Austin Ruse is a contributing editor to Crisis Magazine. His latest book, Under Siege: No Finer Time to be a Faithful Catholic, is now available from Crisis Publications.
How to think and write about a man’s work that is in some cases wonderful and in others quite awful? Meet the work of Daniel Vais, an Israeli choreographer working in the United Kingdom who has given those with intellectual disabilities a chance to dance and perform.
He brings those with Down syndrome out of themselves and out of societal shadows. He gives them skills and the stage. His work with them is a beautiful thing to watch in a short documentary from 12 years ago called Love Spotters. It shows these people learning to express themselves using their bodies. Their modern dance is not my cup of tea, but it is beautiful to watch.
In Love Spotters, Vais makes it clear he knows and loves his dancers.
“John,” Vais says, “is a great improviser and a multitalented person.”
“And then there is Patrick; he dances from very deep places…When he is doing his solo, the air stands still.”
“Diane is a wild woman, a very raw dancer…It is incredible to see her dance changing…She’s like a sponge.”
“Ola is one of the most extraordinary human beings I know. Big eyes. Strong voice. And very enigmatic.”
Of the troupe, he says, “Suddenly, you have this incredible talent exploding, and you don’t know where it is coming from. That’s why they need a stage.”
Vais says, “To take them outside of the routine of going to the day center and do[ing] craft[s], to be creative and go to the studio and start touring, was a completely extreme shift…. Their families treat them differently, society, whoever sees them, treats them differently.”
Fast forward a few years later, and you see his troupe has become infected with the trans madness. They are now something called Drag Syndrome, and you see these beautiful people doing female blackface; prancing, and posing in drag shows—“bitch” this and “bitch” that—like every clichéd drag performer. And this is the awful part.
We are well aware of how autistic people, especially young autistic girls, are susceptible to the allurement of all things trans. Eight years ago, I covered the case of a left-wing professor in Michigan who raised the alarm that the trans-ghouls were taking advantage of her autistic daughter, chopping off her breasts and convincing her she could “grow a penis.” There have been hundreds, perhaps thousands of such autistic victims of the trans-industrial complex since then.
Drag queens are largely perverted men parading their private parts and deeply disordered sexual predilections, often in front of children. The question bears repeating; why do these adult men desire to cavort sexually in front of kids? They get a sexual thrill, to be sure, and they get to groom future victims, all to the applause of open-minded suburban moms. And so, what has happened to this beautiful group is unspeakably sad.
You consider this dance troupe with a mix of emotions. On the one hand, you are happy to see those with intellectual disabilities not hidden, indeed out in the open. There was a time in this country when the “retarded” were hidden. It was something shameful. And let’s face it, that still exists; after all, so shameful is mental retardation that upward of 90 percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted. Doctors routinely urge women to abort children who may have that extra chromosome.
Nonetheless, the intellectually disabled are now more visible. They are on television and in movies. There is a coffee shop in Washington, D.C.,—Bitty and Beau’s—that is staffed only by those with intellectual disabilities. They have a line out the door.
On the other hand, it is so sad to see this group buying into the trans ideology, even if they may not consider themselves “trans.” And it is sorrowful and shocking to see these beautiful souls made-up, appearing under names like Horrora Shebang, “a queen that likes horror,” Nikita Gold, “mainly a diva,” Divina Starr, “a bit slutty,” and so on and drearily on. It is so sad to see this group buying into the trans ideology, even if they may not consider themselves “trans.”
In one video, you see them spouting the banal nostrums of the sexual Left: you are born gay, “my body, my choice if I want to become a woman.”
I initially thought an unscrupulous promoter might have dragooned these beautiful souls to advance that hideous agenda. But their choreographer remains Daniel Vais, under his overall project called Culture Device; and I honestly don’t think he has ever taken advantage of them. He seems genuine in his life’s work to help the intellectually disabled.
But they have certainly been adopted by the perverted zeitgeist. They are undoubtedly experiencing that thing called “love bombing,” where the sexual Left welcomes them with open and enthusiastic arms. It is a trick that captures many among the naïve who are hungry for friends.
Someone called them “the new queer cultural heroes.”
And so, one is left with this mix of emotions. You can say Daniel Vais’ work with them up to this moment has been something amazing and still understand that somewhere he and they have taken a wrong turn. Even the intellectually disabled have agency, and even the intellectually disabled can make mistakes.
The other lesson we learn time and again is that the sexual revolution and the homosexual/trans agenda poison everything they touch.