In recent news, Tigard, Oregon cancelled their Drag Queen Storytime due to threats. June is "pride month," so tensions are especially high right now. I don't like the militant attacks on libraries over LGBTQetc. agendas, whether real or imagined. That said, I also do not understand why libraries anywhere are holding "drag queen story time," either.
"Transvestite" is not synonymous with "pedophile," but "drag show" isn't exactly without explicit sensuality. Regardless of your stance on cross-dressing, surely you can see how it could be seen as inappropriate for children, right? One common rebuttal I have encountered is an assumption that the only possible problem is homosexuality, and heterosexual sensuality is A-OK, but this strikes me as a dishonest deflection. A lot of these folks also hate titty bars and Hooters, no doubt. Additionally, it's not like libraries regularly host "craft day with a stripper."
Drag Queen Story Hour is a movement less than a decade old. It is explicitly intended to "capture the imagination and play of gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models." Is it wrong to question such an agenda? If you want to attend or host either a drag ball or religious service, you should be free to do so. Is the library the place for drag queen story hour or vacation bible school? I'm pretty sure the latter would generate outrage from a different crowd. We don't push any religious or political position, and we don't try to promote any particular gender perspective, either. The library should strive to be neutral ground, promoting only literacy and freedom of inquiry.
If queerness is a natural and healthy part of the spectrum of human experience, the queer should not be persecuted. If queerness is a psychological manifestation of past trauma, these people need care, not condemnation. If queerness is a sin, get off your high horse and remember that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Further, American neo-Puritanism has a perverse obsession with sex while routinely committing idolatry through placing the civil religion above their alleged faith by celebrating warfare and calling for police action against others. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? We are in the world, but not of it. Our kingdom is not of this world, so stop trying to seize the political power Christ Himself rejected when tempted in the desert. Our task is reaching the lost, not throwing them to the wolves.
I'm anticipating some contentious encounters with some self-appointed moral crusaders next week as tensions mount along with unfounded accusations. Pride month is escalating the drag and trans panic simmering in parts of my community. Why is drag queen story hour a thing? Why are screeching Karens outraged about things that are not actually happening locally a thing? I have no idea. Anyway, it's after 1 AM, and I have rambled on and on enough trying to sort my thoughts so I can wind down and get some sleep. Hopefully I have edited my mental diarrhea into something coherent. Feel free to challenge or correct me in the comments. I'll be glad to bicker or banter once I've had some shut-eye.
