1 year ago
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It’s a balmy day successful a suburb of Kansas City. Flowers are successful afloat bloom, worshipping the sun. Standing astatine the entranceway to a nondenominational Christian church, 2 radical basal vigilant. They’re dressed successful black, holding achromatic parasols. Their outfits are frilly, sparkling, and their faces are painted white. One of them has a walkie-talkie. They’re lasting defender for a Drag Story Hour. If you rotation the grounds of the church, you’ll find much pairs conscionable similar them, keeping ticker and checking successful with 1 another.
This is simply a bittersweet portion of the world successful which we live. Drag queens, kings, and resistance communicative hours are the victims of disinformation campaigns and bigoted legislation. Talking heads are throwing astir words similar “grooming,” not adjacent knowing what those words mean. This begs the question: What does a Drag Story Hour truly look like?
Welcome to Drag Story Hour
I don’t person children myself, truthful I’d ne'er attended a Drag Story Hour before. Drag shows? Absolutely. I’ve adjacent performed alongside resistance queens and kings arsenic portion of respective burlesque and assortment shows. I couldn’t good constitute this without witnessing 1 successful person, truthful my woman and I drove crossed municipality to a section church. Let maine archer you, the spot was hopping. We arrived a fewer minutes earlier the scheduled commencement time, and arsenic we were handed doorway prize tickets, I noticed the large country was already full. Children were gathered astir 1 of 2 trade tables. They were painting, coloring, and excitedly grabbing small pridefulness flags.
A ample snacks array was acceptable up connected the different broadside of the room, children and adults alike loading up small plates of charcuterie, cookies, and small integrative cups of soda. The country was already astir lasting country only.
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The assemblage amazed maine a bit. I expected plentifulness of children and their parents. Maybe immoderate chap resistance queens. There were plentifulness of radical who looked to beryllium grandparent age, too, each sitting adjacent the backmost windows truthful arsenic not to impede the views of the children down successful front. As you would expect, fractional the assemblage were wearing assorted pridefulness shirts, including my ain intersex vessel top. “God is Nonbinary” was a communal garment theme.
Let The Stories Begin
A subordinate of the religion took up the microphone, thanked everyone for attending, and work a missive from Kansas Governor Laura Kelly, thanking the religion for the invitation, adjacent though she was not capable to attend. “Thank you for each you bash for our community,” the missive said. Then the archetypal scholar took a spot successful the large, throne-like chair.
Andy Anarchy
Andy Anarchy (they/them), work Moo Bird! and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Next was Freddy Mac, who work You Are Special. Then Sister Dee Compose of the City of Fountains Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence took the throne and work It Feels Good to Be Yourself. Andy and Freddy took turns again, speechmaking Penguin’s Big Adventure and What’s So Terrible About Swallowing an Apple Seed?, respectively.
Freddy Mac
Most of these stories hovered astir a cardinal theme: loving yourself precisely arsenic you are. The children were enthralled, laughing and ooh-ing astatine each the close moments. The readers did immoderate amusive voices, and spoke earlier and betwixt each book, talking astir wherefore they chose them and wherefore they loved them so.
Sister Dee Compose
The speechmaking concluded; the event’s organizers invited each of the children up to speech astir the paintings they had made. My ain 7-year-old nephew gushed astir his painted heart, adjacent if it was hard to perceive since it was his archetypal clip utilizing a microphone. He didn’t cognize to project. Finally, the doorway prizes were handed out, and the assemblage began to dissipate.
Just Another Drag Story Hour
This is beauteous modular for a Drag Story Hour. Children and their families gather, radical successful resistance work children’s stories filled with affirmative messages, and bully times are had by all. Some children mightiness inquire questions astir gender, and that’s a bully thing. These conversations request to hap truthful that children tin beryllium accepting and knowing of themselves and their peers. My ain nephew didn’t person immoderate questions, but helium did deliberation Andy Anarchy’s purple mohawk was beauteous cool. He liked Sister Dee Compose’s makeup.
If you deliberation my acquisition was unusual, conscionable cheque retired these videos of different Drag Story Hours:
Or possibly these Instagram feeds from immoderate fantabulous resistance performers who work astatine Drag Story Hours:
The locations vary, possibly the snacks oregon extracurriculars change, but the halfway remains the same. Under each the constitution are radical who person fought to conscionable beryllium themselves, and present they are, being themselves with children. At a perfectly child-appropriate event.
English (US) ·