Monday, September 02, 2024

Drag Story Hour returns to Montgomery County Public Libraries this Saturday


Drag Story Hour is returning to Montgomery County Public Libraries this Saturday, September 7, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the Marilyn J. Praisner Library at 14910 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville. According to the official Montgomery County Public Libraries event announcement, the story hour is for an audience of "preschool and kindergarten, elementary school age, babies and toddlers." MCPL states that the event is "appropriate for all ages, especially for children ages 18 months to 10 years with their families."

"Story hour just got a lot more glamorous!" the MCPL event description says. "Drag Story Hour (DSH) is just what it sounds like! Storytellers using the art of drag to read books to kids in libraries, schools, and bookstores. DSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models." MCPL tags the event as one that facilitates the goal of "Kindergarten Readiness."

The events have not been without controversy, reflecting a nationwide political divide on the issue. Montgomery County police, as well as volunteer citizen groups like Parasol Patrol and Rainbow Defense Coalition, have deployed to separate attendees from protesters at past story hours.

53 comments:

Anonymous said...

Elementary school age and younger...

Anonymous said...

Duh. It's storytime. Are you new to the planet?

Anonymous said...

Oh whatever! I don't mind that a drag person enjoys reading to children... but why does it have to be a "thing"?

Anonymous said...

This is absolutely sickening.

Anonymous said...

As a hetero grown ass man, I rather enjoyed Priscilla Queen of the Desert & To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything... But as a youngin' not so much.

Anonymous said...

I would try to explain it to 1:59 but it's time wasted who value ideology over common sense.

Anonymous said...

I second this. Keep this out of children schools.

Momo said...

Many more comments on a story like this rather than your generic construction story huh Robert?

Momo said...

This is the type of thing that motivated my move out of MoCo.

n/a said...

@4:30 -- This is slated to take place in public *libraries*, not in public *schools*. [Insert joke here about reading comprehension.]

Anonymous said...

Gay female here: I concur. Why is this is children schools... smdh

JAC said...

Only in wacko places like MoCo is this no issue. The world has really gone insane. Happens in woke London too. Unreal.

Anonymous said...

@4:30 - FYI, ICYMI , it's in the library not the school. Duh!

Anonymous said...

When my parents were young adults "Drag Queens" were all the rage, like a guy named Milton Berle, and a local celeb named Willard Scott. Suddenly its become fashionable to be drag haters. Go fig.

Anonymous said...

I really don't see how anyone could interpret stuff like this as anything other indoctrinating the youth. I really don't care what these people do but please just leave the kids out of it.

Anonymous said...

@ 7:23 am - it's not that people are "drag haters". Most do not care. Drag brunch, drag parties, drag whatever - is what it is. But when you do Drag Story Time for elementary school aged kids (and is this not tax payer funded btw?) then you are crossing a line. Let kids be kids. I understand that no one is forcing folks to bring their kids to this stuff but that doesn't make it any less absurd. Also - it's not hyperbolic to suggest this stuff will eventually become part of elementary school programming. Those who say that is a "conspiracy theory" I'd point you to what MoCo did not even a few months ago with LGBTQ curriculum.... Remember when it first got introduced and they told everyone parents could choose to opt their kid out? Remember when ppl were called "conspiracy theorists" for raising alarms that eventually it could be mandatory? Welp.. turns out they were correct.

Anonymous said...

KEEP THIS CRAP OUT THE CHILDREN'S EDUCATION SYSTEM. PERIOD. LIBRARY, SCHOOLS, ETC.

Anonymous said...

And? Keep it out! Want to preach that garbage to your child? Do it in your home.

Anonymous said...

110% agree with this! And others agree with this as well.

Anonymous said...

I wish I could move! :( everywhere is just as expensive!!

Anonymous said...

YES! Leave the kids out of this.. Why at such a young age. Let the kids BE KIDS.

Anonymous said...

MoCo is definitely wacko. More recently and will only get worse.

Anonymous said...

Wow, a lot of weirdo homophobes in the comments section.

Anonymous said...

It is weird that if a religious group wants specifically to preach to elementary and younger kids in a MCPL, the left would riot but grooming kids is ok?

n/a said...

@8:44 -- again, as others keep pointing out --vainly, it seems-- this is in a L-I-B-R-A-R-Y. Libraries are not schools; they are libraries. Among the myriad differences between these two facilities: there is no curriculum in libraries; there is no school board in a library; patrons are not required to read or to attend any volumes or events at the library. In fact, if you are so (dis)inclined, unlike schools, you don't have to go to the library at all, ever, even if you're a kid.

I propose this simple solution to all those who fear for the sanctity and innocence of kidhood if this heretical event takes place: if you don't want your kid to be read to at the library by a guy in drag, do not take them to the special library event where a guy in drag reads aloud to kids. Just as those in the community who choose to go to one or another house or worship, restaurant, or vacation destination make no demand and [should have] no expectation that the rest of the community join them at their particular house of worship, trattoria, or beach/mountain rental, neither are those who choose to participate at a library's drag story time expecting or insisting attendance by those who have no interest in joining. That's the whole "freedom" thing at work. You want to go? Go. You want to not go? Don't go. Freedom of choice. A very simple concept to embrace. You all should try it.

Anonymous said...

Ditto here too

Anonymous said...

Do they also do a Drag King story hour ? Asking for a friend.

Anonymous said...

I know some of you don't want to hear it yet again but here goes anyway: The Bolsheviks are totally responsible for this. I've tried to come up with a reason why people would engage in these kind of debauched activities with kids (good God), and I've finally come up with one reason that makes sense: This is one prong of a multipronged effort to destroy society.

JAC said...

11:37 - That's such an insightful point. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

11:59, you either don't get it or it's something else.... it's about pushing their (an) agenda. And particularly about pushing it in a publicly funded space. Unless these gurls are "fully passible"(in pansexual parlance) it's clowns as the messenger.

Anonymous said...

LOL! I also want to know!

Anonymous said...

Funny how freedom of choice and speech only applies to the left

Anonymous said...

Sounds like common sense!

n/a said...

@7:53 -- are you not exercising the freedom of speech when you post your opinions? Has "the left" silenced your comment writing? If so, who is it who wrote the remark at your time stamp? How has the library's decision to host this drag event impinged on your freedom of choice to not go? Did I miss the mandate compelling attendance, or are you possibly fabricating arguments not based in reality.

Are your/"the right's" leaders being prevented from holding rallies, from making pronouncements about single cat ladies; about "vermin...poisoning the blood" of America? Or are you talking about the freedom to endanger public health by refusing vaccinations, thereby reducing collective resistance to viruses?

Momo said...

10:19, did you hear about M. Zuckerberg’s open letter wherein he admits high fed gov’t officials pressured his company to censor legitimate information regarding Covid, Hunter’s laptop, Steele dossier, etc? How about Murthy v. Missouri? With regard to the Drag story hour, it is the use of taxpayer funded facilities which many folks object to. If you believe the Left is not engaging in suppression of legitimate information, you are severely misinformed.

Anonymous said...

@9:11 - There a lots of streets for you to live on, give it a go.

Anonymous said...

Not only that, libraries cannot ban this event if it's run by a community group. They have to allow all community events (or none), otherwise it's viewpoint discrimination, which government entities can't do (1st amendment issue).

Anonymous said...

@7:53 pm - Funny how you try to make free speech biased. Open your mind.

Anonymous said...

9:09 - Stay away and shut your mind only.

Anonymous said...

Religion is a practiced belief, reading (regardless of by whom) is not. No one is being groomed (def. verb; prepare or train (someone) for a particular purpose or activity. "star pupils who are groomed for higher things"

Anonymous said...

Here we go, with the Hunter thing. When you get to Hilary you're brain will explode.

Anonymous said...

Do you mean vaccinations in the proper sense, or this new untested RNA debacle?

n/a said...

Hey Momo @5:50 -- When you write, "it is the use of taxpayer funded facilities which many folks object to," are you saying that each of us gets veto power over how our collected tax dollars are allocated? Since I am among many residents who object to my taxes being used to help fund construction of the Purple Line, does this mean we get to demand that [colorful adjective and noun descriptors] be shut down?

As for the rest of your post, I'll file that under "G," for "goalpost moving."

Anonymous said...

To 7:45, it's still Russian collusion. Seriously, get help

Anonymous said...

Yawn

Anonymous said...

So 7:42 thinks a strict definition of grooming means that the sexualizing of children as young as 5 is fine under the umbrella of tolerance. I hope you don't have any children for their sake.

Momo said...

Not “veto power” but still free to exercise
1st Amendment right to publicly object

Momo said...

They will never get it and I am OK with that

Anonymous said...

Got to get out of here before they try and implement an exit tax. Like CA & NY, they never miss the people, (replaced by illegals), but they sure will miss the tax base.

Anonymous said...

Curious how many children have been killed by being read to by drag queens? It would be great if folks would apply a similar “let kids be kids” mentality when it comes to gun control.

Anonymous said...

@9:11 AM Are you joking or really that ignorant? Most places in the US are MUCH cheaper to live in than Moco.
@7:18 AM It happens in cities all across the US, including NYC, Boston, and SF. Move back to the boonies where you belong with the other rednecks if you hate cities so much.
@12:56 PM Since it merely specifies "drag", one presumes that drag kings are welcome as well as drag queens, as is the case at other libraries hosting such events.
@4:47 PM? Bolsheviks? This is 2024, not 1924. Get with the times, and thanks for the laugh.
@11:10 AM About as many children as have been killed by asteroids colliding with the Earth.

Anonymous said...

Yes, I’m totally weirded out by the notion that children are the target audience for this! Like…WHY?!

Anonymous said...

Not at all a homophobe…more like a homo targeting children phobe!