Small Town Pushes Back Against Library’s Drag Queen Event. Now It’s A Battle.

A small New York town of roughly 16,000 people has rebuffed their local library, which had planned to host a children's Drag Queen Story Hour event on February 8.

Robin Janovich and Tom McDermott of The Rye Record saw an announcement about the program at the Rye Free Reading Room (RFRR) in late January. Janovich wrote that seeing the announcement “stopped us in our editing tracks: Drag Queen Story Hour. For ages 3-8. ‘Families can celebrate difference, learn empathy, and create crafts…Kids are encouraged to celebrate diversity while building confidence in self-expression.’”

Janovich continued, “My first thought was: ‘We’re not in Kansas anymore, or in traditional library land for that matter.” But I refrained from comment because I’m an AARP member and a grandmother and maybe I’m not that edgy Manhattan sophisticate I was in my youth.’”

Some questions arose: “Are families likely to bring their young children to a program that uses drag queens to focus on inclusivity? Why are we foisting conversations on inclusivity on children that young? Are we replacing bedtime stories, which take children out of themselves and out into other, far more interesting worlds, with discussions of sexual differences when they are innocent sponges?”

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