Youth center drag performance divides comments at Fillmore school board meeting

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with information on One Step A La Vez’s relationship with Fillmore Unified School District.

The dance, Ann Rogalla thought, was fun, light-hearted.

As drag performer Pam Cakez strutted and somersaulted across the concrete floor of Fillmore youth center One Step A La Vez, Rogalla, one of the center's managers, looked around and saw a room full of happy people.

"Everybody was smiles," she said.

But a month later, the June 16 performance — a four-minute addition to the center's Pride Resource Fair — has split the small city of Fillmore.

Some locals protested the City Council's July 11 meeting, frustrated that two councilmembers had attended the fair.

The crowds grew larger Tuesday night when more than 150 people filled Fillmore Unified School District's board meeting. During more than two hours of public comments, some decried the performance, asking the district to cut ties with the nonprofit center if it didn't recant.

This time, they were met by center supporters. Some sported signs with messages like "Drag is Art" and 'Protect Trans Youth."

Founded in 2007, the center hosts after-school and summertime drop-in programs for teenaged youth that include free meals, field trips, support for mental health and for the hot days, air conditioning.

Fillmore Unified has no formal connection to One Step A La Vez, center staff said, though the district lists the center’s food pantry on a resource page and the center has provided support to some campus clubs.

The resource fair was in its third year and featured booths from UCLA Health, Ventura County Behavioral Health and Public Health, Planned Parenthood, the Church of the Foothills and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Brandy Hollis, a mother of four children in the district, helped organize parents and community members to protest the center at the meeting.

"I knew there was a drag queen. I wasn't very concerned," she said in an interview before the meeting. "Until I saw the video."

Blanca Benson, a mother of three, chimed in. "Those are for adults," she said. "Not for children."

The board did not discuss the center on its Tuesday agenda and did not immediately respond to commenters. Superintendent Christine Schieferle said that Fillmore Unified had yet to formulate a response.

Brisa Romero, a center board member who has helped organize the fair, said she expected the protests because of the response to the fair's last two iterations.

The city of Fillmore joined the event in 2021, withdrew its support last year and had no involvement in this year's edition.

"It's expected," Romero said of the protests. "This year, they really doubled down."

'Nothing close to a stripper'

The day before the fair, Romero said, she got a message from Cakez, a Ventura-based drag performer. The fair was smack-dab in the middle of LGBTQ Pride month. Would the center like a Pam Cakez performance?

The center agreed, staff said, after running the idea by some of the students who helped organize the fair.

Cakez, who uses the pronouns she and her while in drag, performed a routine to Lady Gaga's "Plastic Doll" in knee-high black boots and a Barbie-pink coat. At one point, she removed the coat to reveal a high-necked pink leotard and pantyhose.

Center staff defended the performance in a statement as "age-appropriate" and a "huge hit with attendees" and said they believed protesters were really hoping to "eliminate" resources for LGBTQ+ students at local schools.

"I didn't find it sexual at all," Rogalla said.

Center staffer Jazmin Gavilanes agreed.

"It's the same thing Taylor Swift wears," she said. "It's the same thing they'd see at a performance for any other star."

Hollis, who saw an online video of the performance, called it "provocative." She and others labeled the dance a "striptease."

"Adults don't take off their clothes in a sexual manner for kids," she said.

Jack Morales, a retired district employee, said during public comment that there was "no hate" coming from protesters.

"We kinda hate the sin, but pray for those who cause the sin," Morales said

Tim Holgren, a former city councilman, said he was "concerned."

"It's unconscionable that the district would have any dealings with a youth organization that would put on a strip show for children," he said.

Center supporters fired back during the meeting's public comment.

The Rev. M.G. Alonso, pastor of Bardsdale United Methodist Church and a center board member, said she'd been at the performance.

"We had nothing close to a stripper," she said. "For those who started speaking out without coming to the event, it's unfortunate."

After the meeting's end, Romero said she thought the performance's content wasn't the real issue at hand.

"Our community cannot take a drag queen just being happy with themselves," she said.

Chase Hewitt, who performs as Cakez, also made an appearance at Tuesday's meeting sporting a billowing blonde bouffant and hot pink jacket. The performer stepped outside partway through the marathon public comment session to catch some fresh air.

"I wanted to share art and positivity — to inspire people," she said. "It's the kind of thing I didn't have when I was a kid."

Cakez said she'd reached out to One Step A La Vez and offered to perform free of charge, "which is rare, honey" — and spent "hours" tailoring her performance for the center's audience of youth and families.

The backlash wasn't new. "Every drag queen" gets it from time to time, she said. But, she said, she'd do it all again.

"If you stop, then they win." she said.

Isaiah Murtaugh covers education for the Ventura County Star in partnership with Report for America. Reach him at isaiah.murtaugh@vcstar.com or 805-437-0236 and follow him on Twitter @isaiahmurtaugh and @vcsschools. You can support this work with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Fillmore drag performance hot topic at school board meeting