Posted on 10/24/2021 6:29:25 AM PDT by billorites
BRATTLEBORO — Children gathered at the Sanctuary of Epsilon Spires on Saturday, ready for an afternoon story time filled with glamour and sparkle. The stories were being read by drag queens, after all.
"We talk a lot at home about gender identity and expression, so when I saw the sign for it ... I thought why not," said Kate Paarlberg-Kvam, 41, of Manchester, Vt., who attended the event with her child, Joey, 7.
The Drag Queen Story Hour — a nationwide initiative started in 2015 in San Francisco to celebrate reading through the art of drag — was one of many in Vermont in recent years.
But Saturday's free event was the first time the queens told stories to the children of Windham County.
"We [bring] an added joy and fantasy to story hours that may not necessarily have been as prevalent before," said Emoji Nightmare, 32, one of the event's drag queens.
Nightmare and fellow queen Nikki Champagne, 27, started the Vermont chapter of Drag Queen Story Hour in 2017, with about 30 events now under their belts statewide.
Most have been done in the northern part of the Green Mountain State, with Nightmare and Champagne being from Cambridge and Winooski, respectively. Champagne — known out of drag as Taylor Small — is a state representative for Winsooki and Burlington, the first transgender person to be elected to the position in Vermont and fifth in the country.
The events are hosted in a variety of spaces, such as libraries, bookstores, schools, museums and other community venues. If hosted in space without a stock of books, the drag queens have their own collection to choose from. advertisement
Nikki Champagne and Emoji Nightmare lead a sing-along that teaches some basic American Sign Language during Drag Queen Story Hour at the Sanctuary of Epsilon Spires in Brattleboro Saturday.
"We’ve repeatedly heard from librarians that our events draw residents of the community that had never attended their events before," Nightmare said in a news release on the event, "and that tells us that offering our program opens doors for them to feel seen and welcomed."
The Sanctuary of Epsilon Spires — a nonprofit center aimed at illuminating the relationships between creative arts, natural sciences and sustainability — hosted the event for local children to engage with LGBTQ+ role models, according to director Jamie Mohr.
"By attending a story hour, children gain positive exposure to different expressions of gender identity in a fun and engaging way," she said in an email, "which will help them to build a healthy foundation for accepting differences in others and themselves."
Nancy Overman, 63, and her granddaughter Kali, 7, were two of about 25 people who came to Saturday's event. Nancy, of Guilford, Vt., said they were there because of their love for books.
"We thought it'd be fun, and I've never been to anything in this center," she said.
"I've always been a fan of drag queens. I think they're beautiful and theatrical," Bethany said. "And our oldest child is non-binary, so we're always looking for stuff being put on by the LGBTQ community to help our kiddo claim a safe space. Representation is always a positive."
Sick stuff.
After genital mutilation and sodomy, the sparkles and lipstick are consolation.
Here’s a funny thing: If you had a female relative who looked at acted like one of these “drag queens,” you would likely keep your kid away from her and limit exposure at family reunions, thanksgiving, etc. “That’s aunt Polly and she’s not safe.” But since it’s actually a gay male, party on!
Note: Drag queens are different from trannies. Drag queens portray a caricature of women on a part-time basis. It’s like a minstrel show but women instead of blacks.
You can put glitter on perversion, but it’s still perversion.
I sometimes miss my childhood of catching turtles and bullfrogs, or launching salamanders in my older brother’s model rockets.
Never, was I abused like this. Parents must not care. I thank God that mine did.
Aren’t kids confused enough without subjecting them to this crap?
Yep, and some of them are down right funny; trannies OTOH ...
This would be over in one day if parents refused to participate.
Shows what kind of parents are out there - and apparently there are enough of them exposing their children to this abnormal freak show to keep it alive and growing - screwing up the next generation.
“”””We talk a lot at home about gender identity and expression,”””
Boy, I am sure glad that I grew up on a farm and learned about the birds and the bees in that fashion instead ofbeing like poor Joey who has to be subjected to such drivel by a woke parent.
Are you saying that “drag queens” are just regular guys working a part time job? Damn, I never knew that, here all this time I’ve thought they were disgusting, sodomy loving, pedophilic fags. Thanks for the clarification.
Note that the writer avoids stating that the child is a son (or is it?).
Driving from Manchester to Brattleboro takes about two hours. There are not a ton of direct routes. These queens must be pretty motivated.
OMG double barf.
Same here.
Clowns, I’m afraid of clowns.
It’s more like a hobby. Some are straight, some are not. But they usually take every stereotype of women and blow it up. Madea is an example
As of late, I’ve come to realize that drag queens are not any worse than Disney, Nickelodeon or the Marvel universe.
Our, “culture” has gone from GI Joe to Pedo Joe in my lifetime.
This
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