Pride group’s Drag Story Hour at N.H. library called off over safety concerns

Hutchins, who chairs the library’s trustee board, said she personally had no problem with the event. A couple of presenters in drag were going to read children’s stories to kids and their parents, and anyone who wasn’t interested just wouldn’t attend, she figured.

Might some critics speak out against the event? Sure. “But I never in my wildest imagination dreamt that it was going to be to that degree,” she said.

People brought complaints to the trustees, then they urged the town’s selectmen to intervene; they circulated petitions online, had posts all over social media, and began calling for people to travel to Lancaster to protest. Some reportedly invoked concerns about “grooming,” a term that’s often used to smear LGBTQ people as sexual predators. 

Library staff, meanwhile, received an onslaught of harassing phone calls with vile messages that seemed to be coming from well outside the local community, Hutchins said. 

“It was getting nastier by the minute,” she said. 

The library had been preparing with local police for the event, but safety concerns grew too daunting, as it seemed likely that protesters and counter-protesters would converge in a tense showdown that could get someone hurt, Hutchins said.

So they pulled the plug.

Hutchins said she contacted the LGBTQ group, White Mountains Pride, to cancel the room rental. That was Wednesday evening, just four days before the Drag Story Hour event was to take place. 

The group’s president, Christopher Bellis, expressed disappointment. “We think that there were alternative strategies to promote safety at the event other than canceling,” he said, noting that White Mountains Pride exists to promote inclusion and acceptance because LGBTQ people encounter hate and fear on a daily basis. 

Bellis said he’s never seen this much pushback for past events. The tension and fear this time seems to have come from national groups with an anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ agenda, he said. 

While some conservatives have been pushing anti-drag rhetoric and legislation as a political wedge, LGBTQ people have increasingly faced coordinated public pressure campaigns, often from far-right groups that oppose drag under the guise of protecting kids. Not all drag performances are appropriate for all audiences. That’s the case for stand-up comics, movies, and other forms of entertainment as well. But drag performances are being categorically targeted for special scrutiny and regulation. 

Although Sunday’s Drag Story Hour event is a no-go, White Mountains Pride and other LGBTQ groups in New Hampshire are moving forward with a long list of other events this month to promote acceptance and community in diverse and varied ways.

There’s a 21+ dance party Friday night at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth (tickets); a casual 3-mile hike at Boulder Loop Trail on Saturday morning in Albany (details); a Gay Men’s Chorus concert Saturday evening in Tamworth (tickets); a free 21+ dance party Saturday evening in Keene (details); and an all-ages Pride Festival on Sunday in Windham (details). There are more events later this month. And there are even a couple of other Drag Story Hour events planned for June 23, at Conway Public Library and Pope Memorial Library in North Conway. 

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Steven Porter can be reached at steven.porter@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @reporterporter.