The BBC has promoted a 15-year-old teenage drag queen, ‘Cherry West,’ who performs at “private functions” and LGBT pride events.
Sam Carlin, 15, started performing drag as Cherry West when he was 13, after being introduced to his “current passion,” as the BBC describes it, on a family holiday in Lanzarote when he was 10.
“We just stumbled upon this drag bar and thought ‘this is going to be a laugh’,” said Carlin’s dad, also called Sam. “So we went in and had a great time, although I got taken up on stage and I got dressed up into a drag queen. Sam thought it was very funny; I was very embarrassed.” Both his parents are supportive of his drag ‘career’.
❤️🎉 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY 🎉❤️
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Full caption on insta <3 🥰 pic.twitter.com/fVQ6NDsCqI— 🍒𝓒𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓦𝓮𝓼𝓽🍒 (@CherryWestOff) February 28, 2022
Carlin said that his teachers in Edinburgh are very supportive of him performing drag, and that they “absolutely love” it.”I have a show coming up that some of the teachers actually really want to come to so I’m very grateful to have the school behind my back and all the pupils, they’re just doing their own thing, they don’t really mind it,” he said.
Because he is only 15, he is not allowed to perform at nightclubs with an over-18 audience, so instead performs at LGBT Pride events, drag nights for teenagers, and “private functions.” It is unclear who would hire a 15-year-old drag queen for a “private function,” something the BBC chose not to dive into further.
The BBC linked to Carlin’s official Cameo account, an app where users can request customised videos from celebrities and social media influencers. “Hey Divas , Am Cherry West ,” the bio reads.
“A Scottish Queen From Edinburgh, a love the whole performance side of drag, the singing the dancing , and a love big tits,” the 15-year-old apparently wrote.
On the Instagram page for Cherry West, Carlin can be seen pictured with other child drag queens, with even younger boys engaged in the “lifestyle” commenting on the pictures.
One adult drag queen, who is presumably a homosexual man, described Carlin and another 14 year old boy in drag as being “stunners.”
In fact, many adult homosexual men regularly comment on Carlin’s social media, providing him comments such as “you have very beautiful eyes” on a series of pictures where Carlin spreads his legs for the camera. Valiant News is choosing not to link to these images.
Proponents often defend drag by describing it as irreverent humor, comedy, and performance.
Those in the scene, such as drag queen Kitty Demure, admit that it is intrinsically sexual by nature.
Demure went viral in 2020 for slamming parents who brought their children to drag queen story hours.
“What in the hell has a drag queen ever done to make you respect and admire them so much, other than put on make-up and jump on the floor and writhe around and do sexual things on stage?” Demure asked.
“I have absolutely no idea why you would want that to influence your child. Would you want a stripper or a pornstar to influence your child? It makes no sense at all.”
“To get them involved in drag is extremely irresponsible,” the drag performer explained. “I get that you want to look like you’re cool, that you’re with it, that you’re woke, that you’re not a Nazi or a homophobe, whatever it may be,” he added. “But you can raise your child to be just a normal, regular, everyday child without including them in gay sexual things.”
