Nonbinary Kansas county fair singer and a tame Pride drag show prevail over prejudice | Opinion

Hunter Gromala will be performing at the Sedgwick County Fair.

A couple of weeks ago, the most common response you’d have gotten to that statement would have been, “Who?”

Now, the 26-year-old Kansas singer is in a national spotlight, an unlikely and reluctant combatant in the culture wars that dominate America in the Year of our Lord 2023.

Gromala identifies as nonbinary and prefers to be called by the pronouns they and them. It falls under the umbrella of the term LGBTQ.

Your next question might be “And, so what?”

And that would be the right question. But some people just can’t live and let live.

When Gromala and their band’s $800 gig was announced by the association that runs the fair, some people took it on themselves to pry into and publicize Gromala’s gender identification.

That triggered a backlash from people who get their jollies by going on search-and-destroy missions against anything they perceive as different, or God forbid, “woke.”

When they found out about Gromala’s gender identity, they courageously complained on Facebook.

The fair association should have told them to mind their own business.

Instead, the association slapped a “canceled” label on Gromala’s event, until a special board meeting could be held to determine if Gromala singing pop cover tunes would be an offense to the public morals, or something.

Unlike other performers presumed straight, Gromala was required to supply a setlist to insure they wouldn’t sing something inappropriate at what is basically a 4-H fair.

After a delay to lawyer up, the fair board finally met Wednesday night. The meeting was closed to the public, but resulted in a joint statement by the association and Gromala that the show will go on.

‘The Board remains excited to welcome Hunter Gromala and Hunter’s band to perform at the Sedgwick County Fair on Wednesday, July 12th, 2023 at 7:30 PM,” the statement said. “The Board maintains its longstanding practice and procedure not to discriminate against anyone, whether they are a guest, volunteer or performer at the Fair’s events. Hunter and Hunter’s band are committed to a performance that carries on the Fair’s tradition of hosting safe, family-friendly events that are welcoming to all, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.”

That’s a welcome change in tone. But the real test will be what happens next year.

Since the controversy broke out, several people have suggested to me that the fair association’s big mistake was not vetting Gromala’s gender identity before offering them the gig. That’s the wrong lesson.

The problem is, we live in a time when anti-LGBTQ persecution is pervasive, especially at the Kansas Legislature. New anti-transgender laws its members passed have given prejudice a foothold on respectability, and given tacit permission to the public to hate “those people.”

Against a backdrop of right-wing, anti-LGBTQ boycotts of Bud Light, Target stores, Garth Brooks and even Chick-fil-A, inventor of the Christian chicken sandwich, one little-known musician’s struggle to play at a cow and plow show in Cheney has drawn national attention.

Gromala’s previous gigs have included such lustrous events as the Clearwater Art Show and halftime at a Wichita SkyKings minor league basketball game.

Now, tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of people who had never heard of Hunter Gromala will recognize the name.

The best outcome of this ugly incident would be for that attention to springboard Gromala to a successful career as a musician. Judging from online comments I’ve read, this could become the biggest concert the Sedgwick County Fair’s ever had.

But even so, some online commenters are unwilling to let it go. Plenty have misidentified Gromala as a drag queen, transgender or even a “groomer.” Gromala is none of those things.

The struggle continues.

Speaking of struggles, this probably would be a good time to update you on the other recent local case of right-wing performance anxiety.

In Hutchinson, the Salt City Pride event, which featured drag performers, was forced to move from its original venue after local barber Thomas “Tommy” Galindo posted a random cell phone video on YouTube, ranting about demonic possession and child molestation.

My wife and I attended the event last weekend at the invitation of Brian Davis, who rented the venue, and his wife, Anne Lauer.

In the drag show, the queens (and a few kings) were fully dressed — even overdressed — as they lip-synced pop songs and sashayed through the crowd.

The audience munched on popcorn and waved dollar bills, which they handed to the performers — in contrast to cisgender/heterosexual clubs where patrons strategically insert their tips into the dancers’ costumes.

If there were any demons lurking about, they hid it well. And my only concern for children attending was the volume of the sound system.

Outside, I saw one protester. I’ve seen him before around Wichita, yelling at people through an apparently homemade public-address system mounted on a backpack frame.

When we left, he was arguing biblical interpretations with a bearded drag queen who’d stepped out for a smoke break.

Kansas is such a weird place sometimes. And that’s OK.

Dion Lefler: 316-268-6527, @DionKansas