Disney drag queens at the library: divine or depraved?

On Saturday, a group of performers dressed as characters from beloved fairy tales will read to children and their families as part of the library's first Drag Queen Story Time, an event which has sparked controversy on social media and drawn the attention of news outlets including UK-based online newspaper PinkNews.

A post by the library explaining the intent behind the event had received 247 reactions on Facebook, nine of which were negative, and generated over 100 comments as of Wednesday afternoon. While dozens applauded the library for hosted such an "amazing," "fun" event, some comments called the story time a "depravity."

Broome's is not the first library to host this kind of event. Saturday's story time is inspired by a larger initiative regularly occurring at libraries in Brooklyn, New York, and created in 2015 by author Michelle Tea, who is also the founder of a literary non-profit called RADAR Productions in San Francisco.

Drag Queen Story Hour is a regularly scheduled event in libraries, schools and book stores in Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco, where drag queens read stories like "Goodnight Moon," by Margaret Wise Brown and "Morris Micklewhite and the Tangerine Dress," by Christine Baldacchino to children to help them "imagine a world where people can present as they wish," according to the initiative's website.

"We want people to feel they can be who they want to be here," said Lisa Wise, director of the Broome County Public Library.

Inside the Youth Services area, beyond the honey oak frame separating it from the rest of the Broome County Public Library, is a cozy and colorful children's space.

Posters line the walls, their messages inviting children to "Read" and "Read More," along with half a dozen rows of bookcases filled with all manner of children's books: from "Where the Wild Things Are" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to the newest releases.

"Our library continues to broaden horizons and to celebrate the diversity of our culturally rich community here in the Southern Tier. We are committed to providing programming that appeals to diverse elements of our community," reads the library's Facebook post. "Libraries stand for values of freedom, intellect, openness, tolerance, and the opportunity to freely explore the entirety of the world in which we live. If any of our enrichment programs offend the sensibilities of some of our patrons, they are welcome to exercise their freedom to not participate."

The upcoming story time is meant to be fun, Wise said, and celebrate the community's diversity.

In the same vein, a packed Forum Theatre in Binghamton was the stage for two performances of Broadway musical "Kinky Boots" in November, a show following a businessman who, tasked with running his family's shoe factory, teams up with a drag queen named Lola to save the factory by producing sturdier boots for drag performers.

Elmira's Glitz & Glamour show — featuring more than a dozen drag performers from across upstate New York — took the stage at the Clemens Center for the 18th time in September.

In recent decades, LGBTQ culture — and with it, drag — has blossomed in the American mainstream.

FOX television show "Glee" introduced Wade "Unique" Adams, a transgender teenager, in its third season, CoverGirl named its first male spokesmodel, James Charles, in 2016 and 12-year-old Reuben de Maid, who appeared on NBC's "Little Big Shots," launched his own lineup of makeup tutorials on YouTube in 2017.

"Everybody likes to dress up. This brings exposure to something different," Wise said, adding she wished the library had something like this years ago.

Back in October 2017, a member of the library's board of directors made a suggestion: that the organization should host a new event to bring people to the library and that they should seek the help of Phil Howell to do it.

He was on board.

Howell, who says he's been doing drag for 22 years now, had heard of an event called Drag Queen Story Hour popping up at public libraries in Brooklyn — a native of Broome County, Howell has also spent time in New York City and San Diego — and thought it might inspire a similar event in his hometown.

This is a different kind of stage for the group who, in addition to performing at recurrent Trash Thursday drag shows held at The Chatterbox in Binghamton, has also participated in fundraising events for local nonprofits including Southern Tier AIDS Program, Bleeding Disorders Association of the Southern Tier, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and the American Cancer Society.

It also comes with a dual purpose: to get families through the doors of the public library — an evolving community institution in Binghamton since its first incarnation opened in 1904 — and to celebrate the same community's diversity and spread a message of inclusion.

"It's important to give back," Howell said, "to be an active part of the community."

Besides that, it sounded like "so much fun."

In the City of Binghamton's library on Court Street, drag queens dressed as characters from Walt Disney Co. lore including Queen Elsa from "Frozen," Ariel from "The Little Mermaid," Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" and Cinderella will spend the afternoon reading stories — they're selected by children's librarian Kelsey Matoushek — corresponding to their characters and bringing those characters to life.

It's a drag queen's bread and butter, Howell says.

"I always wanted to be an actor," he said. "(With drag) I can be whatever I want to be."

Like at a pride event a few years back, when Howell, who was dressed in drag and standing outside the former Merlin's Dance Club, Wine Bar and Lounge, was approached by a young girl, who stared up in awe at the person she could only surmise was a "Life Size Barbie."

That's the kind of creativity and imagination this event's organizers wish to bring to the library's first Drag Queen Story Time.

To those who object to the event, Howell says everyone is entitled to their own opinion and Saturday's performers are not "trying to push any lifestyle."

Instead it's an opportunity, he says, to better understand the diversity of the community.

"This is the world we live in right now," Howell said. "Everyone’s welcome. It’s a public library."

In Stories to Share, reporter Katie Sullivan spends time with the Southern Tier's most fascinating people. She's looking for stories that will make you laugh, cry or be inspired. Know of someone who should be featured? Email her at ksullivan@pressconnects.com, and follow her on Twitter @ByKatieSullivan.

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If you go

What: Drag Queen Story Time

When: 2-4 p.m. Saturday

Where: Broome County Public Library, 185 Court St., Binghamton

More information: bclibrary.info