The “Drag Queen Story Hour” (DQSH) actually sends cross dressers to read to young children “in libraries, schools, and bookstores.”
“DQSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models. In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people can present as they wish, where dress up is real.”
Three of DQSH’s upcoming events advertise: “Cookies // Face-painting // singing // storytelling.”
One of the photos on DQSH website shows a cross dresser standing in a library holding a copy of “My Princess Boy,” a book written by Cheryl Kilodavis. The “My Princess Boy” Facebook page explains:
“My Princess Boy is a nonfiction picture book about acceptance. It is about our son who happily expresses his authentic self by dressing up in dresses and enjoying traditional girl things such as anything pink or sparkly.”
A quote on the DQSH website from Children’s Librarian Bix Warden confirms that this book has been used at a DQSH event. Warden described the event, saying:
“ … the presenter, Black Benatar, read ‘My Princess Boy,’ by Cheryl Kilodavis. When she finished reading, she asked the children (about 40 of them), ‘If you met a Princess Boy, would you make fun of him?’ and all the children said, ‘No!’ Then she asked them if they would ask him to play with them, and they all said, ‘Yes!’ I had tears in my eyes, it was so beautiful and moving. This program is more important than ever.”
Michelle Tea and RADAR Productions originally developed DQSH. Tea also founded RADAR Productions according to her website. The DQSH website says: “Created by Michelle Tea and RADAR Productions in San Francisco, DQSH now happens regularly in LA, New York, and San Francisco, and events are popping up in other cities across the US, Canada, and the UK!”
The site continues, “If you live in one of these three cities, contact us to bring DQSH to your library, school, or bookstore! If you live somewhere else, organize your own DQSH!”
NBC OUT quoted Tea in a story that discussed a new “kid zone” and the presence of children at a Los Angeles drag convention:
“‘As a queer person who suddenly had a child, I realized quickly there was a lack of queer-centered kids programming,’ Tea said. ‘I would go to a lot of story hours and things like that and just be in this really intensely straight environment, and I wasn’t accustomed to being in straight environments.’”
Alex Nitzberg is a freelance conservative journalist and commentator and the host of “The Alex Nitzberg Show” podcast. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
