With an upcoming drag queen story hour for children on Jan. 6, the Soldotna Public Library will be the kick-off location for the town’s first-ever “Happy New Queer” winter celebration of all things LGBTQ.
Among the six people listed as “guest drag performers,” one openly gay man – Andrew Castelli – goes by the stage name “Ivanna Kischacok.”
According to a cntraveler.com article, Castelli regularly dons a platinum blonde wig, and dresses with jewels falling into his fake cleavage. He also sometimes wears ball gowns, feathers, fishnets, corsets and thigh-high boots.
“Bring the whole family to Soldotna Library from 11-12pm for Drag Story Hour featuring stories read by Joe Royal Spady, local author: W.B. Clark, and our incredible guest drag readers!” an announcement for the event states. It also includes a disclaimer noting that the library “does not endorse these materials or viewpoints expressed in them.”
The story hour event is part of an all-day celebration organized by an LGBTQ activist group, Soldotna Pride. Following the library gig, the drag queens will perform at a local grocery store, The Goods, before ending the night with “Queer Karaoke” at The Bow Bar.
Traditionally, LGBTQ groups have focused their energies on promoting various sexual identities and expressions via parades and events scheduled across month of June. In organizing a January event, Soldotna Pride is signaling that it plans to expand its public displays and celebrations of LGBTQ sexuality.
“We’re so excited to celebrate with you all throughout the year!” a notice from Soldotna Pride states.
This is not the first time Soldotna Pride has targeted young children in promoting public celebrations of myriad sexual identities and expressions. The group’s annual “Pride in the Park,” has become an event in which radical LGBTQ activists parade through town exhibiting myriad sexualities before gathering at a local park for variety shows that include sexually suggestive drag queen dancers, costume contests and the celebration of “queer joy for all ages.”
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Last year’s event sparked heated controversy after a video of Anchorage drag queen Brenden Badd went viral. It shows a man wearing a costume that appears to be a miniskirt and a thong as he twerks and does backflips in front of young children. Another performance included Badd in a leather miniskirt gyrating just a few feet in front of minors.
The idea of letting drag queens perform before for kids was developed in 2015 by LGBTQ activists in San Francisco with the launch of drag queen story hours – a concept that has since spread all over the country.
TAKING ACTION
— To contact Soldotna City Librarian Rachel Nash, call (907) 262-4227 or email library@soldotna.org.
— To contact members of the Soldotna City Council, click here.
— To contact members of the Library Advisory Board, click here.
52 Comments
Just admit it Joel, these Queens are haught and you’re just itching to get some, are t you ? What’s your obsession with drag queens, Joel ? Nobody outside of your small circle even cares, so why do you ?
What a sad person you are
That’s a fine example of psychological projection. Are you trying to assuage your own guilt? Why are you even commenting?
I concur!
What a TRULY idiotic thing to say. This false and pathetic assertion along with the implied support of groomers and pedos let’s us know that your limited brain is filled with toxic waste.
Say the drag queens name with a Russian accent and tell me with a straight face that this is appropriate…
No one is grabbing kids off the street and dragging them off to the library for story hours of ANY kind. Parents are bring their kids voluntarily. Anything that encourages kids to read is a good thing. When the people reading storybooks to kids dress in colorful costumes, the kids think it’s fun. Keep your kids away from the library if this bothers you, but don’t judge the parents who are more open-minded.
Anything that encourages a kid to read is a good thing? Anything? Seriously? I truly beg to differ. But that aside, this is about adult ‘entertainment’ that has nothing to do with reading and does not belong in a public library, but should be limited to adult venues.
Elizabeth. I agree 100%
Hey Louie, did you have a point, or are you just here to bash the host? You might want to get out of the basement once in a while and learn some basic manners, or not.
Tampa, Evil hates it when when called out. Joel is doing a great service by pointing out pedophiles disguised abnormal.
So Chuck, when parents voluntarily let their kids watch porn, or in this case, watch dirty perverted men parade around in womanface and get their sexual jollies from doing so in front of kids, you think that’s just fine? Please stay away from my kid in the future. You may not be a pervert yourself, but you are oriented that way just by your own statements.
It is unbelievable to me that this disgusting display of perverse sexuality is ok in general much less that children would be exposed to such immoral behavior. Parents is this really the standards you want to set for these developing minds.? We are indeed lost. Shame on all of you that have allowed yourselves to be led down such an evil path and shame on the leaders of the facilities that sponsor and support this. What has happened to the people in Soldotna.
Chuck, you pedophiles are sick
I’m guessing – hoping – that Chuck doesn’t have kids. Any parent that takes their kids to this sort of vile rot is, by the action, sexually abusing their child.
We need Moms for Liberty to show up and take a stand against this abomination
You’re right. As soon as I can find two women to go with me as dates, I’ll be there.
https://alaskawatchman.com/2023/12/31/drag-dancer-ivanna-kischacok-among-performers-listed-for-kids-story-hour-at-soldotna-library/#comment-73578
Bridgey!!! If you can’t beat em, join em!
A kids event? Hold up, I’ll bring the booze.
Don’t forget the hot dogs.
And the tacos
2024 is now a calendar filled with events of perverse satanic, wickedness scheduled in the buildings and institutions the taxpayers paid for! Jay McDonald who is highly respected among conservatives is quoted recently saying “ welcome to dunleavy’s Alaska “!
This governor is a sellout!
Well, you can gripe all you want about Dunleavy, but he really has no say in what local libraries do with your tax dollars. You might want to start a little closer to the action if you want actual change.
Tamra we agree on a lot but unfortunately not this! Dunceleavy is the problem and it’s precisely his weakness that is being taken advantage of! His very own AG Treg Taylor wrote a pathetic letter of instruction to law beakers while they were breaking the law! Have they stopped breaking the law? No! Why should they? The law is now useless because the enforcement renders letters instead of jail time! That is dunleavy’s doing! This has resulted in the law breaker’s becoming emboldened! Now you suggest we go more local? With what backing! Dunceleavy owns this garbage and the children so often are the victims!
Please consider thinking again how to engage and stop this garbage!
Its not dunleavy. Stop fighting amongst ourselves. Its th e left
Why drag children into sick adult pleasures? Is it pedophilia? Sure leans that way, it’s no wonder they are called drag queens, any adult who makes a child participate in these events shouldn’t be around children.
Chhildren are very entrtained by draag queens. why do they offend you?
Because We the People care about stopping the sexual predation of children. If you and your ilk are so proud of your sexual preferences and want to recruit others to your lifestyle, why don’t you perform strictly for adult men? Answer: The vast majority of adult men are not as easily psychologically manipulated as children are. Your veneer is very thin, we see through your insidious efforts to recruit children and your effeminate cowardice is on full display.
I’m surprised at the number of folks posting who think it is just fine for men to wear womanface and get their sexual jollies from parading in front of kids. Being a pervert is one abomination, but supporting that perversion is just another level of evil. I suppose you also think it would be okay to have those kids forcibly raped by those perverts if their parents thought it was okay? So where do you draw the line? I seriously doubt any kid is going to be made into a fervent reader by watching men make fun of women and reduce women to the lowest level of sexual being. Perhaps we should be watching not only the behavior of the perverts, but of those who post here supporting that perversion. Might be prudent, considering where that sort of nonsense ends.
Please consider the facts before calling the library:
The library’s community room is a limited public forum space. This means any group can use the room as long as they agree to the terms of use and patron conduct policy. Groups like yoga, birthday parties, jujitsu, sound therapy sessions, taxes, church gatherings, wedding receptions, etc… Denying this group would be discrimination. There are no performances happening like the ones in the park. The readers are simply reading books.
Please remember that the library staff at the front desk have nothing to do with the happenings at this event and they do not deserve to be bashed. Hurting the staff does not and will not change the fact that this event is happening.
The staff doesn’t deserve to be criticized? If they are not speaking out against it and making a statement, then they are part of the problem. They need to flee Sodom and Gomorrah if they don’t want the wrath.
Doesn’t surprise me that Kat’s calm and sensible advice whooshed past you.
Lucinda, it doesn’t surprise me that, once again, you are concerned with how other people respond in favor of saving humanity. Don’t forget, you still have time to approach the Creator of All Creation and ask for forgiveness of your sins. The Creator of All Creation wants you to be saved also if only you can turn away from your demonic master.
Isn’t Yoga satanic? Lol.
Joel, if you’re going to publish a hit piece as you masquerade as a ‘journalist’ with your little extremist blog, try to do some bare minimum research – enough to at least fact-check yourself. Your own reporting goes against your own ‘Content Policies’ and ‘Fact-checking policies’ listed on your website. Ivanna was never scheduled to do the Drag Story Hour in Soldotna. Her name was on the flyer because she was doing other events in Soldotna, but not that one. This could easily be confirmed if you checked with any of the organizers of this event rather than foaming at the mouth at any paltry opportunity to cause innocent people distress because you hate them (not very Christlike of you). But of course, because you love riling up all the extremists in this state – and you seem to have taken up a special interest in rattling the cages of the people who are most hostile towards marginalized communities – you just saw a name on a flyer about multiple events, didn’t bother to do any research or vetting, and decided to blast a good person’s name all over the internet yet again because you feel so personally hot and bothered by men who are more secure in their sexuality and at peace with their identity than you are. Ivanna was only slated to participate in the 21+ bar event, which is honestly none of your business. Soldotna needs more community events that celebrate intersectionality, and that make LGBTQ+ individuals and youth feel more seen and safe. People like you and your base are the exact reason why those kids don’t feel safe. You want to scare and bully them back into the closet, or out of existence. But the fact stands: If you don’t like it, don’t go. Same with all-ages drag events. If you don’t approve, then don’t attend, but please remember that you are not the moral authority of anybody, and nobody needs to ask you permission or seek your two cents on what you think is and isn’t appropriate for kids, because your entire perspective is skewed by your seething hatred for anybody that is different than you. Ivanna is a lovely person who has done a lot for the community, and she nor any other person you’ve used your blog to attack deserves to be targeted like this and anybody with a good, kind heart knows that. The way you use your platform to cast hatred and judgment, sew public panic and retaliatory chaos, and bully innocent people who are just trying to live their lives and help other marginalized individuals feel less alone and less afraid – Jesus would be absolutely ashamed of you, and people like you are the reason why so many people do not believe in God. If you’re a devout follower of Christ and you go so far out of your way to make people feel terrible and afraid and seek to shame and judge people you don’t even know, putting them in harm’s way, what does that say about God? Why would any of us want to follow him when you and your mean-spirited behavior is supposed to embody what he’s all about?
You’re not even fighting a losing battle. You’re a blind dog barking at a bare fence. The rate things are going, it’s clear you’ve already lost. Some sage advice: we’re not all going to agree on everything, and you just need to cope with that and mind your business. Focus on your own family. Ask yourself what you can do to lift others up instead of playing the morality police when you are so ill-equipped to be policing anybody. Ask yourself why you feel so called to judge and lambast others who have done no harm, and why so much harm has been caused by your doing. Look inward instead of spewing so much nonsense and harm outward. If God is real and if God is watching, any person with a basic working knowledge of a loving God would surmise that things aren’t looking too good for you. Please leave people alone and deal with the things going on in your own life. Leave people be, and stop trying to rob marginalized communities of their right to peace, safety, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It literally has nothing to do with you so please move on and focus your energy on something more meaningful and less mean-spirited. LGBTQ+ people are not going anywhere, and the harder you try to scare and bully LGBTQ+ people away, the more you prove everyone’s point and justify the need for safe spaces. So, thanks I guess. But hey, 2024 is around the corner. An opportunity for you to change course and lead your life with more kindness and grace. Regardless of what you choose, just remember that the universe, karma, or God, they absolutely keep score. And you’ve done God zero favors. May you have the year you deserve.
Where is Ruffridge and Bjorkman on this. Why the silence. Hopefully they show up and demonstrate that this is NOT ok. It is NOT ok to sexualize and program our kids.
They wouldn’t have any comment
you get the community you allow. by the above comments some obviously think anything goes equals open mindedness. used to be the kind of life view that leads one to inflict self harm was considered a mental health issue, not being open minded. keep up the reporting of the devient behavior Joel. The trolls will hopefully move back to Portland.
We are at Sodom and Gomorrah level now. Hard to believe, but that is the problem. People cannot believe it and the main stream media won’t report on it.
Has anybody phonetically examined the fake name, Ivanna Kishchacok? Take a moment and do it. Very enlightening. Totally unveils the true motives, which we already know.
Good eye! I had not even caught that until you mentioned it. That is sad! Just think how many kids “mispronounce” the name.
Ok then
If the library can’t show partiality then don’t rent to anyone. It’s just a way to groom children and show unfit parents that expose their children to evil.
Any pub is good pub. Thanks.
I can’t believe you are still complaining about Brendan Badds awesome performance in that pride show. The right wingers took 3 seconds of video from a 3 minute dance performance and put it on a loop in order to obsess about how sexualized they wanted to imagine her being. Never seen straight people try so hard to force themselves to think about gay sex. This is no different than if you took 2 seconds of a gymnast doing splits and tried to accuse them of being hypersexual to groom children.
Brendan was doing backflips in heels. A seriously athletic feat. He rocked that performance and he earned an ovation from a cheering crowd that loved the show and weren’t obsessed with sex like Joel is.
Clark is spreading misinformation.
“Ivannah Kischacok” sounds pretty groomy, tbh
This is the type of activity the state is sponsoring, a bunch of men dressing up as hypersexualized female caricatures and parading themselves in front of children while threat of force is deployed to force you to accept it. They’re really just cowards, they should just go the whole distance and do blackface as well, they’re already creating a mockery of women. (one of just two total genders).
This is the type of degenerate nonsense our society holds a virtuous today while true virtue like man and woman families having and raising families with decent values and modesty is considered obscene. What a joke our country has become, femininity, masculinity, honor, strength, and decency have been forsake for hedonistic nonsense. It won’t be a surprise when China or some sane country invades us and totally tramples us when our military can’t figure out which bathroom to change in.
Back to the bar scene to you kisacok!
I’m glad Soldotna is hosting this event and I welcome as many to join. I think the author, Mr. Davidson, could really enjoy such a welcoming experience.
Y’all are wild out here. A performer dressing up like a princess and reading a book is considered grooming? What about all the priests, coaches, etc. who are actually CAUGHT doing the things you’re accusing drag performers of doing? Your conspiracy theories are tired.
Don’t ask why your children need to spend time with drag queens, ask why drag queens need to spend time with your children.