There will be no drag queen performances for young children at the Soldotna Public Library on Jan. 6 after considerable public outcry led LGBTQ activists to indefinitely “postpone” the story hour event.
The so-called “family friendly,” sponsored by the radical activist group Soldotna Pride Council, was to be part of the first-ever “Happy New Queer” winter celebration of all things LGBTQ.
Among the six entertainers listed as “guest drag performers” for the event, one openly gay man – Andrew Castelli – goes by the stage name “Ivanna Kischacok.” He’s a mainstay at Alaska gay bars, regularly donning blond wigs, gaudy evening gowns, fishnets and thigh-high boots while flaunting fake cleavage to the delight of his clientele.
In announcing the event was postponed, Soldotna Pride Council issued a Jan. 2 statement, claiming the group felt unsafe about going forward.
While several local groups and individuals had planned to protest the event with a peaceful sit in, it’s not clear what sort of specific threat the LGBTQ organizers were concerned about.
“The Soldotna Pride Council strives to provide safe spaces for all people, including members of the LGBTQIA+ community,” the group posted to Facebook. “Freedom to assemble and express one’s self is guaranteed by the First Amendment, thus, everyone should feel safe, secure and comfortable being their authentic selves and not live in fear of attending a public event in our community. It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to postpone the Jan. 6 story time in the Community Room at the Soldotna Public Library.”
Without going into any specific instances, Soldotna Pride then asserted that it was “aware of the violent rhetoric on social media and elsewhere toward readers and participants who plan to attend story hour, and we are choosing to prioritize the safety of those children and families.”
The statement ended with a pledge to reschedule the drag event in the future.
“We would like to thank Chief Meek, the City of Soldotna, the library staff, the volunteer readers and The Queen’s Guard for their support,” the group stated. “We apologize to the families who planned to attend and assure you that we will hold inclusive story times in the future.”
ALASKA WATCHMAN DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX
Soldotna Pride does, however, plan to go forward with two other events on Jan. 6 – a performance at the local grocery store, The Goods, and “Queer Karaoke” at The Bow Bar.
While the library agreed to host the now postponed drag queen story hour, a disclaimer from Soldotna Pride noted the library did not officially endorse the event or the organizers’ viewpoints.
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 now plans to expand its public displays and celebrations of LGBTQ sexuality.
This is not the first time Soldotna Pride has attempted to appeal to young children in promoting various sexual identities and expressions. The group’s annual “Pride in the Park,” has become an event in which radical LGBTQ activists parade through town before gathering at a local park for “all ages” variety shows that include sexually suggestive drag queen dancers, costume contests.
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.
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.
24 Comments
Soldotna pride are absolutly free to express themselves any way they please. What they are not free from is the consequences of that expression. In this case, they angered people and parents who do not want that in a public library. The pride folks are triggered by this consequence so they call he backlash ‘hate’ or ‘threats’ or claim the concerned parents and people of Soldonta are racist (are drag queens a seperate race?). Why would grown men even consider presenting this to kids? The only reason I can think of is they are trying to validate their behavior by getting our kids to accept it, or nomalize it. Most Alaskans probably don’t care who you love, or what you do in your bedrooms. but keep the government and our children out of it.
Could you imagine the angst and backlash if Christians wanted to rent that library public space to have a bible study or read the bible to children (and maybe drage queens)? The cry of separation of church and state would be fast and furious.
Great idea! I wonder if there is a local church with the courage to exercise their God given constitutional right! It’s time to restore what is the peoples!
The right to the free exercise of religion is guaranteed by the US Constitution. No such right exist to have sex in public, or to pervert children. If these men want to shake their members in public, they should not be surprised when people find it objectionable. I seriously doubt anyone made any threats of any kind, but what can you expect from Drama Queens?
Doc–you might be happy to know that the Soldotna Public Library policy allows any group or organization to reserve space for events, regardless of the views of the organization. There would be no “angst and backlash” if a Christian or any other religious or conservative group wished to hold an event in the library’s community space. You might be unhappy to know, though, that many of your fellow “Christians” reacted to the Soldotna Pride’s event by making not-so-veiled threats and plans for targeted harassment against not only the organizers of the event, but also against the parents and the children who might be attending. These threats and calls for harassment featured prominently on the Watchman’s FB account and in the comments section as well as on Must Read Alaska’s. Threats of violence, video harassment, stalking, and bullying of children were also sent by email to the persons listed in the Watchman’s original post about the events, in addition to be posted on the Soldotna Pride’s FB page.
SA, and the sexualized creatures you support have never intimidated, threatened violence, or spewed hate speech at people who want to protect the children??? Once again, accusing the innocent of the things that the accusers are actually themselves doing. Projection at its best.
SA: God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. Stop picking on Christians please. We all know you had a role in the Wasilla library book protest recently with Mrs. Goforth. We all know you have a bone to pick with anyone who wears a cross or refers to He or Him with a capital H instead of talking about our preferred pronouns. SA, I am praying for you, as are many of my Christian friends.
Joe has always been a disingenuous hack when it comes to reporting truth. He knows EXACTLY why they postponed the event. Because people on his forum and his friends over at Must Read made repeated threats against innocent citizens, including families and children. But that is inconvenient for him so instead he said ‘the exact reason why they -claim- not to feel safe is unclear’ lol. Sorry Joel, but someone needs to help pull that stick out of your arse so maybe you can quit being so homo and transphobic.
SA and Clark,
How does one know, when people are posting comments anonymously on FB or in comment threads that such persons are actually conservatives and not those in support of DQSH’s, trying to stir things up?
Heck, if even the “true queer” link below contains “AI-generated fake content”, who are we to trust?
Drag Queens are men who mock, deride, and objectify women. They’re entire schtick is based on garish deception. How are we to trust their honesty in dealings with the general public?
The bullies win. Are you happy now, Joel ?
Wha wha wha !
Proverbial ‘pot calling the kettle black’.
You couldn’t take the win and live “quiet lives of dignity” and instead had to degrade society as a whole. You certainly ought not have access to children or any large involvement in the culture, as wherever you go corruption follows. Best case is that you are ghettoized. This is why across time and cultures this activity has always been on the down low.
Micah. Who are you talking to?
Can’t speak for Joel, but I sure am! Your crybaby tears make the victory that much sweeter.
Are you aware that a Pride parade is also planned for 12pm on Saturday in Soldotna?
The details are here: https://truequeer.com/event/soldotna-winter-pride-2024-ak/
Warning: impure advertising is found at this link.
According to parks and recreation there is no event at Soldotna creek park this Saturday. The link has bogus information.
Carolyn–you are correct. The link provided by “Coliseum” is an example of AI-generated fake content.
Lol. You guys always freak out and donate and pay money when you get all frothy at the mouth. Apparently someone tricked you good.
Pro tip….Jan 6 is the anniversary of Trumps insurrection attempt. No LGBT groups would be celebrating pride on that day. Thats a national day of mourning and remembrance.
Yes indeed, millions of us will be mourning the outright murder of an unarmed citizen (Ashlee Babbit) at the hands of an armed Capitol Police officer on that day. Educate yourself. Watch the hour long video J6: A True Timeline ( find it on Rumble).
The news report indicated that both a mother moose and a sow grizzly became aggressive when onlookers tried to approach their offspring Saturday afternoon in Soldotna.
This has led to a community town hall meeting to discuss how we must stop bullying in our community! We need to be more tolerant of others in this new year! Gender fluidity, equality, ownership of nothing, happiness for all must be strived for at every turn! Nothing less than compliance will be tolerated!
They have been targeting Soldotna/Kenai heavily because of its traditionally conservative atmosphere and because there are so many Christian ministries based here. That is why the LGBTQ crowd and the satanists have been working overtime to colonize the Kenai. Homer is pretty far gone, and Seward isn’t far behind, in my opinion.
As DocJC pointed out above, most Alaskans don’t really care about what people do in private or what they do in clubs, etc. They DO care when they parade through town, take over a public park for a day and seek out children in libraries. Imagine if there was a “straight pride” parade through town? Hmmmm…. maybe not such a bad idea.
I’ve seen many comments about the “bigotry” of people who opposed it. I don’t understand why so many people want their kids to hang with drag queens.
I do not think there are that many people who want their children to hang with drag queens. The media and the Alphabet Mafia would like us to think that, but anyone with a brain can see the majority of sane parents are disgusted with the behavior and grooming of children into perversion. The parents who do want their children exposed to this filth are ignorant, in denial, afraid of being called homophobic bigots, or just plain stupid.
Good to see the pushback by local Alaskans to this perverted display (and excuse to groom children). The Alphabet Community will not be happy until their lifestyle and perversion are “celebrated” 365 days a year (forget the fact they already have the month of June.) Thankfully parents are waking up and saying enough is enough; there is nothing to be proud about with the homosexual and gender bender lifestyles practiced by a tiny percentage of the population. And the claims about “not feeling safe” are likely manufactured simply because the Alphabet Community knows +95% do not agree with the lifestyle or grooming children.