Video: Chelsea Library Drag Story Hour Carries On, Despite Protesters

CHELSEA, NY ? Protesters failed to disrupt a Drag Story Hour for neurodiverse kids inside a Chelsea library this weekend, but their actions have raised concerns among locals and elected officials about LGBTQIA-directed hate.

More than a dozen people screamed, swore and carried signs with language linked to hate speech outside the New York Public Library on West 20th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues Saturday afternoon, according to video shot by Lower Manhattan Council Member Erik Bottcher

"I want to show you the face of hate, right here in Chelsea," Bottcher says in the one-minute video, viewed nearly 30,000 times by Monday afternoon. "Outside, we have the face of hate. Inside, it's just joy and love."

Today I witnessed pure hatred and bigotry outside Drag Queen Story Hour at a public library in Chelsea.

Inside, I witnessed a loving and peaceful reading of children?s books to kids.

Warning: this video contains foul language and hate speech. pic.twitter.com/RLMWHDdSnw
? NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher (@ebottcher) December 17, 2022

Along with the protesters outside the library, there was also a group of supporters of the Drag Story Hour singing songs and holding signs of support.

There were no injures or arrests during the Chelsea protest, police said.

Video shows one woman holding a sign that equates the event to grooming ? language historically used to target the LGBTQIA+ community ? and one woman looks into the camera and asks the person shooting the video if they are a pedophile.

"Walking around with your f---ing ugly s---," she says.

This group gathered outside the Andrew Heiskell Braille and Talking Book Library, a special needs library that provides books for people who are blind, visually impaired, or are otherwise unable to read standard print.

The New York Public Library said the Saturday event was for children who are neurodiverse, a term often used to describe those on the autism spectrum or with other developmental conditions.

?The story hour went on as planned, including readings, coloring activities and a ?dance party? at the end," the library said in a statement.

"Our patrons enjoy Drag Story Hour, and the Library will continue to offer programs that support a diverse array of voices. This is particularly important at this moment when we are seeing a rise of hate and violence targeting LGBTQ+ communities.?

Bottcher's photo taken inside the library shows a little girl looking up a story teller dressed in the colors of the rainbow and giving her a smile.

Reading encourages skills like language and literacy, plus cognitive development and social-emotional growth, too. Thank you to Drag Queen Story Hour for bringing your program to Chelsea! pic.twitter.com/CiL4GR1F8A
? NYC Council Member Erik Bottcher (@ebottcher) December 17, 2022

The lower Manhattan elected later posted the same photo on his Twitter condemning the "vile and bigoted" replies the post was getting.

The story hour was hosted by New York City Drag Story Hour, a nonprofit that organizes storying telling and creative art programs for kids and teens.

What happened in Chelsea on Saturday comes a few weeks after a Drag Story Hour in Staten Island was picked, and a similar event in Ohio got shut down by armed-groups protesting.

In November, a gunman opened fire inside an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs.