Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey has publicly supported the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia, requesting a $1 million federal earmark for the organization in the FY2024 budget. This support comes despite the center's history of hosting youth drag shows and promoting events organized by the Young Communist League of Philadelphia.

The William Way Center, which aims to create a more inclusive space for the LGBTQIA+ community, also received $2 million in Philadelphia's FY2024 operating budget. This funding will contribute to expanding and enhancing the center's headquarters.

Senator Casey justified his support for the center by emphasizing its role in providing essential resources, including nutrition, housing, and mental health services, to the LGBTQ+ community for nearly five decades. He believes federal funding will enable the center to expand these services.

However, the center's activities have drawn scrutiny. In 2016, it hosted a youth drag show featuring performances by children as young as eight. A local pro-LGBTQ+ publication described the event as children simply having fun and exploring gender expression. One performer suggested that exposure to drag allows children to develop a broader understanding of gender.

More recently, in 2023, the center hosted "Regeneration: A Global Eco Drag Show," which focused on the intersection of drag performance, environmentalism, queer identity, and decolonization. The event featured performers sharing their perspectives on colonialism, the climate crisis, and a regenerative future.

Further raising eyebrows is the center's promotion of events organized by the Young Communist League of Philadelphia, a group advocating for socialism in the United States. The William Way Center publicized protests organized by the league against the Moms for Liberty conference held in Philadelphia. The Young Communist League, which boasts a "deep friendship" with China, aims to transform the United States into a socialist society through mass democratic struggle.

Senator Casey, who is up for re-election in 2024, has not commented on the center's association with the Young Communist League or its history of hosting youth drag shows. Both Casey's office and the William Way Center have not responded to requests for comment.