Drag queen storytime in Moncton draws a crowd

A drag queen storytime event at the Moncton Public Library drew a crowd Saturday afternoon. When the event was announced online, there were calls on social media to protest at the downtown event. The LGBTQ community responded in kind by putting out a call for supporters to show up as well.

Supporters, protesters show up for event at Moncton Public Library

Vanessa Moreau · CBC News · Posted: Mar 11, 2023 6:05 PM EST | Last Updated: March 11, 2023

A drag queen with big blonde curly hair stands on the left, smiling at the camera and holding up two fingers. She is wearing a blue dress depicting a beach scene, with a red belt at her waist, and glasses. She has her arm around another drag queen, who has mostly curly black hair with bright yellow and orange highlights on top. She is also wearing glasses, a colourful orange and creme floral long sleeve shirt with a brown faux fur vest. She has a dark orange skirt and gold belt, and is also holding two fingers up to the camera in "peace" gesture. — Drag queens Barb Wire and Justin 2D pose before their drag storytime event at the Moncton Library. (Raechel Huizinga/CBC)

A bilingual drag queen storytime event at the Moncton Public Library drew an audience Saturday afternoon, despite a move to protest its existence.

When the event was announced online, there were calls on social media to protest at the downtown event. The LGBTQ community responded in kind by calling for supporters to show up as well.

Drag queen Justin 2D read a story in English and drag queen Barb Wire read a story in French. The event advertised that stories would address themes of respect, inclusion and self-acceptance.

According to Josh Vautour, president of Fierté Dieppe Pride, the Moncton Public Library and RCMP had a plan ahead of the event to make sure the drag performers doing storytime would be safe.

A crowd of people is shown on the sidewalk and nearby street outside a brick building. Many are carrying rainbow LGBTQ flags or wearing rainbow hats. A few towards the left of the photo are holding green poster board signs. — A crowd of protesters and supporters gathered outside the Moncton Public Library Saturday afternoon, with supporters appearing to outnumber protesters. ( Raechel Huizinga/CBC)

Vautour said he and a few other drag performers cancelled their adult show scheduled for Saturday night in Fredericton in order to show up and support the storytime event.

"There are some points we're trying to make people understand, that what you see on social media is not what we performers are at all times," he said. "We basically take our events or drag shows and we make sure that they're family friendly."

Protesters said they did not intend to harass anyone, but wanted to demonstrate peacefully.

Some claimed they were not opposed to the LGBTQ community, but thought children were being exposed to adult themes and adult performers.

A man in a beige coat and jeans stands to the left of the photo, with his hands held together in front of him, a woman with short dark hair and a light beige coat stands next to him, looking into the distance to her right, and a man with long dark hair and a long dark beard stands closest to the camera, holding a white sign that says "protect your children keep them innocent" in black-outlined bubble letters. A few people also stand in the background. — Protesters said they did not intend to harass anyone, but wanted to demonstrate peacefully. ( Raechel Huizinga/CBC)

However, LGBTQ supporters were not convinced.

"I normally don't step out to stuff like this, but this is something that needs to be stood up for," said Alexz Warford. "There's not a problem here. The only issue is these people with these [ideas] that we are harming these kids by reading a book."

Three adults wearing medical masks stand in a light holding posterboard signs. The first is pink with "costumes and books do not hurt kids, hate does" written in blue, the next to the right is a green sign that says "love thy neighbour" in blue, and the third is a green sign that says "sashay away" in different coloured letters. A child in a medical mask stands in the front holding a green sign that says "no hate" in bubble letters coloured in various colours. — Supporters of the drag storytime event show their signs outside the Moncton Public Library on Saturday. ( Raechel Huizinga/CBC)

This comes at a time when the State of Tennessee restricted public drag performances, while other U.S. states consider the same. Online discussions surrounding such performances can quickly escalate to slurs and threats.

A theatre in Eastern P.E.I. postponed a drag storytime last month following online backlash that featured expletives and anti-LGBTQ slurs.

Tennessee governor signs law restricting drag performances in public

Eastern P.E.I. theatre postpones drag storytime event over online attacks

Rebecca Rogers, a supporter of drag storytime, said she wasn't surprised to see a protest in New Brunswick. She thought she had to do something to keep them from shutting it down.

"I think Moncton is generally an accepting community," she said, but noted there are some segments of the population in the area that are less tolerant.

"So, it didn't surprise me at all that something like this would happen."

Rogers also said it felt great to see so many supporters to make sure the event went ahead.

"I'm glad people showed up and we're going to have a fun, peaceful time today."