Gonzales claimed that it had been billed as an “all ages” drag show, posting a video of a drag performer dancing to a song that mentioned the word p*ssy several times. In the video, a child can be seen in the background.
She didn’t mention that the event’s original flier warned that “parental discretion is advised,” citing “suggestive material and coarse language.”
Predictably, the clip spread across Twitter and other social media outlets in a flash, getting picked up by a slew of Texas Republicans. Gonzales did the right-wing media rounds, appearing in interviews with Glenn Beck and Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.
Never one to be outdone, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hurled himself into the mix. Speaking to the ultra-conservative Daily Caller News Foundation, the state’s top cop called for prosecutions over the drag show.
Describing the drag performance as “grotesque, disturbing behavior,” Paxton said, “Under Texas law, local district and county attorneys are charged with taking up the mantle to protect Texas kids by prosecuting these types of totally inappropriate acts.”
Paxton didn’t mention any crimes he believed had been committed, and the Plano Police Department says none were. (The Dallas Morning News first reported Plano PD's comments Thursday.)
"Police administrators and department legal advisors carefully reviewed the video and determined no laws were broken," Jennifer Chapman, a Plano PD public information officer, told the Observer by email. "At this time, no complaints have been filed with the department."
Chapman said in part, "The business owner says he checked ticketed attendees at the door to make sure they understood what they were going to see. … The City of Plano has always treated the health and safety of children as a top priority."
Contacted by the Observer, Paxton’s press team didn’t respond to request for comment on the Plano PD’s statement.
Either way, for the sake of background, we’ve put together a highlight list of occasions when the attorney general called for or refused to rule out prosecutions for nonsensical reasons.
The Crime Is Investigating a Potential Crime
Last month, Paxton had a meltdown after Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced that his office was investigating Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest political stunt, which involved recruiting migrants in San Antonio and then flying them to Florida and eventually to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
At the time, Salazar said that he had reason to believe the migrants had been lied to, including about potential jobs waiting for them in Martha’s Vineyard. The sheriff said they’d been “hoodwinked” and “preyed upon.”
Paxton didn’t like that. He quickly took to Twitter to blast Salazar. More bizarre still, he accused Salazar of breaking the law by investigating the incident at all.At a time when Texas law enforcement is dealing with the impacts of the deluge of crime and drugs that have flowed across our borders, this purely partisan grandstanding is not just unhelpful, it is unlawful. https://t.co/JY86Y18UY6
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) September 20, 2022
“At a time when Texas law enforcement is dealing with the impacts of the deluge of crime and drugs that have flowed across our borders, this purely partisan grandstanding is not just unhelpful, it is unlawful,” he wrote.
Funny enough, Paxton didn’t elaborate about which law he believed Salazar broke.
Selective Vision of a Plano Protest
In May 2021, a small group of protesters marched in Plano to call for justice for Marvin Scott III, a 26-year-old Black man who had died under controversial circumstances in Collin County jail several weeks earlier.
The marchers crossed a busy Plano intersection, escorted at times by police officers, and briefly blocked traffic. That's when a motorist jumped out and charged several of the demonstrators.
In a video of the incident, the motorist appeared to slap at a woman’s phone and raised his fists at another demonstrator, threatening them. The man shouted obscenities at the demonstrators and yelled for a police officer to “get these fucking people out of the way.”
The video sparked outrage. Liberal and progressive commentators, as well as the demonstrators, wanted to know why police hadn’t arrested the man on the spot. (He was later hit with an assault charge.)
Enter conservative media figures and Ken Paxton. As right-wing news outlets spread the video online as supposed proof of an Antifa takeover, Paxton jumped into the mix to offer his own two cents.Read my statement regarding a recent episode of mob rule in Plano, TX. And be sure to watch the full 2 min video and see the critical screenshot below. Thank you @JackPosobiec for exposing this! pic.twitter.com/EaYU11Jjsg
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 10, 2021
In a statement, Paxton criticized the Plano police chief for not arresting an “Antifa-like character” who was carrying what law enforcement called an “electronic control device” for brandishing a weapon.
Shockingly, Paxton’s statement didn’t mention the motorist’s threats against the demonstrators. His description put it a little differently, saying “one person from this whole incident is being charged with a crime: The one man who told the protesters to go away. Why? For ‘assault with contact’ because he slapped a person’s hand out of his face.”
Paxton went on to vow that he would never let Texas communities “become Portland or Seattle or San Francisco because of the unchecked left.”
'Willing and Able' to Ban 'Sodomy'
Earlier this year, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion, longtime abortion opponent Paxton was apparently feeling emboldened.
In a concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the nation’s highest court should reexamine Lawrence v. Texas, a landmark case protecting same-sex intercourse.
In an interview with News Nation after the Supreme Court decision, Paxton declined to directly say whether he’d consider taking legal action against “sodomy.”
“You wouldn't rule out that if the state Legislature passed the exact same law that Lawrence overturned on sodomy, you wouldn't have any problem then defending that and taking that case back to the Supreme Court?” the host asked.
Paxton replied, “Yeah, look, my job is to defend state law and I'll continue to do that. That is my job under the Constitution, and I'm certainly willing and able to do that.”
It’s not a definitive answer, sure, but sometimes a non-answer is answer enough, right? After all, there are quite a few ways to answer that question. For instance, “No, I wouldn’t prosecute two adult humans for having consensual sexual relations in the privacy of their homes.” Alas, Ken Paxton didn't answer the question that way.
