Grand Rapids – Down Syndrome Drag Show update

By: American Decency Staff

 

Please check out ADA’S FULL PAGE AD IN THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS SUNDAY PAPER and online throughout the weekend at: https://americandecency.org/ArtPrizeExploitsTheDisabled.pdf

It is sad to see the division that occurs when sin is so elevated under the guise of “art.”    We have been engaged in discussions with a person inside Calvin University which employed one of the organizers of this event as a professor.  We have been in touch via email (though fruitless) with ArtPrize itself.  We have been in touch with everyone whom we believed could affect change on the inside!

Let me just give a few highlights.

Peter Meijer, owner of the venue scheduled for Drag Syndrome, announced on August 19, 2019 that he would not allow the show to go on at his building, Tanglefoot, citing reservations about the event.    

The ACLU then sued Peter Meijer for so-called discrimination.Meijer told the Detroit Free Press that he was worried about "the risk of perception of exploitation," a view which he says is shared by disability advocates. He plans to challenge the complaint.

American Decency wrote an action email on August 21, 2019 and posted it on our website entitled:  “Hold Them Accountable” listing a number of corporations and/or foundations that were complicit in bringing the Down syndrome Drag Show to Grand Rapids.

We urged readers to express concern to Calvin University due to the fact that Dr. Christopher Smit, a Calvin faculty member, was a driving force in bringing the Drag Syndrome event to Grand Rapids. On Tuesday of this week a communications director for Calvin University informed us that Christopher Smit had resigned from Calvin University, although no explanation was given by Calvin.   With Dr. Smit’s resignation, ADA honored the Calvin representative’s request to kindly remove the contact links to Calvin on our webpage since Calvin had no association with Project 1, DisArt, or the Drag Syndrome event.

DisArt later named the Wealthy Theatre in Grand Rapids as the new location for the Down Syndrome Drag Show. Within days DisArt stated that the event scheduled for September 7 was sold out and a second performance was scheduled for Sunday, September 8. Keep in mind – the seating capacity at Wealthy Theater is only 60. 

Other thoughts and considerations.

We considered a prayer vigil at Wealthy Theater and we aren’t opposed to others doing so.  However, for a variety of reasons, we chose to place our financial resources and our staff’s focus on a public statement in the city’s largest newspaper – the Grand Rapid Press. https://americandecency.org/ArtPrizeExploitsTheDisabled.pdf

Please circulate it! 

We struggled with what we could best do to make our concerns known to a watching world in a TIMELY WAY, and though such an ad is expensive (newspaper and digital outreach), that is what we settled on. The cost was $4,600.00.

I believe that many of you receiving this will agree with our statement via the Grand Rapids Press.  We would be greatly helped by your financial stand with us, as we have stood on this issue, by donating online or by mail at:

American Decency
P.O. Box 202
Fremont, MI 49412

Let me close by stating this:

To support our efforts, please click here or mail your gift to American Decency Association (ADA), PO Box 202, Fremont, MI 49412

American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. 

 

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