Families and kids in Florida miss out on drag queen story hour thanks to extremist threats

If Republicans enjoy one task, it’s terrorizing queer kids. Sure, they like to call themselves the party of family values, but any positive connotation of the word “family” goes right out the window when that family isn’t entirely white, cisgender, and straight. Just in time for midterm elections this November, conservatives have kicked up their efforts to push anti-LGBTQ+ bills and guidelines in order to silence marginalized queer people. Examples of these efforts include, for example, trying to keep queer kids, queer families, and queer teachers in the closet with ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bills and trying to mandate that public schools intentionally misgender trans youth. It’s evil.

Another ongoing effort from conservatives includes churning archaic terror over drag queens. Specifically, over drag queens reading books to kids. It’s apparently not enough for Republicans to try and get books by and about LGBTQ+ people pulled from public school classrooms and libraries, but they don’t want any drag performers reading to kids, either. 

Instead, extremists would rather gather outside of these spaces, like libraries and community centers, and literally chant, yell, and intimidate attendees until families are terrified. Because if they can’t cancel these events, they want to make it too miserable for anyone to actually go. But in some instances, like a recent situation in Orlando, Florida, an LGBTQ+ center canceled a planned Drag Queen Story Hour because threats from hate groups just got to be too much, as reported by CBS News.

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