A Washington state anti-LGBTQ group called 500 Mom Strong has garnered national attention for its attacks on Drag Queen Story hour after right-wing and evangelical media amplified the group’s protests and comments.

Anti-LGBTQ figures have regularly fearmongered and spread lies about Drag Queen Story Hour, a national program in which drag queens read children’s books to kids at libraries, schools, and bookstores. The program aims to help children “develop empathy, learn about gender diversity and difference, and tap into their own creativity.”

After 500 Mom Strong formed to protest a Drag Queen Story Hour in Spokane, WA, anti-LGBTQ figures including right-wing blogger The Activist Mommy and right-wing evangelical outlets such as LifeSiteNews amplified the story and the group’s rhetoric. The story was eventually picked up by Fox News, and The Activist Mommy will be heading to a protest alongside the group on August 21.

500 Mom Strong is a new anti-LGBTQ group fighting Washington state’s Drag Queen Story Hour

Kim Hall and Anna Bohach, who are mother and daughter, launched 500 Mom Strong on May 30. The group has led public actions online and in-person at rallies opposing Drag Queen Story Hour in Spokane, WA.

500 Mom Strong’s website claims that the organization is a “group of women who have had enough with the sexualization of our children and the mockery of our femininity.” The group and its founders have engaged in extreme rhetoric against LGBTQ people, including repeatedly comparing drag queens to people in blackface. Its website states that “a Drag Queen is no different than a racist donning black face.”

Hall has disparaged LGBTQ people on Facebook, calling Drag Queen Story Hour “institutionalized child abuse” and a method of “grooming children into the LGBTQ lifestyle” while citing HIV statistics among men who have sex with men. She spread that hateful rhetoric to a larger audience through an appearance on Fox News, saying LGBTQ people are “coming for our children now” and grooming youth “into their unhealthy lifestyle” that includes “HIV and AIDS.”

In addition to her anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, Hall has made anti-Muslim comments on her Facebook page. She has said that “we need to stop bringing Muslims into the country” and “get rid of the ones that are already here.”

In less than a month, right-wing media amplified 500 Mom Strong’s protest into a national story

On June 15, just two weeks after 500 Mom Strong’s launch, the group led its first protest against Drag Queen Story Hour and garnered national right-wing and evangelical media attention that eventually made it to Fox News. Now, the group is scheduled to protest on August 21 alongside influential right-wing blogger The Activist Mommy, whose involvement with the group helped boost its platform substantially.