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Last week a concerned member of the LGBT community contacted Oxfordshire Libraries to inform them of her disapproval for allowing libraries to be used for the Drag Queen Story Hour UK tour. “This is not inclusive. This is subjecting children to something that belongs in the adult world. Drag is for adults, not children,” Let Sense Prevail, as we have called her, wrote.

Oxfordshire Libraries responded: “As a library aiming to serve a diverse community of people, we are pleased to host and support a wide range of audience experiences.”

Let Sense Prevail has requested her email to Oxfordshire Libraries and the Libraries’ response are published as a follow-up to a letter The Exposé published on Wednesday titled ‘Drag Queen Story Hour UK Coming to a Library Near You, Now’s the Time to Act‘.

To: Oxfordshire Libraries

As a member of the LGBT community, I would like to speak out against this.

This is not inclusive. This is subjecting children to something that belongs in the adult world. Drag is for adults, not children. You have gone too far with “inclusivity.”  Some things are not suitable for children and drag is one of them. This is inappropriate and frankly unnecessary.

You could have had a disabled person come and speak as disability is something that affects both adults and children.

As a member of the LGBT community, I do not find this inclusive of LGBT and don’t think children need to even know about this stuff till they are much older. LGBT stuff is to do with sexuality which is not suitable for children. They don’t need to learn about sexuality until at least secondary school and even then, it should be done in a more tasteful way.

This is harmful to children and you need to stop it immediately. I certainly do not want this done in my name.

Regards,

Let Sense Prevail

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To: Let Sense Prevail,

Oxfordshire Libraries thanks you for getting in touch and notes your comments.

As a library aiming to serve a diverse community of people, we are pleased to host and support a wide range of audience experiences. We are confident that the performance of Drag Queen Story Hour UK is appropriate and well suited for the advertised age groups by professional children’s entertainers and literary fanatics.

Parents who have attended previous performances at other libraries in the country have shared very positive feedback about the event, its suitability for younger audiences, and their children’s enjoyment of it. The nature of the event is clearly advertised, and we believe will attract those who feel comfortable and positive about its content.

Aida H Dee, The Storytime Drag Queen, the performer, is patron of Autistic Inclusive Meets London, a professional and published children’s author, a five-star Edinburgh Fringe act, has been featured in Forbes Magazine for being an activist for neurodivergence and has recently been shortlisted as Local Leader Of The Year 2022 by PinkNews for the nationally acclaimed PinkNews Awards.

We look forward to welcoming everyone to the libraries we visit.

Regards,

J.M.

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