Missouri State Rep. Ben Baker’s Parental Oversight of Public Libraries Act would require all Missouri public libraries to install parental review boards with members elected by voters. The bill would protect kids from Drag Queen Story Hour hosted in public libraries.
“In some places — St. Louis, Kansas City and I think St. (Joseph) — they’ve had these Drag Queen Story Hours and that’s something that I take objection to and I think a lot of parents do,” Baker, R-Neosho, said. “That’s where in a public space, our kids could be exposed to something that’s age-inappropriate. That’s what I’m trying to tackle,” the Kansas City Star reported.
Libraries refusing to abide by the new rules could be convicted of a class B misdemeanor, and “be required to pay a $500 fine and be sentenced up to a year in jail.” The American Library Association partnering with DQSH does not teach kids about reading; instead, it promotes LGBTQ activism. Corporations sponsor some of the programs. DQSH partnered with Starbucks at their store at 7020 St, Lincoln, NE in 2019.
“Some of those events are open from ages 1 to teen years,” Baker told the outlet. “I don’t think a 2-, 3-, 4-year-old is prepared to grapple with those ideas and I don’t think they should be subjected to that just by walking through the library.”
Drag Queen Story Hour was first launched by Michelle Tea and RADAR Productions in San Francisco to bring Drag Queens together for a playful hour of celebration and entertainment. According to the Drag Queen Story Hour’s website, Drag Queens read stories to “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.”
Cynthia Dudenhoffer, the Missouri Library Association president said it’s “censorship.”
“Drag Queens are hyper-sexualized caricatures of women,” wrote Anna Bohach who founded 500 Mom Strong after Drag Queen Story Hour was scheduled at Spokane South Hill Branch Library in Washington June 2019.
Bohach also wrote an article called ‘It’s time take off the drag’ in the Spokane Valley – Review June 14, 2019.
“A Drag Queen is no different than a racist donning blackface. They mock women and debase our womanhood and femininity. The event is a sexist minstrel show teaching our sons that women are just sexual objects and it is teaching our daughters that they must be overly sexualized to be desired,” she wrote.