The Defense Department stated on Thursday that it will not host drag exhibits at U.S. navy installations after Republican politicians complained about occasions scheduled on bases to have fun Pride Month.

Sabrina Singh, deputy press secretary for the division, stated in a press release that “drag events” weren’t a “suitable use” of the division’s assets.

The assertion didn’t say how the Pentagon defines a drag occasion. Drag exhibits, which have entered the mainstream lately, are sometimes a type of selection efficiency during which gender assumptions are challenged by costume and make-up, dance and track.

Under the division’s ethics rules, Ms. Singh stated “certain criteria must be met for persons or organizations acting in nonfederal capacity” to make use of the division’s amenities and tools.

“As Secretary Austin has said, the D.O.D. will not host drag events at U.S. military installations or facilities,” Ms. Singh stated, referring to the protection secretary, Lloyd J. Austin III. “Hosting these types of events in federally funded facilities is not a suitable use of D.O.D. resources.”

The Defense Department didn’t specify what was not appropriate about drag occasions in comparison with different navy Pride occasions, which embody speeches, panel discussions and highway races.

One of the canceled occasions was a drag present scheduled for Thursday at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, simply northeast of Las Vegas, NBC reported. An advert for the present described it as a “family-friendly” occasion that includes three performers, together with Coco Montrese, a former contestant on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

The base held drag exhibits in 2021 and 2022. Task & Purpose, a web based publication that covers the navy and the protection business, reported that the 2021 present featured Ms. Montrese and different performers who educated attendees concerning the historical past and significance of drag within the L.G.B.T.Q. neighborhood. The occasion, the publication reported, was deliberate by the bottom’s Pride committee.

Officials at Nellis Air Force Base didn’t instantly reply to requests for touch upon Thursday.

The Modern Military Association of America, a nonprofit group that represents L.G.B.T.Q. service members, veterans and allies, stated in a press release that drag occasions on navy bases have “become increasingly politicized, stemming from the moral panic that drag may be harmful due to the perception that it is sexual in nature.”

The group stated such occasions are sometimes sponsored by non-public teams and will not be paid for with federal cash.

“Ensuring our ranks reflect the diversity of the American people is essential to morale and cohesion,” the group stated. “It affects recruiting and retention of service members who do not feel welcome due to their sexual and gender identities.”

The restrictions that the Pentagon introduced Thursday come as conservative commentators and Republican politicians are targeting drag shows and library readings, calling the occasions inappropriate for youngsters. This rhetoric has additionally spurred protests from far-right teams and threats directed at drag performers, together with armed protesters who pressured the cancellation of an event on the Museum of Science and History in Memphis in September.

Since early 2022, there have been a minimum of 166 protests, threats and violent actions focusing on drag occasions, according to a report issued in April by GLAAD, an L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group.

At a House Armed Services Committee listening to in March, Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida, requested navy leaders concerning the Nellis Air Force Base occasion and different Pride celebrations.

He talked about a drag queen story hour at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in 2021 and a drag queen story hour at Ramstein Air Base in Germany deliberate for Friday, which Military.com reported has since been canceled.

Mr. Austin, the protection secretary, stated on the House Armed Services Committee listening to that the Defense Department didn’t fund drag exhibits or drag queen story hours.

Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who additionally testified on the listening to, stated that he wished to “find out what actually is going on there.”

“I’d like to take a look at those, because I don’t agree with those,” he stated. “I think those things shouldn’t be happening.”

Last month, Mr. Gaetz despatched a letter to Mr. Austin and General Milley asking how federal cash was used for drag occasions and the way the occasions had been organized.

There is an extended historical past of drag within the U.S. navy.

Photo archives embody photos of Navy service members in drag in the 1920s and American troopers performing a drag show in Germany 10 days after the nation surrendered to allied forces in World War II.

A touring present referred to as This is The Army featured male service members in drag performing the components of ladies as they traveled around the globe for what the State Archives of North Carolina describes because the “biggest and best-known morale-boosting show” throughout World War II. Bob Hope, one of the crucial well-known U.S.O. tour entertainers, carried out in tv specials in drag, together with during the celebration of his 83rd birthday aboard the U.S.S. Lexington.

The historian Allan Bérubé explored the historical past of drag within the navy in a ebook, “Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II.” Drag exhibits, he wrote, had been loved by males of all sexual orientations and are credited with offering a protected house for service members who weren’t straight.

The book describes the supply of gold lamé attire to a tiny atoll close to New Guinea for a present organized by an Army Air Corpsman, Ben Small.

“Well, here’s everybody in the office from the lieutenant on down trying on dresses!” Mr. Small advised the writer. “Everybody suddenly becomes a drag queen!”