Radim Fiala of the SPD warns against drag queens who read fairy tales to children. But the real fairy tale begins in his description of the whole event
Another cultural storm has erupted on social media. This time over an event that in normal society would hardly elicit more than a few cute photos and a sigh like "It was nice that someone read to the children". But in the Czech corner of the internet, where political imagination often turns into the genre of catastrophic science fiction, the simple act of reading children's books becomes an alleged "LGBT indoctrination" operation. And who else should raise a warning finger than SPD deputy chairman Radim Fiala, who says that pre-schoolers have been "indoctrinated" by drag queens - and even "with the assistance of the police".
In the context of the SPD, however, this is understandable. Whenever a rainbow flag appears in the world, a new apocalypse is born.
Fairy tale reading vs. coup d'état
At Berlin's Humboldt Forum - a cultural institution that, incidentally, also exists to broaden the horizons of children and adults - two drag queens sat down and read to children from picture books. Not a manifesto for a radical gender sect, not a three-step guide to sex change, not an agitation against the traditional family. Just fairy tales.
Drag queens are not secret agents of a "gender conspiracy." They are performers who work with hyperbole, theatricality, and extravagant aesthetics - exactly the kind of creativity that kids just love. It is interesting that when a clown reads fairy tales to children, no politician starts shouting that the state is depriving boys of their manhood. A drag queen, however, only needs to have eyelashes two centimetres longer and suddenly we have to worry about "losing civilisation".
One man's cause is not the queer world's calling card.
In his Facebook post, Fiala argues, among other things, the case of a "prominent Berlin drag queen" being investigated in connection with child pornography. A serious matter, no doubt. But using a single criminal case as an argument against any group of people is a practice that even a first-year journalism student would call a logical flaw. When a teacher commits a crime, we don't ban education. When the mayor steals, we don't abolish city hall. But when a drag performer commits a crime, Fiala inferred a systemic threat.
The "one person = absolute truth about the whole group" argument is crude but politically effective. And that is precisely why it appears so often in the vocabulary of extremist movements.
The fantasy of "gender social engineers"
Then comes the classic ideological concoction: 'genderists claim there are 100 sexes', 'they want boys to wear dresses and have babies as adults', rhetoric that is about as far from reality as Santa Claus is from an accountant's deadline.
Modern child education is not about "persuading boys to become girls". It has one aim: to explain to children that the world is diverse and that no one should be the target of hatred because of their identity.
Simply put: the goal is not to change children, but to teach them not to one day beat up a classmate who is gay. Or for a trans kid to not be afraid to go to school.
If this is "indoctrination", then yes - it is indoctrination with empathy, respect, and the basis of civilized coexistence.
"Everyone knows there are two sexes" - but science says otherwise
SPD politicians often appeal to "common sense". But common sense has one flaw: it is the least reliable source of information.
Biology has for decades described intersex variations, hormonal deviations, chromosomal atypicalities and a whole range of identities that simply do not fit into a simple "male/female" box. "Everybody knows" is the phrase people have traditionally used when they claim the Earth is flat and women shouldn't study it.
When reality contradicts the political narrative, there is no choice but to... ignore reality.
LGBT issues in schools are not propaganda but a form of prevention. Long-term research clearly shows that queer kids face a significantly higher risk of depression, bullying, and suicidal ideation. Conversely, schools that work with inclusive programs show lower rates of bullying overall - not just towards LGBT youth, but towards all students. Moreover, including LGBT issues in the curriculum does not "breed" new gay or trans people; it merely creates an environment in which children of an existing minority do not have to be afraid to live, talk about their feelings, or be themselves. And that is why it seems strange when some politicians, with their mouths full of platitudes about 'protecting children', fight the loudest against measures that actually protect children.
The traditional family as a fetish
The SPD traditionally emphasises that "the foundation of the state is the family, where dad and mum bring up the children". But the reality has long looked different. There are single-parent families, with grandma as the main carer, there are families with two dads or two mums, there are foster families, there are extended families.
Society is based on children growing up in a loving environment, not on the gender of their parents. If the state really wanted to support families, it would address affordable housing, daycare, parental benefits and career equality, not drag queens in the library.
And what about Islam?
When you run out of arguments, the tried and tested figure comes in: 'The real danger is Islam'. This phrase is something of a universal salt in conservative politics - it's sprinkled on everything, even when it doesn't make sense.
LGBT people in Europe want nothing more than equality and security. And it is those who demonise them at home who are effectively fostering an atmosphere in which they are threatened by a completely different radicalism, even at home.
Children do not need hysteria. They need a safe world.
Drag queens reading fairy tales are not a threat to children. The threat is adults who instill fear of otherness in them. The importance of LGBT issues in schools is not about propaganda, but about prevention, respect and safety. That every child, regardless of identity, has the right to grow up without hate.
I wish some politicians would give children at least as much care as they give to their imaginary culture wars.
