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A drag storytime event in Ohio was canceled on Saturday, December 3, 2022, after members of far-right groups including Proud Boys gathered near the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus to protest. This is where the reading was initially scheduled to be held. As per the reports, about 70 members of the group stood on roads, with face masks, and chanted "life, liberty, victory" and "reclaim America.”
Allegedly, the group posted their plans to protest on the messaging group, Telegram. All of this, however, left netizens infuriated, as many took to social media to express their anger. One social media user posted a picture of the protestors, with the caption:
“Parade of cowardice”
The Holi-Drag Storytime, was organized by the Red Oak Community School. The event was all set to feature three drag queens reading to children and performing “a few holiday numbers.”
"This is not acceptable": Netizens infuriated after the cancellation of Ohio drag queen storytime
As Ohio Drag Queen storytime got canceled, netizens were angered as many felt infuriated and agitated by the protests. Some social media users felt that the entire fiasco was "not normal.” An individual tweeted a picture of the protestors and said:
“Protest at drag show, Columbus, Ohio . This is not normal. This is not acceptable. THIS IS NOT NORMAL.”
School manager claims the cancellation of Holi-Drag Storytime occurred due to a "disagreement”
After massive protests on the streets of Ohio that led to the cancelation of the storytime, the school manager of Red Oak claimed that this occurred mainly due to a “disagreement.”
Ryan said:
"I spent a week calling our police department and leaving voicemails about the reports we had seen. After a week, I was told we could hire a special duty officer, who may or may not show up because they're understaffed."
Ryan also claimed that the storytime performers felt unsafe without the presence of security. At the same time, the Columbus Police also took to Facebook to state that they learned about the event through the social media platform and reached out to the church and the school. At the same time, the police department also claimed:
“Throughout this week, CPD continued to communicate with the church, school, neighbours and business in that area to inform them of our safety action plan. The school and the church were consistently involved in those discussion through email and phone calls. CPD was told by the school that we could have plainclothes officers outside the event, but not inside the building for they had hired their own private security.”
Furthermore, the CPD stated in the notice how they protect all the residents of the city equally. They also said:
“We have had several meeting with the LGBTQ community and continue to work together to make sure they feel supported and protected at all of their events.”
Meanwhile, the Proud Boys has been described by the FBI as an “extremist group with ties to white nationalism.” At the same time, not just the protests ahead of the drag queen story hour in Ohio, but similar events in Oregon and California have also taken place over the past week, which has led the LGBTQ+ community to be worried and scared.
