The performer at the center of Mobile’s first Drag Queen Story Hour says he isn’t letting planned protests rattle him ahead of the September 8 event at the Ben May Main Library.
Wade Brasfield, who has performed as Khloe Kash for nearly a decade, jumped at the chance to read to children when he was approached about the program.
“In my mind, it was I’ll read to kids, we’ll dance around for a minute, we’ll do arts and crafts, it’ll be great,” Brasfield said. “I remember being a kid and going to the library and getting lost for hours in books.”
How the Event Works
The story hour, sponsored by Rainbow Mobile, is set for noon on September 8 and is designed for children ages 3 to 8, though anyone may attend. Brasfield — trained by a local elementary school teacher for the role — will read storybooks dressed in drag. It is the first time the national Drag Queen Story Hour concept has come to Mobile.
Planned Protest and Community Objections
Opponents have organized a demonstration hours before the reading begins. The Common Sense Campaign Tea Party plans to gather outside the library at 701 Government Street starting just before 10 a.m.
Local pastors have also voiced objections, including Fred Wolfe of Luke 4:18 Fellowship, who argued the event is unhealthy for children and questioned its use of a tax-supported public facility.
“It’s being used in a public forum supported by taxpayers’ money to promote something that we think is divisive in the community,” Wolfe said.
Still, Wolfe said both sides intend to keep things peaceful.
“What we’re doing is letting them exercise their freedom of speech and assembly and we’re going to do the same thing,” he said. “And I think that is what America is all about.”
Organizer Rainbow Mobile framed the program as a lesson in inclusiveness for young readers. Executive director Bryan Fuenmayor said exposing children to differences early can pay off later.
“I think, personally, if children get to see that, then it will help a lot with bullying when they get older,” Fuenmayor said, pointing to children with two moms or two dads as an example of the acceptance the event aims to promote.
The reading list includes “Stella Brings the Family” by Miriam B. Schiffer and “Rainbow Fish” by Marcus Pfister, followed by an arts and crafts session lasting roughly fifteen minutes. The Mobile Public Library emphasized that it is hosting but not sponsoring the event, saying neither the library nor the Friends of the Library provided any funds toward the program, and noted that patrons who prefer not to attend can visit any of its nine other branch libraries that day.