By DAN FAGAN
What children need today is more exposure to drag queens is the subject of an upcoming event put on by the taxpayer-funded Alaska Humanities Forum.
The April 5 event at Williwaw Social in Anchorage is titled: “Kids need to be around more drag queens, and other ways to make the world a better, safer, place.”
The speaker, Kendra Arciniega, describes herself as a culture-focused creative, community organizer, storyteller, producer/showrunner of Arciniega productions.”
Arciniega productions produces and hosts mostly drag queen shows that are sexually charged in nature. Arciniega is also a drag queen performer.
The Alaska Humanities Forum website promoting the upcoming event features Arciniega describing herself this way: “Together with her wife Mercedes, she produces local community-building entertainment that focuses on Latine, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ artists and their respective community intersections. Much of Arciniega’s programming is developed to include queer youth, families, and allies in meaningful ways to promote more unity and safe spaces in Anchorage – and yes, that includes family friendly drag shows.”
The Alaska Humanities Forum received more than $2.1 million in 2021, according to the nonprofit’s IRS 990 form. Most of the money came from taxpayers. Corporations and individuals donated less than $100,000 of the $2.1 million.
Anchorage Assembly member Kameron Perez-Verdia is the president and CEO of the Alaska Humanities Forum. He’s paid $176,306 in salary and benefits annually.
Emily Edenshaw, one of 20 board members for the nonprofit, is also Executive Director of the Alaska Native Heritage Center. Edenshaw hosted a drag queen story hour at the Alaska Native Heritage Center last year.
A video of that show reveals drag queens making sexually suggestive dance moves and asking toddlers about bisexuality. One drag queen told the kids that Alaska Natives originally did not have a word for gender.
The nonprofit sector has become big business and a fertile dumping ground for taxpayer dollars. It’s especially true in Alaska.
Close to 10,000 people work in the nonprofit sector in Alaska, according to the watchdog organization, Tax Exempt World, which reports there are 8,631 nonprofits in Alaska, taking in more than $10 billion annually. Most of that money comes from taxpayers through one avenue or another. Alaska nonprofits currently have more than $20 billion in assets, according to the group.
Nationally, 80 percent of all nonprofit revenue comes from taxpayers, according to Zippia.com. Total revenue of nonprofits in the United States last year was close to $2.6 trillion, a number that has doubled in the past 10 years.
Dan Fagan is a reporter for Must Read Alaska. Email [email protected].
