Who Thought This Was OK?
Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,
A small city in upstate New York sponsored a "family friendly" arts festival, then stood by while grown men stripped down and took cash tips a few feet from toddlers. Rather than issuing an apology, the Democratic mayor issued a lecture on free speech.
Footage from the September 19 City of the Hills Festival in Oneonta now circulating online shows one performer peeling off clothing, working the crowd for money, and dancing like a stripper in Muller Plaza, a public downtown space.
Local parents have started a petition. City Hall has treated their objection as the real problem.
DISGUSTING
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 8, 2026
Here's a video showing just ONE of the s*xual drag queen performances that CHILDREN were exposed to in Oneonta, NY.
The grown man strips off clothing, takes cash tips, and does a stripper-esque dance right in front of young children.
📹Sam Judd on FB https://t.co/nIkvivugSj
The hour-long show was billed by organizers as "Draglesque to Downtown." It was put on by the Community Arts Network of Oneonta and held on the plaza's stage area during a festival that, according to a Daily Caller report, drew sponsorship from the City of Oneonta and the New York State Council on the Arts.
Advertisements did not warn that stripteases were part of the act. Videos and photos reviewed by the Caller show toddlers and young children seated just feet from the performers.
One performer, identified on Facebook as Teejae Dee, stripped down to a thong-style costume, did floorwork, climbed across picnic tables, and took money from the audience.
Dee promoted the slot in advance as a "Sickening Showcase," with shows at 4 p.m. Asked whether the performance was appropriate for children, the organization did not answer.
A mother of three who spoke at Oneonta City Hall told WBNG the event was sold as family friendly, then the artist warned parents the act would be "PG-16."
"Cano advertised their event as family friendly, however the artist stated a warning to the parents that it would be PG-16, which means these performers prepared an act not appropriate for children for a family festival in an open area in public space," she said.
"They did this all while assuming positions on all fours, shaking their buttocks and genitalia, laying on tables in an overly suggestive and sexual manner while receiving tips from kids and adults. As a mother of three small children who are unaware that these are prosthetics, it made me wonder what message is teaching these kids."
Kayla Ver, who was at the festival said "When did teaching small children it is good and normal for strange men to take clothes off near them become acceptable? When did parents and adults applauding vulgarity, revealing outfits, and taking one's clothes off for money teaching kids it is a good thing to do become celebrated? When did the fear of offending an adult acting out fetishes around children become more important than protecting little children?"
On October 6, the fight moved into the Common Council. All Otsego reported there was atanding room only. Public comment on the show ran about an hour and a half, but the council took no action.
Sam Judd, who filmed the performance and has pushed the petition, told the council: "These acts in this given setting qualify as indecent exposure."
He added: "We are saying that people, no matter their gender or sexual orientation, should not be giving sexual performances in public spaces, especially in front of children. We're merely attempting to ensure that next year these performances are held in an appropriate lawful venue."
Mayor Dan Buttermann, a Democrat who took office in January after defeating Republican Luisa Montanti, opened the session by asking people to hear views they dislike. His fuller defense of the show itself, reported by WBNG, folded the drag performance in with a separate complaint about "No Kings" signs at the Fourth of July parade.
"This summer I received some complaints that I did not take away the no kings signs from the 4th of July participants that had carried them in the parade. Even some complaints recently that I should have stopped the drag show at the City of the Hills Festival. Both actions would have been wrong," Buttermann said.
"The freedom of expression and its protections described in our constitution cannot be abridged by the attitudes of the majority. Instead, those protections are most necessary for the forms of expression that we may disagree with and not want distributed or may be against our personal values or views. In my view, our freedom of expression ensures that each person can be authentically themselves in their community."
The First Amendment is not a permit to stage a strip act in a public plaza full of other people's children. Buttermann treated a parental objection and a political sign as the same category of speech. They are not.
The festival's own Facebook statement leaned on the same dodge. "While art is sometimes inherently provocative, festival goers are well informed about the performances and activities during the festival," it said.
It continued, "Performances are publicized in advance so people can choose to attend, and we take all precautions to ensure the safety of participants."
A PG-16 warning issued at the moment of the act, in an open plaza at a festival advertised to families, is not informed consent. Parents walking a downtown street do not opt in to a drag thong routine.
Gary Ott, a committee head for Delaware County Pride, told the council he could "understand that some people may have taken offense," then warned that a ban on drag and burlesque "counters one's First Amendment rights."
Another speaker said a total ban would be "another matter altogether," while allowing that "sexual perverted influences" on these events were a separate issue. Nobody on that side explained why a sexual performance belonged in Muller Plaza at all.
Taxpayer money sat in the background. The New York State Council on the Arts confirmed to the Daily Caller that it gave CANO a fiscal 2026 Support for Organizations grant of $49,500 for administrative costs. The city and the county did not answer the Caller's questions about sponsorship before publication. CANO said it is "excited to bring it back to the community again next year."
Oneonta is not an outlier. It is the small-town version of a routine that keeps being sold as inclusion and keeps putting sexualized adult performance in front of children.
In September, a half-naked taxpayer-funded act in Berlin followed a children's circus slot and drew a criminal complaint from a child-protection activist.
In the UK in 2023, a Pride beauty pageant put a male performer in front of children for a striptease and a simulated sex act. Campaigners said it belonged in a nightclub.
In San Francisco, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence sold families an Easter event that mocked Christ and pushed children toward transgenderism, with a website note that parts of the show might not be suitable for young children.
In Massachusetts, a drag performer led small children in a "Free Palestine" chant at a "Queer Storytime for Palestine."
The same pipeline runs through brands aimed at children. Nickelodeon put out a drag-queen Pride promo for kids, and its parent hub has been documented as a syllabus of gender ideology dressed up as guidance.
Lego produced a Pride video featuring drag queens and furries.
Republicans, including Rep. Mary Miller, accused PBS of using Sesame Street Pride posts to groom children and pushed to cut the funding. President Trump has already moved to halt taxpayer money for PBS and NPR.
Judd's petition on the Oneonta incident does not ask the city to police anyone's private life. It asks that sexual performances stay out of public spaces where children are present.
That used to be ordinary law and ordinary manners. A mayor who cannot tell a parade sign from a man shaking his genitalia in the direction of children has already picked a side.