A RuPaul’s Drag Race star has condemned the treatment of two drag performers who were escorted from a children’s reading session at a Belfast library.
As Lady Portia Di’Monte read the words of Dear Zoo and Miss Dora Belle narrated them using sign language, a group of protesters gathered outside the Holywood Arches Library.
One woman can be heard shouting: ‘shame on both of you, leave the kids alone’.
The event was eventually abandoned amid rising tensions and they were escorted by police to prevent further disruption.
Drag artist Crystal told Metro: ‘Watching two drag queens getting escorted out by the police is very depressing.
‘It sets a terrible precedent that fringe protesters with beliefs that do not represent the whole of society or even the majority of society are able to – if they are loud enough – get events cancelled and make people unsafe.’
Northern Ireland’s Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons said the event was ‘not appropriate for children’ and had ‘compromised the perception of our public libraries as a welcoming and inclusive space for all.’
He added that he had asked that policy be ‘faithfully implemented’ across Northern Irish libraries.
Crystal, who appeared on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, said: ‘It is very troubling and we need to push back against this kind of narrative.’
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They described such protests as recycled transphobia, comparing them to rallies against women wearing trousers in the mid-20th century.
They said: ‘It is a gross mischaracterization to say that drag is inherently sexual and always inappropriate for children. That is just not true.
‘Most people in the UK are aware of that because they have taken their children to see panto and they have seen drag queens entertaining children in the past and they understand that it is very possible to have that art form in a family-friendly way.’
Crystal, who has also performed at similar events, described them as ‘any storytelling event that you would have for children, just that the books have a broader theme of inclusivity, self-love, and acceptance.’
They added: ‘Children sit around, open up their storybooks and you read to them. You might do some interactive games, ask them questions, things like that, but it is very kid-focused and it is very safe.
‘It is nothing that you would not see in any school done by a “normal” teacher.’
Drag Queen story times have created protests across other parts of the UK, including one in Reading in 2022. On that occasion, protesters stormed the library, shouting and screaming while children listened to a story about a goat being bullied by a wolf.
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