comment: >
  
  I wonder how it would be taken if people acted like conservative terrorists do for drag story time, if people started showing up to churches like they do. 
  After all. If you want your child to be gold star molested and groomed. Church is the 1st choice.
context: Why are they not protesting in front of Catholic Churches? >
  
  Or Boy Scout troops?
  
  Sex-Abuse Claims Against Boy Scouts Now Surpass 82,000 >
  
  As an assistant den leader, it amazes me that they let it get that far out of fear of how people would perceive them. If they went ahead and took down these kiddy diddlers as they were being reported, they wouldn't have lost so many people joining the scouts and being sued into oblivion.
  So many abusers could have been outed and taken down by law enforcement with the amount of reports they had from families. >
  
  Because the boy scouts and pedophilia go hand in hand with protecting hierarchies. I think it's inevitable that a patriarchal organization like the Boy Scouts would end up harboring pedophiles, same as the church, same as right wingers.
  It's all the same thing, and it's projection all the way down. >
  
  There's some merit to the consideration of maintaining hierarchies here; I was active in the local/regional Council in the late 90s/early 00s and the Old Boys Club attitudes ran deep. 
  Granted that my experiences are anecdotal, tie some percentage of this being the case to a situation where the BSA is bonded at the hip to many churches for facilities and recruitment and an environment that protects itself all the way up, with a social institution (on both sides) to back that up. >
  
  I was in scouts from the 90s to the early 00s. I feel like I was lucky since it was drilled into us to never be alone with another adult besides our parents. Always use the buddy system.  Report any issues or problems with a parent etc. 
  We even had to watch that sexual abuse video every year where the coach guy takes the kids home and video tapes them “wrestling” or whatever. 
  I went to the national jamboree in 01 and even there, we weren’t to be alone with any adults and always had to be with our “buddies”. >
  
  Yeah most groups I was involved with did Scout safety right- and justly so! From an on-the-ground angle the adult leaders were very interested in everyone's safety.
  The bigger issue was with Council, the bureaucrats and organizational components, with 60 year old men who never left the 1950s behind. There was absolutely a disconnect between Troop level and the organization level in terms of priorities at times. >
  
  So there's got to be some shadow fund bullshit dueling this "movement" given that it's been happening across the nation. Has there been any attempt to expose it? >
  
  Something smells of The Federalist Society. >
  
  I would say they likely are not the only ones. There are plenty of mega rich sick ducks that are happy to find anti LGBTQ terrorism. >
  
  That “Trust the Science” sign is rich… from the same group that spent the past two years ignoring science. >
  
  Ok, but biologically speaking, there are more than two genders. >
  
  If there’s any silver lining to all this idiotic controversy, it’s that more people are being made aware of the existence of intersex individuals. >
  
  To Catch a Predator is an American reality television series in the television news magazine program Dateline NBC featuring confrontations with host Chris Hansen, partly filmed with a hidden camera, of adult men arriving at a sting house to have sex with a minor and typically being arrested as a result. The minors are adults impersonating underage persons (generally ages 13–15) in online chats.[1]
  Saw a lot of “regular white dudes dressed as men” getting caught.   Not a lot of drag queens.
  Just saying. >
  
  Bingo. Drag queens are not doing anything sexual in these shows. Brought my boy to one and the drag queen was no more offensively dressed than Mrs. Doubtfire. >
  
  If someone was committing a crime i really doubt they would dress like a cross between a flamingo and a peacock in a public space with tons of adults watching them >
  
  Nonsense, when I commit crimes I deliberately dress as flamboyant as possible, easier to draw more attention that way >
  
  I was expecting a Batman villain.  This is better >
  
  I'm as confused as I was by the same thing happening in western Oregon. I was like "no one cared about drag story hour for all the other years before covid that we've had them." NYC?! I bet no one cared there, either, until some astroturf political "movement" shipped some "good ol' boys" from Arkansas to NY and yelled about something most New Yorkers have been seeing for decades. What a waste of gas. >
  
  I didn't even know they were a thing.
  I didn't care about them in the past and I don't care about them now.
  I'm more concerned about the real abuse churches do to childern. >
  
  Out of the loop as well. I was wondering if there have been more events held recently to counter the hate or have they always been this frequent? >
  
  Meanwhile, the people who have actually been grooming and abusing children have not been drag queens. Lots of them have been Republican politicians and clergymen. 
  And it doesn't even stop at children. Just this week six women were rescued from Andrew Tate and his brother's sex trafficking operation. But no, the right wing want to antagonize drag queens and the LGBT community now that immigrants and abortion didn't pan out for them this last election cycle. >
  
  Lot of ‘em are holding the signs. >
  
  Oh so NOW we’re trusting the science. Mmhm. >
  
  $20 says the guy holding the "trust the science" sign isn't vaccinated >
  
  that’s a sucker bet >
  
  Kids molested at Drag Queen Story Hour - 0
  Kids molested at Church - probably in the millions throughout its history. >
  
  /r/pastorarrested collects local news articles.  They are as bad as you would expect. >
  
  So many people are missing the point here.
  Story time hour ALWAYS had some form of bigger than life character running the show, it could've been a stereotypical drag queen or a guy wearing giant glasses and a propeller had or a girl that had a gravity defying ponytail wig with a raggedy anne dress.
  There have always been larger than life characters to get kids invested in hearing stories, having drag queens reading to them really isn't all that different in a public library setting.
  And if you really think that's its a disgrace that having a book red to your kids by Samantha Valentino but Christopher the Cool Reading Cat is just fine, why? >
  
  What's funny is that people that would be considered drag kings were a pretty common part of my childhood. I saw all types of women dress as Peter Pan or Gaston for dramatic laughs. How is this any different? It's not like the drag queens are making these shows sexualized - they're just dudes in make up and dresses. They're literaly updated clowns reading to kids. >
  
  Shit, community theater generally is pretty female heavy so it's not uncommon to have multiple women playing men's roles and thus dressed as men with full contouring and breasts bound. I've never seen protesters outside of a local Shakespeare show bitching about ladies dressed in breeches. >
  
  It's because society worships masculinity and considers willingly "giving up" your masculinity to be the ultimate sin and a personal attack on them. That's why trans women receive such insane hate.
  Edit to expand even further: Cis people see trans people free themselves from the box society placed them in. This upsets cis people because it shows them that the box itself is meaningless and they didn't need to adhere to it all this time. They're jealous of the freedom that discovering your trans identity brings.
  It's an ego thing. I had to fit myself in this little box, so now I expect you to do the same, otherwise I'll get really mad when I realize my entire life has been a lie/for nothing/hasn't gone how I wanted. >
  
  Toxic masculinity ruins fucking everything. I hope that one day that shit will get buried somewhere near phrenology and humorism. >
  
  A group of men, that dress ridiculously but also really funny or good, use massive amounts of make-up, wear massive shoes and play a different role to what they usually are, entertaining kids & freaking out adults.
  If you cannot differentiate, based on the description alone, whether this is about circus clowns or drag queens, yet you still hate drag queens & and don't protest clown shows, you're an idiot and the actual clown. >
  
  I say this all the time. Drag is just another form of clown style entertainment. Men dressing as women and saying funny/over the top stereotypical “female” shit? Sign me up! I’ve been to horror themed drag shows that were hilarious. I watched a drag queen Golem do a death drop! It was fuckin’ awesome. Also, I’m as straight as they come. Drag is cool if you just watch it for what it is. Entertainment. >
  
  So many rightwing clowns upset over something they or their offspring don't even have to participate in. I've never seen a group of people go more out of their way to be offended by something that is none of their business. Go build a house in the middle of the woods, take your family and never leave it. >
  
  Or come to Florida where the Governor is doing everything he can to make anything even close to LGBTQ+ illegal... >
  
  Someone got to make him watch The Birdcage. >
  
  There’s no point in arguing with someone who’s entire purpose is to misunderstand you and get others to >
  
  Not just misunderstand you, but actively working towards oppressing your rights and freedoms, complete with both threats of and actual violence >
  
  Conservatives care about literally all the wrong things. >
  
  Who tf has money to protest? I just watched This Place Rules on HBO and one of the questions posed was how tf these people can afford to protest? >
  
  Most of them are on disability, their entire identity is based on perpetual victimhood. >
  
  I've worked with multiple dudes on full military disability working full time doing HVAC (um aren't you supposed to be disabled). All right wing socialist lib haters. It's fun hearing them brag about how they get paid the same as their full time job in government disability while working full time. Ironically had 2 of them get pissy at the boss over nothing (lazy and unqualified but complain they are underpaid while getting paid disability lmao) and storm off the job. It's easy to get pissed and quit your job when the government gives you a free paycheck. Now these guys did go overseas and put their time in so I respect that and am not even mad about it but I do find the irony of it all entertaining. >
  
  Military disability is actually service connected issues - so they can have disabilities caused by their military service that doesn't prevent them from working >
  
  One dude was supposed to have a bad knee, he probably shouldn't be climbing on roofs and servicing big units. He actually actively had problems and was getting injections and surgery to help over the 5 years we worked together. I consider him a friend still. I'm sure climbing and working on ladders all day wasn't helping. The other guy was a total shlub who did nothing and called out or was late all the time so I have no idea what his disability was but he was probably milking it. After he quit he tried to get in on the 3m lawsuits and a lawyer called our office representing him trying to say he got hearing loss on a job site or something. He worked with us for like 3 months and rode around with me doing service, we were not on any active construction sites during that time lol. I don't know specifics though just word of mouth from office Staff. Same guy called me a month later asking if I could ask my boss to hire him back. >
  
  yeah with a bad knee he shouldn't be exacerbating things >
  
  ... well, look who finally decided to adopt masks. 🤦🏾‍♂️ >
  
  Not sure why people are so surprised that these events would be protested "even in liberal NYC." NYC is merely the center of a huge metro area, and if you want to protest a thing, you go to where that thing is happening. They have more of these events, so they get more of the protests.
  It's like why people rob banks -- that's where the money is. >
  
  Look at the Mormons they protect pedophiles to and nothing gets done about that >
  
  Not 'proud' enough to show their faces. >
  
  Republicans don’t really have a leg to stand on with “trust the science” and “leave the kids alone” after refusing COVID shots and sending kids to school without masks during the pandemic. Everything is a bad faith argument with these people. >
  
  They say trust the science, but they apparently have no idea what science actually says about homosexuality or gender nonconformity, or the underlying epigenetics of those things. >
  
  "Trust MY science" >
  
  Closest those idiots have ever been to a library in their lives. >
  
  A well-known and loved drag Queen in Ohio has been doing Drag Story Hour for years. Somebody doxxed them and put their name and address on the Dark Web.  They’ve been incessantly harassed to the point that they have to find another place to live. It’s horrible. >
  
  Such a dumb thing to protest. I think my kids kindergarten class had drag story hour last year. I think it was helpful for the kids my son had some questions when he got home so that was a conversation but it was in a way that allowed him to learn. He’s not at that school anymore but I hope they keep up the program. >
  
  It has been this way for years. It's not a raunchy thing but more akin to taking a kid to see a costumed character at a theme park. The drag queens dress up in ultra colorful costumes and make-up like this for example and do over the top acting. To a kid, it's no different from seeing a clown show. Only with way more panache and style. It's fun. It's silly. >
  
  During covid they even had to film and televise special performances because so many families with young children felt they were missing out without a panto at Christmas. >
  
  Drag queens are on TV normally too - Celebrity Masterchef, Weakest Link….I think a drag queen was in Great British Bakeoff recently too.
  It’s just….not a big thing in the UK. >
  
  It does make it very weird from an American perspective, since it seems like there's certainly no lack of transphobia in the UK. >
  
  Drag isn't really associated with trans people in the UK, nor as heavily associated with the LGBT community, so you get a lot of people who love drag programs but hate trans (and even gay) people and a lot of British films and TV shows have had a significant drag element while also containing a lot of homophobia or transphobia. >
  
  The Proud Boys are a bunch of micro penis idiots. >
  
  And after a great day of harassing drag queens they'll head to their local church where the pastor that molested them as kids will read made up stories to the congregation in a long dress. >
  
  Then on Monday drop their kids off to the same school where they were molested >
  
  Legit question; are there any real pedophilia accusations against drag shows? 
  Like the Mormon/Catholic church and Boy Scouts have victims with receipts. I only ask so I can hopefully tell dumbass family members, No. >
  
  If "it happened once before" is the standard, I've got some news for the right-wing Christians: /r/pastorarrested >
  
  Man proud boys really hate free speech huh? Fuckin dorks can’t handle people being free >
  
  Protestor: believe the science boys and girls are different
  Also protestor: screw the science. Vaccines are the devil and birth control is evil. >
  
  Yet these same people have been watching television for decades where people are in drag? Where was their hate then? >
  
  Fox News wasn’t around. They weren’t fed manufactured outrage yet. >
  
  Were there always so many drag story hours? I swear I’d never heard off of it till this year. >
  
  Been going on for a couple decades. They just were never a big deal. Though there is some news coverage going back a fair ways. >
  
  That was probably a long, quiet bus ride home >
  
  The fact that the GOP tries to portray themselves as the freedom party and apparently succeeds with so many morons all over the country is so depressing to me. They literally spend all their energy telling other people what they can and can’t do with their lives.
  They are the gun freedom party, that’s it. >
  
  I love that all these “proud” fucking idiots always cover their faces.  Just sad cowards. >
  
  Funny how the people who think they are on the right side of history feel the need to hide their faces. >
  
  Suddenly they can breathe in a mask….. >
  
  Far right conservatives are brain dead slugs, pass it on. >
  
  Funny, these Christian radicals never seem to miss a drag show.  Are they trying to tell us something? >
  
  Most of these right-wing hate mongers call themselves Christians on Sunday. >
  
  I’m just going to say fuck the alt right >
  
  . Time to bully back the bullies
  Fascists need to be reminded they are outnumbered. I'm done fighting bad faith with good faith. I'm signing up for actual clowning lessons so I can clown these clowns at their rallies. We don't need violence but we need to show these idiots exactly how stupid they are acting. There is no place for this intolerance in a truly tolerant society and if someone wants to "tolerant left" me they can kiss my gay asshole deeply with tongue >
  
  You don't want them to do that. Their tongues have been far up Jordan Peterson's asshole.  That's basically like his asshole touching your asshole and you don't want that 🤢 >
  
  Maybe if someone touched his asshole with their asshole every once in a while Jordan Peepeeman wouldn't be such a fucking turd >
  
  Maybe if he'd just been content with being an incredibly mediocre academic instead of getting hooked on the grift slash dopamine rush of every moron on the continent thinking he's Carl Sagan 🙄 >
  
  This is an easy fix if you don’t want your kids being at drag story hour keep your kids at home but let the rest of us make choices for our own children thank you very much!!! >
  
  Sounds reasonable. By the same argument, if you don't like the protests, just look the other way. Everybody's happy. >
  
  Hard to do when they are always in everyones face >
  
  You went to a drag show or a drag story hour? Because it sounds like you went to a drag show lol... or you're making shit up. >
  
  I'm guessing the latter. >
  
  If gay marriage is legal, we gotta go after the cross-dressers innstead.
  Your kid doesn't have to go to Drag Story Hour, so mind your own damn business. >
  
  These protesters are idiots but I have to ask: what's up with drag queens reading to children? Is this a new thing or something I've just heard about? Why is this happening? How often is this happening? Why children and why reading? Why not a free show for homeless? No one seems to address this mystery amongst the "transphobic" rants and hubbub. >
  
  It not new. It’s been going on for about a decade. This program specifically that is. The whole program is drag queens (who are background checked) read age appropriate stories to children which theme around being different, acceptance and expanding viewpoints. It’s not evil. It’s not grooming. It’s not sexual. It’s story time with people in costume. It encourages imagination and creativity while normalizing a marginalized community.
  To your other points. I don’t even know how to respond.
  Edit: You are hearing a lot about it now because it’s the latest car key to dangle for the GOP to distract people from the fact they have no policies other than fear and hate. >
  
  To add, I would compare the drag queens doing story hours with Disney princesses or a kid-friendly performer like Jojo Siwa, but with a lot more makeup. The explicit stuff is saved for performances not aimed at kids, and isn't a representation of drag as a whole. >
  
  Good call. Ursula from the Little Mermaid is inspired by drag queen Divine. >
  
  Imagine if we collectively put this much effort into protesting something that actually fucking matters and not wasting it trying to stop some sweet person wearing what might be traditionally considered "women's clothing" trying to bring light into a child's life. These people are fucking clowns. >
  
  Why are these Protesters so suddenly afraid to show their faces?
  The only ones using & abusing kids are these very same protesters.
  These are the same folks who talk about losing their freedoms and rights, yet have no problem marginalizing people they’ve been taught to hate by their churches and political leaders.
  It’s all about, you’re not like me so I therefore hate you.
  If you pulled the mask off these protestors you’ll find that they’re mostly Right Wing Operatives who take pleasure in sowing division.
  And if they need to use your kids to achieve their objectives, so be it.
  We the People need to call them out for their hypocrisy.
  Splattered throughout the entire Trump administration were convicted Pedophiles that these very same concerned individuals gave a pass to.
  They knew the truth about these predators but chose to ignore it because after all, they’re Republicans and We don’t go after Our Own.
  So they need to stop pretending that they care about these kids, because the truth is they don’t.
  It’s all about scoring political points for these pathetic Phonys. >
  
  Don’t people have better things to do? Nobody is forcing you to take your children to drag story time. 
  MYOFB! >
  
  Why is everything on news treated like an all or nothing argument?  Yes there are right wing people that hate trans people and its disgusting but yes its ok for some to be concerned where kids are taken to drag shows where things are over sexualized.  Two things can exist at the same time. >
  
  Drag story hours aren't sexual at all lol >
  
  We're talking about story hours, not drag shows, in here. These protestors are showing up at fucking libraries where a queen is reading a fucking book. Bringing ARs to libraries for an event specifically tailored to children is the definition of asshattery.
  That said, no... I don't think I'd take a kid to the Christmas drag show. However, it clearly states on the website that it's an adult-themed/naughty event though families are welcomed where local ordinances/laws permit.
  Here's the other problem with Tayler's tweets... he shoots right off with the whole "grooming kids!!!" narrative. It may not really be appropriate for kids, but that doesn't mean anyone is being groomed. And it's being framed like this is the sole function of drag queens. It's beyond ignorant and fuels hate and bigotry.
  But let's get back on topic about STORY HOURS. >
  
  Nothing at all sexual about this attire 🙄 A teacher would get fired before class even started if they showed up like this. >
  
  If that outfit is too sexual, I guess you think kids shouldn't go to the beach, huh? >
  
  Or the ballet 🩰