Drag Queen Story Hour Incident

Last week a letter writer called the Proud Boys incident at the San Lorenzo Library a "kerfluffle." That’s a super cute word to use, but that's not what anyone who was at the library would call it. I spoke with the librarians who were there, and they described it as terrifying. The writer tried to downplay the "threats of violence" as though there were none. One of the Proud Morons was wearing a shirt that read "Kill Your Local Pedophile" with an image of a semi-automatic weapon. They went to the library because they figured pedophiles were there. If that's not a threat of violence, nothing is. But these men are not very bright and don't know that they won’t find incidents of sexual abuse at Drag Queen Story Hour. Frankly, I'm surprised they could even find the library, a place they’ve obviously never visited. But find it they did, and verbally abused a drag performer reading to kids. Just a little bit of research would have shown that they were in the wrong place. There have been 82,000 cases of sexual abuse allegations against the Boy Scouts. Hundreds of thousands of victims of sexual abuse of minorsby the Catholic church. Just last week another abuse claim was filed against a Catholic priest who was transferred to Our Lady of Grace right here in Castro Valley. The letter writer then brought up "dissent" and "differing opinions." I am of the opinion that taking kids to Catholic church to hear a man in a gown read out of a book is a bad idea, but that’s just me. The author goes on about "personal expression" and "public decorum" regarding Drag Queen Story Hour, but here's the thing: He didn't have to go to the event, and he didn't have to take his kids to see it. The families in attendance were there because they wanted to be there. The event at the Castro Valley Library last week was sold out! Sadly, there were also protestors out front, holding signs calling LGBTQ people pedophiles. All of us. There were two Catholic protestors there, holding a banner to point out how terrible we “homosexuals” are. There is nothing wrong with LGBTQ people, nothing wrong with our relationships or our lives and a drag queen reading a book to a group of kids simply helps to dispel the myth that different equals bad.

–Billy Bradford, Castro Valley