Drag Story Hour Raises $14,000 Following Bomb Threat

metroweekly.com:

Homer News.The Seward Police Department responded, searching the library. They determined there was no incendiary device present.According to Alaska NPR affiliate KBBI, Seward Deputy Chief of Police Karl Schaefermeyer said that the bomb threat didn’t appear to come from a local resident.“We’ve been in contact with the FBI, and we’ll continue to track down some leads there and see if we can find out who’s responsible,” he said.The Drag Queen Story Hour resumed later in the day at the Alaska SeaLife Center.Attendees listened to stories, including Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are, read aloud by local drag performers Totally Tiff and Mars.“This year, we [were] kind of joking before actually reading that there wasn’t much of a hullabaloo this year, and the turnout wasn’t as large,” Totally Tiff’s alias, Tyler Polo, a board member of the Seward Pride Alliance, told KBBI. “It wasn’t a novel event.”The Pride Alliance has held various LGBTQ events in Seward for the past five years, with its first Drag Story Hour event launching last year.

The Story Hour faced pushback in the town, with some people attempting to steer attendees to an event at Resurrection Bay Baptist Church while anti-drag protesters prayed in hallways. “There were a small group of community members who went to a city council meeting before to try to get the event canceled,” Anthony Baclaan, the board president of the Seward Pride Alliance, noted.

Throughout the country, many drag-related events throughout the country have faced vitriol and threats of violence from opponents of LGBTQ visibility, some of whom have accused drag performers, without evidence, of exposing themselves to children.