the erosion of dignity in public life. It's about a governing class so enamored with activism and identity politics that it forgets its primary purpose: to govern.

This moment exposes a broader crisis. Across the country, our institutions are being hollowed out and repurposed for cultural crusades. Government chambers become performance stages. Courts become social engineering labs. Schools become indoctrination centers. And amid the noise and distraction, the real work of protecting liberty, preserving order, and serving the people gets lost.

Oregon's drag show is not an isolated event. It is a warning. It shows us what happens when lawmakers trade reverence for rebellion, and when protocol gives way to provocation. This is not harmless celebration--it is a defiant rejection of the values that once held our republic together.

If we do not demand more--if we do not insist on leaders who treat their office with honor and their duty with sobriety--then the decline will only accelerate. Culture will continue to infiltrate governance. Theatrics will replace truth. And the people's house will become just another stage where the loudest performance wins.

You can watch the sad spectacle below:

Meanwhile, at the Oregon House of Representatives… a drag show on the House floorpic.twitter.com/7gZhcD0t8Q— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 18, 2025