A drag queen book reading in Greater Manchester has been postponed indefinitely by the council, leaving organisers 'disappointed'. Drag Queen Story Hour was due to take place in Rochdale next week.
But the event, in which drag queens host reading sessions for children in libraries and community centres, was postponed by Rochdale Borough Council. The council did not give a specific reason for the postponement, but the announcement comes after a series of protests across the country in response to the events.
Drag Queen Story Hour has been up and running worldwide since 2015, and the latest series - running as part of a UK-wide tour - sees drag queen Aida H Dee read and perform stories. It aims to break down stereotypes and bias from a young age and illustrate the importance of inclusivity.
The events in Rochdale were due to take place at three libraries in the Greater Manchester borough next week. They had been scheduled for Tuesday, August 16 at Rochdale Central Library, Middleton Library and Heywood Library. As it stands, Drag Queen Story time readings are still due to take place in Bolton on August 17-18.
Despite the positive impact of these events, sessions up and down the country have been faced with protests from people claiming they are damaging to children. The story hour saw angry protesters storming Reading Central Library a few weeks ago, with further protests taking place in Bristol and Cornwall.
An event held in Leeds at the weekend faced similar issues, with people holding up placards such as ‘Learn ABCD not LGBT’ and ‘let kids be kids’. A representative for Rochdale Borough Council said: “Rochdale Borough Council is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.
“Rochdale in Rainbows took place for the fourth time from 24 June to 2 July with a line-up of events and activities across the borough. We recognise that it's important that we have a continuous programme of activity to celebrate equality and inclusion and respect for everyone.
“As a council and a borough there is a strong commitment to support inclusivity and celebrate diversity. We’ve held a number of drag queen story sessions in our libraries through the Rochdale in Rainbows programme and these have included stories which encourage the understanding of differences between people and diversity. The feedback from families has been really positive.
“It is unfortunate that we’ve had to postpone the drag queen story events scheduled for 16 August. We have been in contact with the performer and will be discussing alternative options with them.”
In response to the postponement, Sab Samuel, also known as Aida H Dee said: “On 8th August 2022 Rochdale Borough Council unilaterally shut down their Drag Queen Story Hour UK event, without any discussion or conversation with us. We are disappointed that we were not consulted in safety strategies for Rochdale Borough Council, and that their one-sided decision was given to us with less than 30 minutes notice prior to publication.
“This action is not only a breach of our contract, but a breach of the trust with the whole LGBTQ community in their area and across the UK. Rochdale Borough Council have let us down, let the UK libraries community down, and have let down every person who has ever stood outside our events to support our libraries, and Aida H Dee.”
Just a few weeks ago Aida H Dee told the Manchester Evening News how they felt that the protests were actually spurring people on to support the event. “The main thing we want to ensure is that this is a fun and safe event for all families that are attending. We had the concern that because of the commotion outside the libraries that families would not want to attend, but actually we’ve found more people are wanting to come now, and it’s almost like these families are doing their own protest by making sure they attend."
They reinforced this message in their statement issued this morning. Organisers said: “We are sympathetic to the council's concerns of potential protesters, but we have many more supporters than the opposing voices. All other councils and library groups have maintained this event throughout the UK with two-way communication and planning. If these libraries across the country can host Drag Queen Story Hour, so can Rochdale.
“Rochdale Council's equality objective states they aim to “Promote equality by knowing their diverse community and understanding its changing needs” - we recommend Rochdale revisit their true intentions on this objective. Moving forward, we hope to have an open discussion with them on how they can improve their communication with us and future event organisers.
“We also aim to highlight the long lasting damage this one-sided decision will cause to an already marginalised community, especially when said decision comes from people in authority. Finally and most importantly, we want to ensure that Rochdale Council understands the damage they have incurred to Drag Queen Story Hour UK and the message that this gives off to the young people and their families who were excited to attend.”
Organisers of Drag Queen Story Time have also encouraged people to email the council to share their thoughts on the decision. The Council have said that the event is postponed and currently no future date has been outlined for the reading sessions to take place in the future.
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