On October 26, 2022, LifeSiteNews covered the story of a protest at Old Nick’s Pub in Eugene, Oregon. Parents were protesting an event featuring an 11-year-old drag queen whose mentor, a “drag mom” named Kelsey Boren who also moonlights as a drag queen called “Alwaiz Craving,” had recently been arrested for child sex abuse crimes. The pub, which is named after Satan, promoted the event with the tagline: “Vanellope is here to show you what an 11-year-old drag queen can do.”
There is an update to that story. Boren, 31, pleaded guilty in March to 11 counts of “encouraging sexual abuse” in the first degree and sentenced in Lane County Circuit Court to a mere 330 days in jail — roughly 30 days per charge. Boren, who frequently posted photos of herself with the 11-year-old drag performer, worked as a teacher for the Fern Ridge School District before being suspended after allegations surfaced.
Boren was arrested in August and police found that she had been both uploading and exchanging child pornography on the Internet. She was also charged with “using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct,” a charge dismissed by the court.
Boren’s conviction casts the protest at Old Nick’s Pub in a new light. Boren was part of the drag event in October 2022 and was defended by supporters who shouted at protesters to “go home Nazis” and unfurled a banner reading “Protect trans youth.” Considering that one of the drag queens was an actual predator who had, at that point already been arrested and charged several months earlier with uploading and transferring child pornography, it would appear the protesters were unquestionably in the right and the only ones present who were interested in protecting the youth.
Old Nick’s Pub, meanwhile, claimed that the backlash was merely part of a “targeted agenda” to “push forward anti-LGBTQ legislation” and that the “idea that [drag] is inherently sexual is a form of bigotry.” They did not explain what Kelsey “Alwaiz Craving” Boren meant by her stage name, or when drag became an asexual performance art.
Is Kelsey Boren female?