Acton Rec's PreK-3 Camp Counselor Teaches Kids to Vogue, Announces Drag Fetish on Facebook

And that's just the start of what we found. Read the latest MIP Investigation!

Toward the end of last week, a member of the MIP Facebook group shared the following post with MIP admins. “Tristen just had to tell the kids he’s doing drag whenever he’s not counseling children,” she noted, in reference to the Q&A section of this Acton Recreation “Staff Spotlight.”

Q: “What do you like to do when you’re not at work?”
A: “Perform in Drag”

The Tristen in question is a counselor at Camp Hill Top, a camp operated by the town of Acton MA’s Recreation Department. According to the camp registration page, Camp Hill Top is open to children “entering PreK through Grade 3.”

If you’re like the MIP member who tipped us off to this post, you probably think it’s odd that a counselor at a camp for young children would think it appropriate to make it a matter of public record that after work he participates in adult sexual performances. We agree. This made us very curious. Is this post a bad joke? Is it a typo (did he mean to say “drag racing”)? Or is this something more concerning, and parents need to be warned? We decided to take a closer look.

Reading the original post, two main questions about the situation came to mind:

1. Is there any evidence that Tristen actually performs in drag? And if so, does the Acton Recreation Department know?

2. Does Tristen’s after-work hobby ever seep into his workday?

To answer question #1, we first had to establish if Tristen actually performs in drag publicly. We were able to confirm that he does, under the name “Ms. Petty.” He has been using this stage name since December 2022, according to the post below from his public Facebook account.

“Ms. Petty” doesn’t do very many gigs, from what we could track down. In fact, after this first one at a surprise birthday party, all of the ones “she” shows up at seem to be sponsored by Acton Recreation.

These events, starting with the “Valentine’s Gay-La,” were promoted on both Tristen’s personal Facebook, as well as the Acton Recreation page.

Here’s Tristen performing as “Ms. Petty” at the February 2023 “Gay-la” (which can also be seen on Facebook):

Pay attention to the black fan.

And on his personal page here:

Next up on “Ms. Petty’s” agenda was the June 2023 Acton Pride Drag Show, which, according to Acton Recreation’s post, was their first ever show of its kind. This event was open to ages 14+ (a fact that riled up some Actoners, who expressed concern in the comments on the original post).

The post below was made after the event. Here you can see that some of the costumes were very suggestive, and according to the comments, there were sexual songs sung as well. Why would the Acton Recreation department think this is appropriate for minors?

The next event we found that booked “Ms. Petty” was the 2024 Acton Pride Drag Show, held just last month. “Ms. Petty” has a different hair color now since “her” last round of headshots, but since Tristen posts about it on his personal profile and we saw him with blonde hair in the photo above (third person from the right), we know it’s the same “Ms. Petty.”

Notice how this year it says “Recommended for high school and older?” Well, the picture below, posted on Acton Recreation Instagram after the event, shows (yet again) what types of costumes Acton Recreation thinks are appropriate for performances for minors. Oh, and “Ms. Petty,” aka Tristen the little-kid-camp-counselor, is the one in the pink top with the giant fake nipples clearly visible.

So, to answer our first question, not only does Acton Recreation know that Tristen is a drag queen - they BOOK him for performances!

Question #2 was, “Does Tristen’s after-work hobby ever seep into his workday?” And by workday, we don’t mean the after-hours drag events that he does for Acton Recreation (is he getting paid for those? Hmm…). We mean his workday as a counselor at Camp Hill Top, a role that he is certainly employed by the town to fill.

Now, we know that not every person who performs as a drag queen thinks it’s appropriate to teach elements of drag performance to little kids. In fact, we were hoping to find no evidence that this was happening in Acton. But then, we found this on Acton Recreation’s Instagram:

FYI, we covered the kids’ faces. We try to leave minors out of it whenever possible.

In this picture you can see a beskirted Tristen (you can’t see his face, but the nails betray him), waving a “Diva” Ursula fan (Ursula is allegedly based on a drag queen, btw, and is embraced as a “queer icon”) and teaching kids to “Vogue.” Voguing is a style of dance originated by drag queens and inextricably linked to the LGBTQ party scene. In the world of vogue, dancers identify with a certain “house” - and a vogue “house” becomes like a surrogate family for “queer youth.” (Madonna briefly popularized her own brand of vogueing, but if you’re old enough to remember that you’re also old enough to remember that Madonna popularized a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t appropriate for little kids either.)

While not every aspect of vogueing is overtly sexual, there’s no good reason to introduce something directly associated with adult sexual behavior to little kids. Having a man in a skirt teach kids about vogueing at a town-funded school vacation program is sort of like your local library hosting Drag Queen Story Hour, except we couldn’t find any evidence that parents were notified of this part of the program. They probably think their kids are painting bird houses or learning to identify different types of trees by looking at their leaves. Y’know, something more along the lines of what was actually advertised when they signed up for this program, which you can see here:

The blackboard in the graphic above reads: “Hark! The halls of knowledge remain silent. What adventures shall your child embark upon with this newfound freedom?” We doubt it ever crossed parents’ minds that their town-run camp would introduce their littles to drag subculture.

Was this the only time that Tristen introduced kids to drag-adjacent topics? We don’t know. We do know that, per his Q&A post, Tristen has been working at the camp for 8 years. We have evidence that he demonstrates over-the-top “drama queen”-like mannerisms in the presence of kids (see this video), and his handheld folding fans, an accessory popular in drag culture (see this post - looks like the same fan from his Gay-la drag performance) and long acrylic nails (see this photo) have been a presence at camp since at least 2022. But has Tristen’s interest in all-things-drag shown up elsewhere at camp? We can’t say for sure. Since camp is currently being held at the time of writing this, we sure hope that any Acton parents whose kids are attending will stop what they are doing and call the camp right now and find out.

Tristen running around with what appears to be the same fan from his Gay-la performance.

We don’t know Tristen, and we don’t know his motives. His apparent lack of boundaries and his questionable professionalism may simply be due to poor training, not something nefarious. But since Tristen works with kids and his salary is being paid by taxpayer funds (according to this website, he also has worked in the school district, although this investigation doesn’t cover that), he doesn’t have the luxury of just doing whatever he wants and escaping scrutiny.

In the course of our investigation, we also discovered Tristen’s Twitter/X account, where a disproportionate amount of the accounts he follows contain graphic pornography, including one that shares naked pics of a “twink with dwarfism.” Tristen’s account is only a little over a year old. This account is public and can be found by anyone who searches his name, including minors who might seek him out after meeting him at work or at a “Pride” event.

Now, there are many adults who, like Tristen, do not attempt to conceal their affinity for graphic pornography. And there are many adults who perform as drag queens. But there are not many adults who do those things while also being paid by their town to work with children. Why does Tristen seem to feel so free to mingle his adult world and his job with kids? Why is he so apparently emboldened that, as a counselor who works with littles, he felt comfortable talking about drag on a camp Q&A? Who is his boss? Who should be setting a standard for professionalism? Who is responsible for training him? To whom would parents complain if they had concerns about his behavior?

The answer to all of those questions is Acton Recreation Director, Melissa Settipani-Rufo.

She is Tristen’s boss, but more than that, they are good friends.

And she is also a drag performer.

This is evident from Melissa’s Instagram profile:

She and Tristen socialize outside of work:

This one is from Tristen’s Facebook.

And they performed drag together at the 2023 Acton Pride Drag Show, which she referred to as her “debut as a Drag King.” They danced suggestively together at this event, which was open to minors. Watch the video below:

Here’s Tristen and Melissa practicing for this year’s drag show:

And here she is getting ready to introduce her new drag persona, “Vinny Amore’.”

Here’s “Vinny Amore’” and “Ms. Petty” performing at the 2024 Pride Drag Show.

So, two years in a row, they both performed together in drag, at the event that she organized.

Oh, and remember when we talked about Tristen’s drag debut, which was at his “bestie surprise party” back in December 2022? It turns out that Tristen’s “bestie” is Melissa’s significant other, that Melissa organized the party, and that private party was held after hours, at the Acton Recreation Department (a location not listed on the town’s facility use form, so Actoners may want to look into that).

To see Tristen’s drag debut at Melissa’s party, watch this video.

Tristen and Melissa’s seemingly-boundary-less mishmash of a work/personal/sexual-performer relationship provides a compelling explanation for why he feels so free to bring his “whole self to work,” even though his “whole self” is not appropriate for the setting. Not only does Tristen’s boss support his drag career, but she has a drag career of her own, and she’s the one who gave Tristen his start.

This leads us to wonder - would Melissa’s wholly unprofessional relationship with her employee cause her to look the other way when he crosses the line of what is appropriate for kids? And does their shared affinity for the adult sexual performance art of drag cloud her judgement when it comes to discerning what is kid friendly, and what is not?

(Based on the post below from Melissa’s personal facebook, it appears that line is awfully blurry. When asked by a man who clearly has very young children whether or not he could bring his kids to the 2023 drag performance, she said “you do you, man.” Is “You do you” the town of Acton’s official stance on child protection?)

Under Melissa’s direction, Acton Recreation has done drag shows (open to minors, remember) for two years now, apparently as her personal passion project. Is she paying herself and her buddy Tristen to perform? Are they practicing during work hours? (If so, that’s the same thing.) Who is her boss, and did someone above her approve this? Have all of the HR policies been followed at every level in the Acton Recreation department?

We think there are many, many questions that the good folks of Acton should pose to their local officials, if they are concerned about what they just read in this investigation. To learn more about your next opportunity to do this, see the end of this post.

What we uncovered at Acton Recreation follows a trend we are seeing elsewhere. In some ways, it’s not all that different from what caused the drag queen debacle in Sutton. Take paid staff members who enjoy drag in their personal life, mix them with access to kids, throw some rainbow flags and “Pride” justification in the mix, and voila! Judgement gets blurred, and lines get crossed - all while funded (directly or indirectly) by local taxpayers.

Citizens of Acton, it’s time to find out more about what is happening at your Recreation Department. Are your taxpayer dollars going to fund activities that groom and sexualize kids, rather than protect them? If this is what is posted online, what else is happening at the Acton Rec Department that we don’t know about? If you live in Acton, you should care about this, whether you have kids in those programs or not.

Parents everywhere, the unprofessional, inappropriate behavior of the Acton Rec staff is just one more reminder that we cannot blindly trust our institutions to act responsibly, to reflect our values, or to protect our children from sexualization. Even something as seemingly benign as a summer camp at your local Rec Department can introduce kids to more than what you bargained for, and you have to be aware of what is happening in your own community.

As Madonna’s “Vogue” says, we must “strike a pose” - but it must be a pose of watchfulness, awareness, and protection.

If you trust your gut and watch for red flags, there’s nothing to it.

#equippingparents
#protectingkids

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Residents of Acton, your Select Board has a meeting scheduled for July 22, 2024, at 7:00. The agenda is not online yet, but if it follows all of the previous agendas we looked at, there should be an item called “Resident Concerns” where individuals can sign up to speak to the Board about items not on the agenda. This would be a great opportunity to show up and respectfully inform your Select Board about what is happening in the Rec Department!

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