Perth Voice Interactive

Time change deflates protest

DRAG storytime at Maylands library was secretly held earlier than announced on Saturday to confound protesters who were planning to blockade Saturday’s reading. 

The events have run for years in Perth but they’ve been increasingly in the sights of opponents who claim it is inappropriate to have performers in drag outfits reading to children (Voice, June 10, 2023). 

However all drag readers have working with children cards and leave their saucy outfits for adult entertainment.

Bayswater council, which runs Maylands Library, refused the calls to cancel the event. Amid the complaints, some councillors reporting they were receiving record numbers of emails from supporters.

Mayor Filomena Piffaretti said ahead of Saturday’s reading, “Bayswater is a place where everyone can feel safe and diversity is valued and respected.

“I would like to acknowledge everyone who has reached out in support of our Drag Queen Storytime sessions. All our Storytime sessions encourage early literacy and a love of books. 

“The Drag Queen Storytime sessions promote inclusiveness and recognise the diversity that exists in our community. 

“One of the City’s core values is respect and we will not tolerate hate speech directed at our staff, performers or library users. 

“The City of Bayswater is a place where everyone belongs. “

Protesters had been planning to attend the June 17 event which was scheduled for 11am. But organisers secretly advised parents the event would be run at 9am.

A few dozen anti-drag protesters were outnumbered by a welcome rally from LGBTQI+ groups and supporters, with estimates from the pro-drag attendees varying from 200 to 400 people.

Nat Latter from nearby store Rabble Books & Games has been involved in organising the story hours since Perth’s first event was held in their store more than four years ago, and now works with councils to coordinate the story hours at public libraries.

Mx Latter tells us that for most of those years there was only a very occasional “isolated” disapproving comment about drag story hour.

But this year the opposition grew more intense, and disparate elements seem to have been temporarily united by homophobia and transphobia.

“There’s neonazi groups. There’s fundamentalist Christian groups. There’s sovereign citizens and the antivax movement – there’s a lot of people that, I guess, have been left without a cause after a lot of Covid regulations have been rolled back.”

Mx Latter feels that if libraries stand resolute, the anti-drag protesters will probably move on to another cause as quickly as they’ve cottoned on to this one.

Mx Latter said they had started up drag story hour at Rabble shortly after the bookstore opened, after seeing clips of story hours from the US. 

“I was really keen on creating a welcoming space, and particularly a queer-friendly space where rainbow families wanted to come.

“Lots of people come: rainbow families, parents with queer kids, but also just people who want their kids to know that they’re going to be celebrated for who they are, no matter who they turn out to be.”