State Department funding drag shows in Ecuador

The Biden administration is funding overseas drag shows with taxpayer dollars as part of a global cultural outreach program, a recent financial disclosure has revealed.

The State Department has awarded a nearly $21,000 grant to Ecuador’s Abraham Lincoln North American Cultural Center to host 12 drag theater performances designed to “promote diversity and inclusion,” according to an agency filing.

The $20,600 award is part of a program designed to “support the achievement of U.S. foreign policy goals and objectives, advance national interests, and enhance national security by informing and influencing foreign publics and by expanding and strengthening the relationship between the people and government of the United States and citizens of the rest of the world,” according to the State Department filing.

The project grant was funded on Sept. 30 and runs through August of next year. The grant is being administered by the office of the State Department’s undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs.

The grant, first reported by Fox News, has ignited a firestorm on Twitter. The grant itself was listed as required by law by the State Department at USASpending.gov.