Drag Queen School Boss Busted

A small-town New York Pride group has shut down overnight after its drag queen founder and school board leader was arrested for allegedly sexting a child under 12.

Story Snapshot

New York State Police say 46-year-old school board vice president and Pride founder Travis Longo sent sexually explicit messages to a child under 12.
Cazenovia Pride Inc. has canceled its festival and voted to dissolve after the charges became public.
Police charged Longo with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child and say there may be more victims.
The case raises deeper questions about activist influence in schools and how often parents are kept in the dark.

Police Arrest Drag Queen School Board Member On Child Sexting Allegations

New York State Police arrested 46-year-old Travis J. Longo of Cazenovia on June 18, charging him with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, a class A misdemeanor under New York law.^[8] Troopers say a joint investigation found that Longo engaged in a “pattern of sexually explicit communications” with a child under the age of 12, and they believe there could be additional victims connected to the case.^[8]

Police say the investigation began after a law enforcement referral and involved the State Police computer crime unit and the Madison County Child Advocacy Center, showing that digital activity and possible online messaging are at the center of the case.^[8] Longo was taken to Madison County’s centralized arraignment court, and investigators asked anyone with information to contact them and reference a specific case number, which signals an active, ongoing probe rather than a one-off incident.^[8]

Pride Group Collapses And Cuts Ties After Founder Charged

Local reporting identifies Travis Longo not only as a drag performer and activist, but also as the founder of Cazenovia Pride Fest, the main Pride event in the area.^[10] After the charges became public, Cazenovia Pride Inc. posted on Facebook that it was canceling this year’s Pride festival and “all associated events,” and that the group was dissolving as an organization, directly tying that decision to the “serious criminal charges” against its founder.^[10]

In the same statement, the group said that Longo no longer has any affiliation with Cazenovia Pride Inc., an attempt to distance the organization from the man who helped build it and was a “longtime figure” in its work.^[10] The group’s sudden shutdown leaves locals without the event that had been promoted as a symbol of inclusion, and it also means there is now less public transparency into how the group operated around children and families during its prior festivals and activities.

School Board Role, Child Safety Laws, And Parents’ Rights

Reports note that Longo was serving as vice president of the Cazenovia Central School District Board of Education, putting him in a powerful role over local education policy while he also led Pride activism in the community.^[10] Under New York law, school officials are required to report suspected child abuse when they have “reasonable cause to suspect” it, and they must promptly pass allegations to law enforcement and the state education office.^[15] That low threshold is meant to protect kids, but it also means headlines arrive before full facts are public.

The charges Longo faces fall under New York’s “endangering the welfare of a child” statute, which makes it a crime to act in a way that is likely to harm the physical, mental, or moral welfare of a child under 16.^[19] While the public has not seen the actual messages or device evidence, police say the conduct involved a recurring pattern of sexual communication with a young child, not a single mistake or offhand comment.^[4] For many parents, this case reinforces long-standing concerns about who is gaining access to children through schools and youth-focused events.