Children's Museum of Richmond faces criticism over LGBTQ 'Pride with Santa' event

The Children's Museum of Richmond is facing criticism over an LGBTQ pride event with Santa Claus for children.

The museum in Virginia posted a tweet with photos from the event that showed a man dressed up like Santa Claus next to a drag show performer named Michelle Livigne.

"We're still smiling from Pride Night with Legendary Santa!" read the tweet from the museum's account.

"In collaboration with Black Pride RVA, Diversity Richmond, He She Ze and We, Side by Side, SPARC Spectrum, and Virginia Pride, we invited LGBTQIA+ families to enjoy visits with Santa. We can't wait to do it again!" they added.

The organization shut down comments on the tweet in order to avoid criticism.

The "He She Ze and We" group described its mission as "Empowering families on the journey of gender identity through support, education, and advocacy."

Some people on Twitter reported cancelling their membership to the children's museum over the LGBTQ event.

"Absolutely shameful. All my friends are cancelling their membership. Let the kids alone! #groomer," responded one twitter account.

"Dear Childrens Museum of Richmond, we won't be renewing our membership any time soon. This is inappropriate for children," said another critic. "If you're an adult doing this for adults, I don't care, but this is highly inappropriate for children who haven't even reached puberty. Whatever happened to innocence?"

"Membership cancelled yesterday at @CMoRVA, get woke, go broke," replied another detractor.

Drag shows have become a controversial battleground in the culture war between liberals and conservatives. Those on the right say children shouldn't be exposed to drag shows, given the sexually explicit nature of the performances. Supporters of the drag shows say that children can learn to be open-minded and tolerant at drag shows and claim that "family-friendly" events don't include sexual themes.

Here's more about the drag show debate:

Texas lawmaker introducing legislation to ban minors from Drag showswww.youtube.com