A children’s bookstore in Waterville is planning a “Drag Queen Story Hour” next month, but the event — scheduled for the weekend of the City Council-approved Central Maine Pride Day — has drawn opposition.
Threads on the bookstore’s Facebook page feature comments from many thanking the store for holding the June 1 event, but others scolding the business, calling it inappropriate for children.
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Children’s Book Cellar owner Ellen Richmond told the Morning Sentinel she planned the storytime as a way of educating people about the local LGBTQ community.
“I’m not inviting pedophiles in to pet little children,” she told the newspaper. “I have one man coming in dressed as a woman to read stories to children, and then we’re going to make wands and crowns.”
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A group of opponents is organizing a protest of the event, saying in a Facebook event post that they’re against “the indoctrination of children.”
“It’s time to bring morality back to our children, not teach them sexual thoughts at a young age,” the protest organizers wrote, in part.