Editor’s Note: Late Tuesday, both Sens. Casey and Fetterman withdrew their support for the earmark. This article has been updated to reflect this development.
CV NEWS FEED // The Republican-controlled House is set to approve a spending bill that as of Tuesday would earmark one million dollars in taxpayer money toward a Philadelphia-based LGBTQ group that hosts a monthly bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism (BDSM) “fetish” party.
Sen. Bob Casey, Sen. John Fetterman, and Rep. Brendan Boyle, all D-PA, had advocated for the earmark toward the William Way LGBT Community Center (popularly known as “WayGay”). Casey and Boyle are self-professed Catholics.
However, following much pushback from critics, both Casey and Fetterman requested that the Senate Committee on Appropriations remove the earmark from the spending package late Tuesday.
Casey is up for reelection to a fourth term in November in what is projected to be a competitive race.
Advancing American Freedom Policy Director John Shelton took to X (formerly Twitter) earlier Tuesday to expose some of the details of the under-the-radar earmark. His series of posts came hours before the two senators suddenly reversed course.
“This week,” Shelton wrote, “the GOP-controlled House will affirmatively vote to send $1,000,000 of your taxpayer dollars to an LGBT Center known as ‘WayGay’ that… SERVES as the venue for a monthly BDSM party known as the Aviary, infamous for being Philadelphia’s ‘longest running kink and fetish party.’”
“Don’t worry, though, according to their website: ‘Genitals and anuses must remain covered in non-play areas,’” he added.
According to its website, the Aviary “is an improvisational interactive theater night focusing on ontological deconstruction of the political theory concepts of Contract and Domination, as put forth by Carole Pateman and Charles Mills.”
“[The Aviary] often utilizes concepts that involve fetish, as well as BDSM,” the website specifies.
In addition to the rule regarding “[g]enitals and anuses,” the Aviary’s website also lists several other “Rules of Play,” including, “The Dungeon Monitors’ (DM) word is final,” “Bodily fluids (blood, saliva, etc.) may not leave the body,” and “The Organizers and the Venue take no responsibility for any injury, damage, or loss sustained during the event.”
The site also notes that its venue contains “two other rooms that are currently unavailable” during present “renovations.”
To this, Shelton sardonically remarked: “But hey, let’s send them $1M so they can get those two other kink play rooms back in action!”
An August 2019 edition of Philadelphia Weekly profiled the deeply controversial event.
The tabloid’s cover then featured the title “Just for Kinks,” accompanied by the description: “Rope bondage, electro-stimulation, dungeons. Just a taste of what’s behind the closed doors of Philly sex parties.”
Philadelphia Weekly then went on to describe the Aviary in an article titled “Acquired taste.”
The piece quoted the event’s co-founder Baron Battersea, who at the time stated that “there is great satisfaction in knowing that we’re an event where many people get to discover themselves.”
“The goal is to be comfortable no matter who you are or what your kink is,” Battersea went on.
“We also have a variety of housetops who are willing to not only play with people but also teach their skills and pass them on.”
The article’s author added that “[t]hese tops can teach people about playing with rope, fire, electricity, corporal punishment and more.”
>> CATHOLIC SENATOR SOLICITS TAXPAYER FUNDING FOR LGBTQ ORG PROMOTING ‘YOUTH DRAG SHOWS’ <<
For over a year, Casey has been a vocal advocate for garnering one million dollars of taxpayer funding for William Way.
Last summer, CatholicVote reported: “Throughout 2023, Casey has voiced support for additional funding for the Philadelphia-based William Way LGBT Community Center.”
“Casey’s proposed million-dollar allocation for William Way would be in addition to the millions the center is already receiving from the city [of Philadelphia],” CatholicVote added.
CatholicVote’s 2023 report indicated:
William Way has a history of far-left political activism. Via a Facebook post [in June 2023], it encouraged people to attend a communist-led protest of Mom For Liberty’s annual Philadelphia summit. In February [2023], the LGBTQ center hosted a “drag” show with the stated aim of demonstrating “the way colonialism affected both land and people.”
William Way also hosted a so-called “youth drag show” that included “performances” by minors as young as eight years old.
In 2016, Philadelphia Gay News described one such “youth drag show” that took place at William Way:
Dozens of curling irons, combs, make–up mirrors and brushes emerge on another, along with make–up and glitter in every color, and a Hello Kitty box. A bearded man in studded leather platform boots approaches and begins to apply make–up to the face of a little boy.
This is Esai, and he is 11 years old.
…
Esai’s birthmother, who is transgender, is now his father.
[Esai’s mother] said she hopes her son will perform in “Twinkle” next year.
On the final post of his X thread, Shelton noted that William Way’s chief operating officer (COO) “is currently under investigation for being verbally abusive, refusing multiple lawful orders, and resisting arrest after pulling up behind a state trooper in the middle of a traffic stop.”
An article published by The Hill Tuesday morning outlined the impending showdown between factions of congressional Republicans over the spending package which at the time was set to include Casey’s earmark.
“A package of six bills that needs to pass by Friday to avoid a partial government shutdown is drawing intense fire from conservatives in both chambers who are zeroing in on more than 6,000 earmarks buried in the package,” the article reported.
The Hill piece stated that while the package “was initially expected to pass easily,” it “now faces a rocky path in the Senate, where it’s become a political football in the ongoing battle between the GOP leadership and Trump-aligned conservatives.”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-UT, stated his opposition to Casey’s earmark in a post to X Tuesday afternoon.
“No taxpayer-funded sex parties,” wrote the Utah Republican.
“Yes, that’s another problem with the [Schumer Minibus],” he continued, referring to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, and the spending package’s popular name.
Lee also noted that he has an amendment to “fix” the package’s inclusion of the controversial earmark.
However, this amendment might be rendered moot after the earmark’s two biggest advocates in the Senate no longer seem to support it.
Again from CatholicVote’s report last year:
Casey has served as a senator from Pennsylvania since 2007, after defeating two-term Republican incumbent Rick Santorum the November before …
Early in his tenure, Casey identified himself as pro-life and supportive of the traditional definition of marriage.
However, like many other members of his party, the senator has drastically shifted to the left on social issues. In addition to his full-fledged support of the LGBTQ movement, Casey last year came out in support of “codifying abortion rights.” He claimed that the landmark Dobbs decision would “put women’s lives at risk.” Casey now has a consistently pro-abortion, pro-same-sex “marriage,” and pro-“trans” voting record.
“Casey is the son of late Pennsylvania Governor Bob Casey Sr., a pro-life icon who was the respondent of the 1991 Supreme Court case Planned Parenthood v. Casey,” CatholicVote added.
