Protesters pray outside a library in New York City as Flame, a drag queen sporting a bright wig and a red gown, entertains the children inside by singing the ABCs, leading a coloring activity and reading books about how it’s OK to be different.
Outside Chicago, protesters harass parents attending storytime with their children and proclaim that the staff operating the event came “from the devil.” at a library’s Drag Queen Story Hour, shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs. is now targeting drag storytimes — conceived as a way to educate and entertain children by appealing to their imaginations — with interruptions and other protests reported across the country in the past two weeks, since Pride Month began.
Drag Queen Story Hour, a nonprofit, was started in San Francisco in 2015 by activist and author Michelle Tea. Chapters have since opened across the U.S. and elsewhere. Other organizations with readers in drag have also formed. “The horrible irony of it was they said over and over, ‘We’re here to protect the kids.’ And it was the kids they were terrifying. The kids were afraid of them, and the kids were there with their parents who had brought them to this event,” Chadwick said.
It resulted in dozens of angry calls and messages, said Nikki Michele, executive director of the nonprofit LGBTQ+ Center Lake County, which ran the event. Detractors called local government offices and the Mahwah Pride Coalition in attempts to shut down its storytime event, said Susan Steinberg, the nonprofit’s director. But Angel Lauriano, who performs in drag as Honey Marie, weathered protesters and showed up anyway Monday — in long sleeves — to talk to kids about cats, dogs and their dreams in life.
“The term they used at that time was recruitment,” Haider-Markel said. “Now they’ve just switched that to groomers. It’s old wine in a new bottle.”
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