Vowing that “we aren’t going anywhere,” the performer King Art Babe forged ahead Tuesday evening with the Alameda County Library’s first Drag Queen Story Hour event since a group of apparent Proud Boys members disrupted another reading earlier this month in San Lorenzo.
No disruptions were reported Tuesday as the performer — bedazzled in heels, rainbow stockings, a frilly blue dress and a unicorn tiara — held a group of preschoolers and kindergarteners in rapt attention, flipping through several books about Pride parades and dressing in drag. Often, she stopped to remark on the characters’ lavish outfits.
“Who likes to dress up?” King Art Babe asked the children, as several hands shot up. “I like to dress up as a princess, too.”
The event at the Castro Valley Library came as the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office continued its investigation into an incident at the library system’s last story hour on June 11, when authorities say at least five men who appeared aligned with the far-right extremist Proud Boys group barged into a reading at the San Lorenzo Library. The men acted “very aggressive” while hurling homophobic and transphobic slurs at the story hour’s performer, a sheriff’s spokesman said.
At one point, the library’s staff helped the performer, Panda Dulce, flee to a back room while others called the sheriff’s office for help. Dulce later returned to finish the reading after deputies responded and the apparent Proud Boys members left.
The June 11 incident garnered national attention amid a wave of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric across the country in recent weeks. Detectives have since initiated a hate crimes investigation into the incident, though Alameda County sheriff’s investigators are still working with the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether what happened June 11 was a crime or protected speech. No arrests had been announced.
CASTRO VALLEY, CALIFORNIA – JUNE 21: Demonstrators rally in support of the Drag Queen Story Hour event at the Castro Valley Library in Castro Valley, Calif., on Tuesday, June 21, 2022. Earlier this month, Proud Boys members disrupted a Drag Queen Story Hour event at the San Lorenzo Library. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
On Tuesday, dueling protesters and supporters of the story hour waved signs outside the library as about 15 children and 20 adults shuffled inside for two readings by Carrie King, 52, who has performed as King Art Babe for about four years.
King acknowledged that Tuesday’s felt different than other performances — adding that her husband initially wanted her to cancel hours beforehand.
“It’s more important that we don’t let hate win,” said King, pointing to Panda Dulce’s decision to continue reading after being confronted in San Lorenzo. “I thought, ‘If she could do that, after what horrific experience, I can do the Castro Valley reading.’”
Smiling through glittery purple lipstick, King flipped through four books and led the children in two songs – including a lively rendition of “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” sung to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.”
One book – illustrated …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Latest News
Stock Market: Suez Canal Update! Floating!
The Suicide Squad | Official IMAX® Red Band Trailer
From the horribly beautiful mind of James Gunn and filmed in IMAX. Experience