Drag Queen Story Hour

Dear Castro Valley Forum Editor,

Apparently, it is “hateful” and “extreme” to wonder why men should dress like women to read books to small children (“Community Rallies..." June 15, 2022). A group of populist conservative trolls called, in a poetic twist, the Proud Boys, were reportedly rude and mean when they crashed a recent SLz library event to protest Drag Queen Story Hour. This is the growing fad of (typically gay) men dressed in drag, i.e. like stereotypical women, to read books to kids at public libraries. 

Two things can be true at once. First, hurling confused insults as a protest is distasteful, maybe even scary. Also, men dressing like women to read to kids in public is not obviously a wonderful thing, even kinda creepy. The sheriff has opened an investigation of the confrontation as a “hate crime” for “annoying and harassing” children. What was the actual crime? Thought crime? Why were no arrests made if there were, in fact, “threats of violence?” 

The article acknowledges these events started only in 2015 by a queer writer to promote reading, “diversity, …  and appreciation of others”. Elsewhere, editorials argue these events promote “visibility of LGBTQ.” This rationale, however, is butting up against a legitimate tension between personal expression and public decorum. The American Library Association leaves it to the discretion of local branches, which concedes room for debate. 

Congressman Swalwell in the same article calls us to reject “extremism” with “one voice.” The following week, he used the kerfuffle as a photo op against “hate,” calling opposion “anti-gay”. Conflating drag storytime with simply being gay is a gross overgeneralization. Wielding slander as a rhetorical bludgeon to squash dissent is tiresome demagoguery. Our politicians and local journalists would do well to explore differing opinions on this controversial novelty and not just parrot overheated talking points.

–Adam Balbo, Castro Valley