An upcoming children’s story time presentation at the Peterborough Public Library will feature emotions at its centre — inside as well as outside of the Aylmer Street branch.
Billed as Drag Queen Story Time, the January 14th event will feature teenage drag performer Betty Baker reading books to children aged 3 to 8, and lead the singing of songs, all themed around emotions and feelings. But that’s not sitting well at all with a group of community residents who will protest the 10:15 to 10:45 a.m. event, gathering outside the library to express their concerns.
Back in September, a similar event also led by Baker drew an impressive 174 attendees. It also attracted a protest that was met by an even larger number of counter-protesters. Despite that uproar, library staff has opted to move forward with more drag queen story time events.
“We want to normalize being different,” says community development librarian Karen Clysdale, adding “We’re not just checking a box and acknowledging something once in awhile. We want it to be part of our regular everyday programming.”
“It’s all the things we want from story time. It’s imaginative. It’s colourful. It’s fun. It’s inviting. It’s welcoming. It celebrates literacy, oral and written. It’s interactive. It’s also something that opens people’s eyes to something new and different, giving people a slice of something else.”
For her part, Baker, a 19-year-old Peterborough native now studying performance production at Toronto Metropolitan University, says she’s delighted to be asked back to present the event.
“It’s always important to feel included in your community and to feel seen,” says Baker, who led a number of story hours this past summer at libraries in other communities.
“Growing up, I really didn’t have anyone to look up to who was like me, whether that was different or specifically queer. I think it’s important to have someone in the community to look up to. It’s not just about the drag. Inclusivity in general is important. We’re all human. We’re all different.”
That may well be, says Ben Inglis, but as the co-organizer of the protest with Paul Lawton, the Hill City Baptist Church pastor points to “the narrative we’re being told to buy into.”
A Facebook event page, titled Drag Queen Story Hour Protest, outlines in full the group’s concerns, referencing particularly “the insanity” of inviting Baker to facilitate a children’s story hour.
“That (narrative) is drag and drag culture is harmless dress-up time. This is just fun for kids. The problem with that is it ignores the origin and history of drag. Drag is inherently a transgressive expression. Its nature is designed to push boundaries. The hyper-sexualized pseudonyms they give themselves, the clothing that it expose … the whole thing is inescapably sexualized. Even if they tone it down for children’s story hour, the nature of drag in itself is designed to be transgressive.”
While Inglis et al have gone to great pains to urge a peaceful protest, he admits that can’t be assured due to interference by others not involved with his group.
“There’s always going to be an element of unpredictability in these types of things. Not everyone is necessarily willing to be cool and calm and collected. At our last protest (at the September event), I was trying to communicate a simple five-minute statement of our position and there was a counter-protester right in my face screaming at me. You can’t curate a mob. You can’t curate a protest.”
On December 17, a raucous protest and counter-protest took place as the Brockville Public Library held its first-ever drag story time event. While the protest itself was peaceful, library CEO Geraldine Slark told CBC Ontario Morning there was an attempt to light a fire on the library roof before the event, possibly to set off the library’s sprinklers, and the library also received a bomb threat.
That experience is a major red flag for Peterborough Public Library services manager Mark Stewart who is pulling out all the stops to ensure library patrons, event attendees and, yes, protesters are safe.
“The protesters have stated it’s to be respectful and non-violent — they were true to their word last time (in September),” credits Stewart. “The library supports democracy and public discussion. If they want to come and have a protest that is respectful and non-violent, that is their right to do so. We are trusting that they will hold to that.”
That said, the library is also taking extra steps to prepare for the January 14th event.
“We’ll have extra staff on that day,” Stewart says. “We’ve hired security. We will be notifying the police that this protest will be happening.”
Clysdale notes the event will be held in the Friends of the Library Community Room, not in the children’s department where story time sessions are typically held.
“It’s larger and a little bit easier to control access,” say Clysdale. “We can’t always control what’s going to happen, just as they (protesters) can’t control what’s going to happen. Being a public library, we see wacky things every day. Staff here are so good at being flexible and responsive as needed. We’re all kind of rallying to make it work.”
Asked if she fears for her own safety, Baker is quick to respond “Absolutely,” but adds “I know the library is looking out for my safety, and the safety of all the patrons. We’ve got all of that sorted out already. Of course it’s scary, but I feel safe in the knowledge that the library is there for me and my community, and the parents and families who want to come out.”
Baker notes she was scheduled to host a story hour event in December at Lavender and Play Boutique and Family Studio on Chemong Road but the plug was pulled because of threats made.
VIDEO: Betty Baker announces cancellation of December Lavender and Play storytime event
“There’s this kind of mass hysteria around drag story times where there’s misinformation being spread and there’s a hateful culture around it, which is devastating to me as someone who loves doing story time,” says Baker.
“The library is here to look out for everyone. We’re working together to make the event as safe and welcoming as possible for everyone. If you don’t like it, just don’t come. This has been an incredibly successful event in the past. The support that I have received from the library, and Lavender and Play, has been absolutely amazing. There are so many parents and kids who want to come out and have a good time and have some fun.”
As disturbing to Inglis as the event itself is the general view of his group’s members.
“There’s a caricature floating around that we’re an angry, frustrated group of people who really don’t have anything better to do. That we’ve got a lot of axes to grind. Just give us an opportunity and we’ll protest. I want to dispel that caricature. I personally tend to not be a confrontational person by nature.”
“But there comes a point where a threshold is crossed where we, as members of the community, as adults and as parents and, I would say especially as Christians, need to take a stand,” Inglis adds. “We need to say this is inappropriate. That this is not right.”
“There seems something particularly sinister about inviting drag entertainers to be in the proximity of children. That, for us, was a threshold moment where we thought ‘OK, we’re probably going to be in the minority but that’s OK because truth, even if it’s in the minority, is still truth.'”
Looking ahead, Clysdale says plans to present similar story time events with Baker in February, March, and May are well underway.
“The level of support that we’ve had from the community is pretty overwhelming,” says Stewart.
“The counter-protest (in September) was much bigger than the actual protest. It’s a very small group of people who are very vocal about this issue. The number of people who will come to support it is much greater. There’s no comparing the two.”
This story has been updated with a correction. A protest and counter-protest took place at the Brockville Public Library on December 17, not in Belleville in the summer, and Betty Baker did not perform at that event.
