Why we should let drag queens read to our kids | Peter Goers

The outcry over people dressed up reading to kids in libraries is ridiculous, writes Peter Goers. There are so many good reasons for drag queen story time.

I quite like children, but I couldn’t eat a whole one. Recently, yours truly worked in drag for the first time at the Broken Heel Festival in Broken Hill and in my Fringe show. I’m Dawn Service. Had I been asked to read stories to children in drag I’d have been honoured. Kids desperately need to be read to and as many people as possible should be encouraged to read to kids – including drag artistes.

When you were a kiddie at school or going to a public library wouldn’t you have loved to be read to by a clown in a glamorous frock like Ada HD, Bertha Venation, Freida Slaves, Hedda Lettuce, Edie Amin, Cher D. Wealth, Xena Phobia, Laura Gravity, Marsha DePenguins, Sybil Disobedience, Lois Common Denominator, Paige Turner, Bob The Drag Queen and Vera Similitude? What fun.

Drag is eternal. It is known in all cultures across all time. We all love drag. Priscilla is one of the great, favourite Australian films and it’s about family. Kids love drag and are no strangers to it. They’ve seen pantomime dames, Bugs Bunny in a frock and Pokemon, Bart Simpson, Disney’s Mulan, Scooby Doo and Shaggy and wonderful SpongeBob SquarePants in drag.

It’s all good clean fun. Except that right-wing spoilsports are horrified by Drag Queen Story Time for kids. They stage angry, screaming, abusive protests and threaten public libraries and councils with destruction by bombs to stop colourful characters reading fun stories to kids. They claim to be protecting kids from the scourge of sequins, false eyelashes and gender diversity but they are the ones terrifying kids.

Drag queen Miss Molly read to children in the Mortlock Wing of the State Library of South Australia in 2019, and nothing goes wrong. Picture: Matt Turner

Senator Ralph Babet hates Drag Queen Story Time and is appalled by drag queens reading children’s books like She’s My Dad and The Drag Queen’s Hips Go Swish Swish Swish. Clive Palmer spent a reported $100m at the last federal election and got only one person elected – Ralph Babet who is anti-vax and doesn’t like solar panels or drag queens reading to kids. Former Senator Cory Bernardi “agrees 100%” with Senator Babet in his hatred of Drag Queen Story Time.

Cory and his lovely wife Sinead were photographed in their lovely home in 2017 with their lovely golden retriever in front of Katie Wyatt’s lovely, grand portrait of the famous drag character, Dame Edna Everage. This shows good taste but it’s a bit confusing.

I don’t know if Cory and Sinead have grandchildren but perhaps they’ll have to remove that portrait if they do.

Dame Edna and her creator Barry Humphries are being eulogised throughout the world. Kids adore Edna and Edna often worked with and for kids. Kids adore Mrs Doubtfire – Robin Williams in drag.

Drag is fun. Drag Queen Story Time is about acceptance, affirmation and being different. We’ve had the heteronormative forever so it’s time for something different as well. It’s an honest and entertaining way to teach inclusivity and acceptance.

Everyone is a sexual stereotype. LGBTQIA+ people are normal. They might be unusual to some but they are just plain folks.

“We’re all born naked and the rest is drag”, quoth the patron saint of drag, RuPaul. Drag is funny, drag is glamorous, drag is part of life. In all this absurd furore against Drag Queen Story Time, we’ve never heard from a single kid who didn’t enjoy it. Sadly, kids are traumatised by the angry protesters.

I’ve never met a drag queen who wasn’t good-hearted and generous. Kids need all the good-hearted generosity they can get. We all need that. So let’s all swish upon a star …