Organizers of the Houston Drag Queen Story Time announced this week that they will discontinue the event following public controversy.
In an opinion piece published by Houstonian magazine, organizers Trent Lira and Devin Will cited several reasons for their decision to end the monthly event, including a lawsuit, which claimed taxpayer funding for the events violated religious freedom. The lawsuit was thrown out in January, but opposition intensified — a protester carrying a licensed, concealed gun was arrested for refusing to leave January’s library event.
{mosads}More recently, news broke on Friday that one of the former readers was a registered sex offender. Lira and Will wrote that they didn’t know about the conviction prior to last week, “but it would have come up if a background check had been conducted.”
In addition, they wrote, a different reader was subjected to increased harassment after a news outlet misidentified her as the sex offender.
“We believe in what we’re doing, but we don’t believe in putting our friends, our families, or our children in danger,” they wrote. “If another person or persons wants to continue our effort or host their own event at some point down the line, they have every right to do so, and it’s likely somebody will.”
In late January, a petition was launched seeking to shut down a Drag Queen Story Hour event in South Carolina, arguing that “this small percentage of the population has found a legal loop hole to ensure they push their alternative [lifestyles] on our communities.”