Locals flocked to support a drag queen who read children’s books to kids at Brooklyn Public Library’s Crown Heights branch on Thursday, overwhelming a small group of protesters.
Just five people gathered on June 27 to express outrage over Harmonica Sunbeam’s presence at “Drag Queen Story Hour,” while more than 50 colorfully dressed proponents sang songs and chanted in support of the event.
One protester shouted biblical references into a megaphone to warn of the potential dire consequences of the drag queen’s presence.
“God wiped out cities because of this,” said the man who asked only to be identified as Tag. “We’re almost there. It’s getting worse now than it was back then.”
Supporters brushed off the ominous alarms, calling the protesters intolerant and a poor representation of the Crown Heights community.
“We’re here to stand against bigotry in whatever form it takes,” said Alice Tracey. “And look at how much we outnumber them by. I think that tells you all you need to know.”
The demonstration came on the heels of a similar clash outside of a June 6 installment of the story hour program at the Gerritsen Beach Library, where anti-story hour protesters mobilized in much larger numbers than the miniscule showing in Crown Heights.
The protest organizer chalked up the weak attendance to the intolerance of pro-drag queen demonstrators.
“Obviously, we didn’t have the turnout we’d hoped for,” said Rick Knight. “I think that if you express any conservative views, people just jump on you. People are afraid to speak against this.”
Knight suspected that the story hour program was the beginning of an elaborate indoctrination effort on the part of drag queens everywhere.
“They can’t reproduce, so they’re recruiting,” he said. “I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but I think a lot of this ideology is from the cultural Marxists.”
The demonstrators, who Knight described as fighting a global culture war, were attempting to draw the line before society slid down a “slippery slope,” he said.
“Pedophilia is next,” Knight said. “You have to realize that drag queens were a fringe group just 10 years ago, but now they’re mainstream. Next they’ll be defending pedophilia.”
Their efforts to hijack the event failed, as police cordoned off the unevenly matched groups of demonstrators on either side of the entrance to the library — where approximately 65 kids listened to the guest of honor read a number of children’s books uninterrupted by the commotion outside.
