On Monday, video emerged of the performance of transgender stripper Beyoncé Black St. James at the annual conference of Seattle and King County officials on solving homelessness on December 9.

Christopher Rufo a contributing editor for City-Journal, posted the video on Twitter, commenting, “Here’s how they’re using taxpayer money.”:

Last week, Seattle and King County leaders hired transgender stripper Beyoncé Black St. James to perform at their annual conference on solving homelessness. Here's how they're using taxpayer money: pic.twitter.com/J0lCKVVfgO — Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) December 15, 2019

The incident in question prompted the King County Department of Community and Human Services to place Kira Zylstra, organizer of the conference at South Seattle College, on leave last Thursday.

Journalist Erica C. Barnett reported: “Denise Rothleutner, deputy director of King County’s Department of Community and Human Services, said in an email: ‘The department is aware of an event that occurred during the All Home annual conference on December 9, 2019. We have placed the director of All Home on administrative leave pending the results of an investigation into the event and the leadership of All Home. Because there is an active investigation underway, I am unable to respond to specific questions about the event.’”

The Seattle Times reported that Zylstra was paid roughly $123,000 annually, according to a county spokesperson. The Times added that the only note on the agenda for the annual conference was “Lunch with Cultural Presentation,” without a warning or announcement about the performance itself.

The Times noted, “Zylstra has led All Home, King County’s coordinating agency homeless services, since January 2018. But her job could soon become obsolete as Seattle and King County prepare to replace All Home …”

KIRO radio host Dori Monson commented, “The theme of the conference was ‘Decolonizing our Collective Work.’ How does swinging fake breasts into someone’s face decolonize our collective work?… How do you think we are going to solve the homelessness problem when we have people like these folks in charge of things? How do you think the religiously-affiliated groups that were there, like Catholic Community Services, felt having a drag queen give lap dances at a meeting that should have been about helping those in need?”

Rufo commented on Twitter:

As the video shows, the programming has nothing to do with helping people on the streets—it’s about affirming a radical ideology that puts identity politics above solving real problems. For years, Seattle has claimed that it “needs more resources” to solve homelessness, but as the video shows, they find it totally appropriate to pay for a transgender stripper to grind on members of the region’s homelessness nonprofits and taxpayer-funded organizations. It’s not a lack of resources that prevents Seattle from solving homelessness; it’s a lack of leadership. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, King County spends more than $1 billion a year on homelessness programs—but have failed to deliver results for decades.

As the video shows, the programming has nothing to do with helping people on the streets—it's about affirming a radical ideology that puts identity politics above solving real problems. — Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) December 15, 2019

It's not a lack of resources that prevents Seattle from solving homelessness; it's a lack of leadership. According to the Puget Sound Business Journal, King County spends more than $1 billion a year on homelessness programs—but have failed to deliver results for decades. — Christopher F. Rufo (@realchrisrufo) December 15, 2019

Rufo has written in the City-Journal: