A Brooklyn library relocated its drag-queen story hour to a new venue Saturday after it received a bomb threat shortly before the event was scheduled to begin.
The bomb threat occurred right before the nonprofit Drag Story Hour NYC was supposed to start its 11 a.m. reading, an employee at the Cortelyou branch of Brooklyn Public Library at 1305 Cortelyou Road told the New York Post.
An anonymous email was sent to the location claiming that an explosive device would detonate inside the building at 11:30 a.m., NYPD told the outlet. Police also received a call from a male individual about the threat.
NYPD deployed canine and emergency units to check the facility for suspicious activity or items but found nothing. The drag reading went on without a hitch at a coffee shop down the road following the incident, attended by about seven children and parents.
“It’s a shame, and it’s something that’s extremely dangerous,” one parent told the publication. “These are children, and children just want to hear stories … It’s a shame how somebody just ruined it and threatened violence.”
Another parent, Dayna Sedillo-Hamman, claimed to the Post that a drag queen story hour event in Brooklyn she brought her toddler son to had been moved once before because of a bomb scare.
Taxpayer funded nonprofit Drag Queen Story Hour NYC has come under fire for earning more than $200,000 in city contracts since 2018, hosting its programs with drag performers in public schools, libraries, and local festivals, the Post found via city records. The lessons feature men and women dressed as the opposite gender reading books, making crafts, and singing songs.
National Review uncovered in August that drag story hour employed a performer whose social-media accounts were filled with nudity and other sexually explicit content. Performer Oliver Herface described himself as a “drag king” and a former “day care teacher” who has a “passion for working with children and education about what it means to be queer and trans” on the organization’s website. A quick Google search, however, revealed that his public social-media accounts predominantly feature him striking sexual poses while performing in a thong with his breasts exposed.
Some New York Democratic lawmakers have supported the drag-queen story hour cause. New York attorney general Letitia James announced in March that she would host a “Drag Story Hour” in Manhattan, inviting “families with children” to watch drag performers read books for four hours. James’s event was cosponsored by Drag Story Hour NYC.
“My office is proud to host a Drag Story Hour read-a-thon,” James wrote in a post advertising the upcoming West Village event. “We’re inviting families to join us at the @lgbtcenternyc with @dragstoryhour, drag storytellers, community leaders, and elected officials.”