Former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is sponsoring a Halloween event that puts drag shows on the kids’ agenda.
Event details and funding crisis
ColGay Pride, an LGBTQ+ group in Columbus, Georgia, will host trick‑or‑treating from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., followed by an adult‑only drag performance after 9 p.m., a haunted walk, s’mores and a costume contest.
The group says Trump‑era federal funding cuts forced it to rely on individual donations, making the 13‑year‑old Halloween celebration financially unsustainable and prompting its closure next year.
Bottoms’ political record
Bottoms has a history of courting LGBTQ+ events, inviting drag queen Ms. Terra Cotta Sugarbaker to a city‑hall story hour in 2019 after a library removed a similar program.
Her gubernatorial campaign faces scrutiny after a 2021 Campaign Finance Commission fine of $37,000 for exceeding contribution limits and debt caps, and after she abandoned mayoral re‑election amid a 58 % spike in homicides during the COVID‑19 pandemic.
In a recent debate she said she would have vetoed the Riley Gaines Act, which bans biological men from competing in women’s sports, a position her Republican opponent Rick Jackson highlights as evidence of “woke” policies that threaten girls’ athletics.
The campaign has not responded to questions about how much she is contributing to the Halloween event or whether it is appropriate for children to attend a show centered on gender expression.
Election outlook
After winning her primary, Bottoms will face Jackson in the November 3, 2025 general election, a race that could be swayed by cultural flashpoints such as drag performances and transgender youth policies.
Leo Briceno, a politics reporter for Fox News Digital, covers the story.
