Drag Queen Story Hour Protester Rallies Crown Heights Families

CROWN HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN —Alicia Andrzejewska hoped to take her 2-year-old daughter Evelyn to a story-telling event at her local library, but was met outside by a man with a megaphone and hoard of singing protesters trying to drown out his message, that drag queens should not be allowed near children.

"I was naive not to expect this," the Brooklyn mom told Patch. "I just wanted [Evelyn] to see the most badass princesses."

Andrezejewska quickly stepped in to join dozens of people stationed next to the Crown Heights Public Library at New York Avenue and Maple Street Thursday morning to show support for the Drag Queen Story Hour event happening inside.

They stood against a small group of men, led by a Brooklyn dad named Tag who cried into his megaphone, "Where's your honesty? Do those little kids now that's a man? They don't know it's a man."

"Once we teach children they have an option we destroy them," said Tag, the father of two daughters and one son. "I'm here to stand up for the truth."

"I'm outraged by the heterophobia ... by the homo-fascism," added Rabbi Yehuda Revin. "Libraries should be rated G."

But protester Sarah Lazur, a Barnard professor who lives in the neighborhood, argued it was Tag who harmed local children by staging the protest outside their library.

"This one guy came here to scream at children," said Lazur. "And it's despicable."

That's why Lazur and a group of counter-protesters sang children's songs as parents handed out rainbow-colored cookies and brownies, she said.

"We want this to feel like a safe and friendly place for the children," she said.

The kids in the crowd said they came to the protest because they wanted to support LGBTQ rights and because they loved the story hour.

"I think it's just wrong what he's doing," said a nine-year-old named Lily who sported a unicorn's horn . "Anyone can learn about LGBTQ, no matter their age."

Mayana, 5, added, with help from her mom, "It's not fair that people think drag queens aren't a good thing."

Inside the library, the reading began.

A hush came over a room filled with about 100 people, mostly children, when Harmonica Sunbeam walked into the reading room wearing a full-length sequined and rainbow colored gown.

Sunbeam told Patch she was not troubled by the man outside — "I believe he has a right to his opinion" — and that she wished the Drag Queen Story Hour existed when she was young because, "I would have been wearing sequins so much more early."

Sunbeam opened the story with a reading from "Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus" by Mo Willems then guided the room in a group sing-along of "The Wheels On The Bus."

"The drag queen on the bus goes...." the group sang.

"Blah, blah blah!" Sunbeam replied.

Over the noise of the bustling kids and the singing, it was impossible to hear the megaphone outside, where Tag demanded to know if the parents' belief in gender fluidity meant they would allow fathers to marry their daughters.

In response they started singing, "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."