Recently, I was saddened to learn that a small group of people in the extended Lansdale community have been attending school board meetings and making slanderous claims against Lansdale resident Eric Torres, better known as Annie Christ when performing in drag. These claims were made in opposition to his hiring as a professional in information technology for the North Penn School District.
Their claims range from the absurd to the obscene and include accusations of grooming, pedophilia, and strangely, that Mr. Torres would read “pornographic books” to children despite his role being in IT and not Library Sciences. Let me be clear: none of these claims are true and the commentors didn’t present any evidence of their accusations that evening. Eric’s role with the district is purely a professional hire, he has never performed in drag within his role for the district, and he has never been asked to perform in drag at any school district function.
What has me most concerned is that misinformation, and in this case outright lies, are being used to attack people and attempt to discredit legitimate efforts at expanding diversity, equity, and inclusion.
In full transparency, Eric did go as Ms. Annie, not Annie Christ, to the Lansdale Public Library (a non-school district entity) prior to his employment with the school district and read two books about diversity and acceptance in 2019. This was an event parents had to sign their kids up for and was entirely voluntary. No one was forced to be in the library that day that didn’t want to be. On top of that, a massive food drive was organized by Ms. Annie to encourage people to help those with food insecurity.
Altogether, hundreds of people donated food and came to listen to the event.
I noticed the commentors failed to share the whole story of what occurred at the library that day. Sadly, at times, our public discourse is being poisoned by fabrications invented by those who are looking to maintain their own level of personal comfort. These claims then are used to enflame and enrage other people into even more combative and unproductive responses. Lies, like these, are designed to divide our community while also looking to destroy and damage people’s lives. They are wholly unproductive, and it is disappointing that they occur.
That is not to say that people shouldn’t voice their concerns on issues they have with government and government entities. Residents should absolutely voice their concerns and their feedback to the people who represent them. Certainly, there are many productive ways to discuss diversity, equity, and inclusion in a public forum without using a resident/employee as a lightning rod. Additionally, if attacks like this are to be made, they should be grounded, researched, and provable — not baseless accusations used to incite fear and demonize a singular person or group.
Earlier in my tenure as mayor, as well as in a prior musing, I wrote about “otherizing” and the impact it can have on communities and society. Otherizing alienates and secludes people so that it is easier to blame them for all the wrongs in the world. Otherizing breed violence and lays the ground for prolonged hate toward individuals and groups. Despite the efforts made by the commentors to suggest that “they do not care that he (Eric) is a drag queen” they then quickly otherize him by suggesting that he is part of a plot to poison kid’s minds, bodies, and souls by virtue of having simply read to kids in drag.
There is no place for otherizing in Lansdale and I will vocally call it out each time it occurs.
For reference, the books Ms. Annie read to kids that day at the library are “Sparkle Boy” by Leslea Newman and “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed” by Mo Williams. Additionally, for those who don’t know and are curious about the type of person he is, Eric has organized multiple food drives, fundraisers for non-profits, and family friendly events in Lansdale to support our continued growth — some of which is in drag and some of which is not.
Eric has regularly made every effort to help make Lansdale a better place to live, work, and play in whatever way he can by supporting people and organizations of all stripes. Lansdale is better because of his efforts, and we value his productive participation in our community.
Hateful rhetoric has no home in Lansdale, and it is my hope that together we can shine enough light on it to see it fade into the shadows.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Municipal 5G – Answering Reader Questions
Mayoral Musings: Municipal 5G is Lansdale’s Way Forward
Mayoral Musings: 2023 Budget Discussion
Mayoral Musings: Remember to Vote on Nov. 8
Mayoral Musings: Commercialized EV Charging
