Kansas Library Debates Allowing Registered Sex Offenders to Participate in Drag Queen Story Hour Event
Richard Moorhead
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Concerned citizens of Wichita, Kansas are trying to institute a ban on sex offenders participating in ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ at an area library. Their efforts are being opposed by a Kansas LGBT advocacy group.
Some members of the city’s library administration board support a proposal that would require background checks for individuals who participate in drag queen story hour events, in which cross-dressing men read children’s books to impressionable youth.
Readers at drag queen story events nationally have been exposed as sex offenders, leaving many Wichita community members concerned for the well-being of children who are present at such events.
The Wichita library’s proposal would institute background checks for sex offenses for those who participate in the program. Equality Kansas has come out in opposition to the safety measure, claiming that it unfairly targets the LGBT community in the area.
The screening measure has been sent back to the library’s governing committee for additional consideration. It’s unclear if the measure to protect children from potential predators will even be implemented at all, leaving minors at risk.
Background checks are routinely required for school teachers, medical personnel, and others who work with children. Apparently, according to radical LGBT activists of Wichita, requiring the same amount of scrutiny for drag queens who are known to appear before minors in heavily sexualized costumes is simply a step too far.
Unfortunately, as the Wichita library board slow-walks a simple measure that could potentially protect children, the most obvious solution to the dilemma appears totally absent from the organization’s radar.
Canceling drag queen story hour altogether is wholly appropriate and completely necessary. Children simply don’t need to be exposed to deviant behavior.
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