Protests for and against Drag Story Hour events across Sonoma County continued throughout Sunday in Windsor and Santa Rosa.
Drag Story Hour at Windsor Regional Library began at 1 p.m. Sunday with a small contingent of protesters. As many as 30 people lined up along the west side of the Old Redwood Highway roundabout.
The handful of protesters was split almost evenly with half of the protesters against the story hour and the other half showing support for the LGBTQ community.
The Windsor story hour was the first protest Santa Rosa resident Madeline Garland had attended that day and said the overall protest was peaceful. She said she came to show her support for the LGBTQ community and support anyone who wanted to bring their kid to a Drag Story Hour.
“It’s pretty upbeat,” she said. “there’s definitely some people who like to come and try to argue but it hasn’t gotten out of hand. It’s been pretty peaceful with mostly singing and dancing on our side.”
Windsor resident Steve Puleo was also at the protest with some of his family members, but felt that the children attending Drag Story Hour would contribute to gender confusion he felt kids were already facing. He added that he didn’t feel that children were old enough to understand.
“At one time I was very confused with my own sexual identity and God straightened me out,” he said. “We’re just here out of love. I want to respect people but at the same time, i have to draw some kind of line of moral value.”
The Windsor protesters dispersed just before 2 p.m., with many protesters and supporters planning to head to a bigger demonstration at the Central Library in downtown Santa Rosa.
The story hour itself started at 3 p.m. with protests and supporters of the event starting just before. Between 20 and 30 people against the story hour attended the protest while about 100-150 people attended to support the story hour.
As the story hour continued, the protest spread from the sidewalk in front of the library to the sidewalks around the intersection of E Street and Third Street.
Noble Folk founders Ozzy Jimenez attended the Santa Rosa protest with his husband, Christian Sullberg, to show support for the story hours and for the community.
The couple is expecting a baby at the end of September.
“We kind of have to fight for our spaces sometimes because we’re seeing nationally they can very quickly be taken away from us,” Sullberg said. “I want my child to be able to go to the library and have story time and be in inclusive spaces here in Sonoma County.”
Donna Bailey of Santa Rosa said she wanted to support the libraries and support families having safe access to them. She said she also wanted young ids to have opportunities to potentially see themselves represented.
“To be able to see someone who may portray their (that kid’s) future is not grooming, it’s just a safe space to experience diversity,” Bailey said. “Everyone deserves to have love, support and safety.”
Santa Rosa resident Orlean Koehle said she felt that drag story hours contributes to children having gender dysphoria and feels that these types of events groom children to be accepting of the LGBTQ community.
“We think it’s a very unhealthy, dangerous lifestyle, especially when they go ahead and have their operations where their sex is changed and they have to be on hormones for the rest of their lives,” she said. “We’re (the anti-drag story hour protesters) just loving parents and grandparents who want a better future for our children.”
Santa Rosa resident Angela Torres shared many of the same sentiments, saying that drag queens who do drag story hours are “trying to take away their innocence.”
“I feel like I have to be here to make sure it doesn’t spread into public schools and other things that might affect my children,” she said. “I just don’t think it’s an appropriate topic to have with kids.”
Jimenez and Sullberg protested in support of multiple drag story hours throughout the weekend to show support. Jimenez said as a young parent, his and the community’s existence as a queer person is an act of resistance in the fight for space and representation.
“We’re here today to support public institutions of knowledge and learning for youth, young adults and children,” Jimenez said. “These (libraries) have always historically been safe spaces of learning and it’s unfortunate that a small group of individuals are trying to poison this experience.”
Madison Smalstig contributed to this story.
You can reach Staff Writer Sara Edwards at 707-521-5487 or sara.edwards@pressdemocrat. com. On Twitter @sedwards380.
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June 19, 2023 at 12:26PM
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