A small-town New York pride group has suddenly shut down after its drag queen founder, a local school board vice president, was arrested for allegedly sending sexual messages to a child under 12.
Story Snapshot
- Police say pride founder and school board leader Travis Longo sent sexually explicit messages to a young child.
- Cazenovia Pride Inc. has cancelled its parade and voted to dissolve the group after the arrest.
- Longo faces four counts of endangering the welfare of a child under New York law.
- The case raises hard questions about school oversight, child safety, and activist influence.
Pride Founder, Drag Performer, And School Board Leader Arrested
New York State Police announced that 46-year-old Travis J. Longo of Cazenovia was arrested on June 18 and charged with four counts of endangering the welfare of a child, all class A misdemeanors under New York law.[8] Troopers said investigators determined Longo engaged in a “pattern of sexually explicit communications” with a child under the age of 12, and they believe there may be additional victims who were contacted by him.[8] Police asked anyone with information to call their headquarters and reference a specific case number.[8]
Local news reports identified Longo as the vice president of the Cazenovia Central School District Board of Education and a well-known drag queen in the community.[10] Coverage states that the arrest followed a joint investigation involving the State Police criminal investigation unit, computer crime unit, special investigations unit, and the Madison County Child Advocacy Center.[8] Police have not yet released detailed records of the alleged messages, but they described the conduct as recurring and sexually explicit.[8]
Cazenovia Pride Shuts Down After “Serious Criminal Charges”
Along with his school board role, Longo founded Cazenovia Pride Fest, a pride festival and local LGBTQ advocacy group that promoted events in the town.[10] After his arrest became public, Cazenovia Pride Inc. posted a statement announcing it was canceling this year’s pride festival, all related events, and dissolving as an organization.[10] The statement said the decision “follows serious criminal charges against Travis Longo, the founder of Cazenovia Pride Fest and a longtime figure in our organization,” and stressed that he has “no further affiliation” with the group.[11]
Reports based on that statement show how fast the organization tried to distance itself from its founder once the allegations came to light.[10] For many parents, the fact that a person who helped shape school policy and promoted sexualized pride events in town is now accused of sexual communication with a very young child will confirm deep concerns they already had about activist influence around children. At the same time, police and the courts still have to move the case through the legal process, and the evidence record is not yet public.[8]
What The Charges Mean And Why Parents Are Alarmed
Endangering the welfare of a child in New York covers conduct where a person knowingly acts in a way that is likely to harm the mental, physical, or moral welfare of a child under 16.[19] In this case, police say the harm involves sexually explicit online communication with a child younger than 12, repeated over time.[8] While these charges are misdemeanors, New York also has separate felony sex-crime statutes for physical sexual contact with children, which can bring very long prison terms.[4][5]
🚨BREAKING: Drag queen and LGBTQ activist Travis Longo, Vice President of the Cazenovia Central School District school board in New York, has been arrested for allegedly engaging in sexually explicit communications with a child under the age of 12.
Longo is also the founder of… pic.twitter.com/GHYR7nbHN3
— 🇨🇦 Antonio Tweets (@AntonioTweets2) June 21, 2026
The State Police release shows the case began with a law enforcement referral and then grew into a joint investigation with computer crime specialists and a child advocacy center.[8] That suggests digital evidence, interviews, or both, but those details are not yet in public court records. For many conservative parents, the core issue is simple: people placed in authority over children, especially in schools, must be held to the highest moral and legal standard, no matter what cause or identity they claim.[19]
Schools, Mandatory Reporting, And Protecting Children First
New York law makes school staff mandated reporters, which means they must call child protection hotlines when they have reasonable cause to suspect abuse or maltreatment.[14][18][20] Education law also requires school administrators to forward allegations of child abuse in an educational setting to law enforcement and to the state office that reviews school personnel, and it shields them from civil lawsuits when they report in good faith.[15] Those rules exist because the system wants adults to act fast at the first sign that a child might be in danger, not wait for proof beyond doubt.[14][16][20]
The flip side is that public stories often begin and stay at the arrest stage while the deeper record is still sealed or incomplete.[16] In this case, there is no public criminal complaint or affidavit yet, and no on-record statement from Longo or his lawyer in the research at hand. That means the public must hold two ideas at once: children deserve maximum protection and quick action, and every person accused still has the right to a fair process. For parents, that balance is hardest when trusted leaders are at the center of ugly allegations.
Sources:
[4] Web – Central NY man accused of sending sexual communication to child …
[5] Web – Cazenovia school board vice president arrested in child sex … – KATV
[8] Web – Cazenovia school board vice president arrested in child sex … – KGAN
[10] Web – “On June 18, 2026, the New York State Police arrested Travis J …
[11] Web – Cazenovia school board vice president arrested in child sex …
[14] YouTube – Cazenovia Pride president talks dissolving group after festival …
[15] Web – [PDF] Mandatory Reporting Requirements: Children New York – RAINN |
[16] Web – Education Law 23-B Reporting Requirements | New York State …
[18] Web – New York State Child Abuse, Maltreatment, and Neglect – NCBI – NIH
[19] Web – [PDF] INFORMATION BULLETIN – NYSUT
[20] Web – Endangering the Welfare of a Child | New York Criminal Lawyers
This clown should be banned from having any contact with children!
This is part of “gender affirming care” that the LGBTQ+++ crew do not want to talk about.
They want to erase the legal concept “age of consent.”
They claim a child will be “damaged for life’ if they have to wait til the age of consent to experience sex.