Nevada Dem Senator Quietly Honors Drag Queen for Working With Children

Catherine Cortez Masto presents award to self-described ‘faglicious homo’ for hosting ‘Drag Queen Story Time’

Collin Anderson • July 7, 2022 5:00 am

Nevada Democratic senator Catherine Cortez Masto quietly honored a drag queen and self-described “faglicious homo” for his years of work with children at a local library.

During a June 26 “Drag Queen Story Time” event in Reno, Masto’s office presented a “certificate of commemoration” to drag queen Miss Ginger Devine, a Washoe County Library tweet shows. Devine, who also goes by Reverend Divine and whose real name is Christopher Daniels, has performed as a drag queen in the Reno area for more than a decade and has read to children at local libraries since at least 2019. In a 2010 blog post, Daniels described himself as a “Broadway loving, Project Runway watching, rainbow scarf wearing, footlong Subway sandwich eating faglicious homo.”

Cortez Masto has yet to publicly promote her award to Daniels and did not interact with the library’s tweet that revealed the honor, suggesting the Democrat is hesitant to weigh in on the controversial “Drag Queen Story Time” program as she faces a difficult reelection bid against Republican Adam Laxalt.

On the same day as the library’s event with Daniels, for example, Cortez Masto accused Republicans of working to end same-sex marriage and pledged to stand with “LGBTQ communities.” But the senator has refrained from discussing more hot-button, “culture war” issues such as drag queen story hours and critical race and gender theory, even as she praises far-left activists who say Nevada “should be teaching” critical race theory in public schools. Laxalt, meanwhile, has called to keep critical race theory out of the state’s schools and “protect students and teachers from indoctrinated bigotry.”

Cortez Masto did not return a request for comment.

Prior to his drag career, Daniels attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he minored in LGBT Studies and Women’s Studies and worked for Sex Out Loud, a campus organization that teaches students “all about the world of kink, including role play, kinky toys, and bondage.”

For years, Daniels wrote and managed a “Confessions of a Drag Queen” blog that detailed his experiences as a performer in Reno. In one post, Daniels discussed how he “get[s] so much more action as a drag queen” than he does “as a guy.” In another, Daniels wrote that he “almost got into a fight with a 10 year old” at a Reno roller rink and arcade—where he said the “average individual in the establishment was 8″—because a “band of stupid 10 year old boys” objected to his song request of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun.”

“Now … I am not entirely sure what happened next. I think it was the combination of flashing strobe lights, the pain in my calves from bracing myself on the floor, or perhaps Mars was in retrograde but I basically went off on this ten year [sic] and started screaming and ranting while skating around the rink. From what I remember it went something like this,” Daniels recalled.

“‘Uh excuse me you prepubescent choir boy. What the fuck are you doing? What the fuck can you do?'” Daniels asked the child. “‘I can buy porn, cigarettes, and liquor and enjoy them at my leisure if I desire. I can drive, vote, and gamble if I want to. Join the 21st century you 8 year old Justin Bieber worshiping wannabe. Cyndi Lauper is TIMELESS so shut the fuck up and sit down.”

In addition to his rousing roller rink stories, Daniels has dismissed concerns from the “parental units of America” that sexually explicit materials are “influencing the young impressionable minds of the youth.” Daniels called the complaint “bullshit.”

“I would really like the parents of America who are outraged to remove the pole from your sphincter and get the fuck over it,” Daniels said in 2010. “Are you kidding me with all of this? Take a look around. Television shows are increasingly featuring more violence, more sex, and more foul language; a reflection of our society which as of late has more violence, more sex, and swears a hell of a lot more.”

Daniels has also delivered “sermons” as “Reverend Divine” at Reno’s Center for Spiritual Living, a religious science group that believes “in the healing of the sick through the power of this Mind.” In a 2017 appearance at the center, Daniels called drag queens “God’s sacred messengers on this earth.” The comment came after Daniels retired from performing as a drag queen in 2014—roughly five years later, he returned as Miss Ginger Devine in a show he called “The Come On Her Back Tour.”

“When all of a sudden, God parts the clouds and he shines a light and tells you to take your wig off the shelf, don your best hooker heels, and go to church, you don’t question the good Lord, you just do,” Daniels said in 2017.

Daniels did not return a request for comment on his award from Cortez Masto. The incumbent Democrat will face Laxalt in November after both candidates handily won their June primary elections.