‘Violence’: Q+A explodes over drag queen story time

Q&A has become locked in a debate over drag queen story time, with one panellist comparing protesters at a drag event to a “lynch mob”.

Q&A has become locked in a heated debate over drag queen story time, with one panellist comparing protesters at a drag event to a “lynch mob”.

Drag queen story time — in which drag performers read children’s books to kids at public libraries — has become a lightning rod issue in recent months, with many events cancelled amid threats of protest.

In April, a Melbourne council meeting devolved into chaos amid discussions about an upcoming drag queen story time event, with police officers forming a human barrier between protesters on both sides of the debate.

Q&A’s segment on the topic kicked off on Monday with a question from an audience member, who asked panellist and drag performer Reuben Kaye why he thought drag had become a “dirty word”.

Why has there been hostility towards the drag community over story time? #QandApic.twitter.com/nljm9VPE7J

— QandA (@QandA) June 19, 2023

Kaye said drag queen story time was “simply a drag queen stepping into a library in a sparkly outfit, reading a story and singing some songs to kids.”

“Drag can span art forms as long as you like. It can be an adults-only club performance, it can be something as simple as this, and it’s necessary because drag queen story time does something important,” Kaye said.

“It opens kids’ eyes to a world that is diverse and reflective of reality, and it offers queer kids an opportunity to see themselves. If queer kids don’t see themselves represented in this world, how can they envision a future with them in it?”

Drag performer Reuben Kaye said drag queen story time was “important” for queer kids. Picture: ABC.

Nationals Senate leader and fellow panellist Bridget McKenzie, however, said the issue was one of parental choice.

“If society is choosing to have open-access drag queens reading at local libraries, then … it is your decision and your right as a parent to decide this is something I want my child to be involved in, or it is something that I don’t want my child to be involved in,” Senator McKenzie said.

“That is what a respectful democracy should look like. Neither side of this debate should be penalised. It’s a parent’s right and responsibility to ensure that the movies their kids are watching, the books they’re reading align with their value system.”

Kaye rebutted Senator McKenzie’s point, claiming drag story times were “not about parental choice”.

“Mobs are assembling outside libraries, librarians are getting death threats and libraries and local councils are having to add security because people are trying to use this as a lightning rod issue, and they’re using children as a shield for their bigotry,” he said.

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie said the issue was one of parental choice. Picture: ABC.

Senator McKenzie interjected to say she “didn’t agree with violence”, but Kaye continued: “This isn’t about free speech or the right to protest because that’s fine … These aren’t protesters, these are aggressors.

“This is an example. I was doing my show in Sydney and down came 50 men charging and chanting the Lord’s Prayer, waving crucifixes with a sign saying ‘Reuben come to us. We want to forgive you.

“That is not peaceful protest. That is a lynch mob. We’ve seen Nazis on the steps of parliament twice. That is twice too many. What message are we sending not just to kids but to the rest of the world as to what Australia is?”

“Someone should thank some of the drag queens for getting kids to the library,” said former Labor leader Bill Shorten. Picture: ABC.

Fellow panellist and disability advocate Sam Conner said she was both a lesbian and a survivor of child sexual abuse and found it “wildly offensive” that words like “grooming” were being used to describe drag story time.

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten, who was also on the show, said he believed drag queens ought to be thanked for getting kids into reading.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of parental choice. If a parent doesn’t want to send their kid to the library, they don’t have to. It’s not compulsory,” Mr Shorten said.

“I think it’s great that we can get kids to go to the library. Someone should thank some of the drag queens for getting kids to the library and making it more interesting.

“If a kid wants to go to the library to have a story read to him by a drag queen or a person in a koala suit or whatever, I say let’s do it.”