It’s hard to know what’s worse – that Australian Museum staff allowed a man wearing women’s lingerie to play with Lego alongside children, or that they had to be shamed into promising it would never happen again.

Museum management went into damage control after photos emerged of two men playing in the museum’s Lego pit, one dressed in black fishnet stockings, pink boots, and women’s underwear.

The photos were taken by a concerned mum on the evening of April 14 after complaints to the museum’s security staff were met with shrugs.

According to a statement from the museum, security investigated the woman’s complaint but found:

‘… the individuals in fancy dress were keeping to themselves and had not done anything wrong.’

Moreover: 

‘The Australian Museum is committed to being a safe place where everyone feels welcome.’

Right. A safe place for everyone except for families with children.

It is amazing what organisations will defend if they think it might enhance their progressive Woke credentials.

So enlightened. So tolerant. So maddening.

And the gaslighting of concerned parents – shaming them for daring to complain about something so obviously wrong – is beyond the pale. 

‘Fancy dress’?

‘Keeping to themselves’?

Museum staff forgot to say that the cross-dressing men were also vaccinated and fully boosted (probably).

‘Everyone welcome’ and ‘inappropriately dressed for the situation’ are two completely different things. Why is that so hard for museum staff to comprehend?

It is telling that the individuals involved seemed to have no compunction about their behaviour. The new shame for society, it seems, is being straight, plain-speaking, binary, and non-Woke.

Society has gone from seeing the police called if a single man is seen loitering near a playground, to the Australian Museum defending inappropriately dressed adults playing with strangers’ kids without their parents knowing. 

Those managing the museum’s Twitter feed began blocking people who criticised the event and placed their tweets on ‘protected’ mode so that the general public could not interact with the official account.

So stunning. So brave.

Museum management belatedly announced:

‘To ensure all visitors feel comfortable at future Nights at the Museum events, the brick play pit will be designated as a children’s only area.’

It’s a pity management had to be shamed into what was a rather obvious decision.

And it’s well short of an admission by those in charge that adults dressed in sexual fetish wear should never have been allowed near children in the first place.

In a world that accepts this kind of behaviour – and in which anyone who disagrees must be banished – our children are doomed to play in the quicksand of our own deceit.

You can follow James on Twitter. You can order his new book Notes from Woketopia here.

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