Leave the Kids Alone

I’ve singled out The Newberry Library as one of the cultural treasures of Chicago.   Along the The Poetry Foundation and the newly opened American Writers Museum, the institution rounds out a triad of cultural and literary importance in a city with a great literary tradition.

I have attended several programs over the past few years, including a celebration of Carl Sandburg’s poem “Chicago,” a one-act play “Back of the Yards,” a performance by the choral group Schola Antiqua, and a celebration of Melville which was kicked off by a presentation by author Nathaniel Philbrick, who wrote In The Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex—the story inspired Moby-Dick.  The Newberry followed with a 26 hour Moby-Dick read-a-thon which I participated in.

In my view, the library had successfully transformed itself from a dusty old building that housed records primarily for folks that were interested in esoteric geneology and Chicago history projects to a vibrant, relevant intellectual center that had inventive staff creating interesting programs to draw the public in.

I was ready to become a member finally, and enlarge my involvement with the institution.

But then I saw that The Newberry Library allowed itself to be hijacked by the radical end of LGBT and gender bending advocacy by allowing Drag Queen Story Hour to be presented at the library.    For those of you that are unfamiliar with it Drag Queen Story Hour is being pushed at public and private libraries all around the country, and is aimed at children aged 3 to 8 to “celebrate the ‘gender fluidity’ of childhood (I reject the notion that childhood is gender fluid), and to expose them to “role models.”  In at least one case, more was exposed than was bargained for.  In another, it was discovered that one of the drag queens was exposed as a child sex offender.  At an event in Minneapolis, a drag queen “accidentally” exposed himself.   At yet another, a drag queen sang lyrics containing profanity and provocatively began to remove clothing while dancing.   This looks more like grooming than an educational experience to me. 

I was tempted to attend the November 2 Drag Queen Story Hour just to see with my own eyes what went on and to record my observations.   But I actually exercised some judgment and assessed that the presence of an older male alone in the back of the room, I would be the one that would be viewed as the weirdo in the room.

Drag Queen Story Hour with Muffie Fishbasket at the Newberry, “captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive and unabashedly queer role models.  In spaces like this, kids are able to see people who defy rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people present as they wish, where the dress up is real.”

I challenge the premise that these gender confused readers are glamorous or positive or that they should be role models at all.  What proportion of parents would actually like their kids to grow up to be one of them? 

I want to know exactly how this all fits in with The Newberry Library’s mission as an “independent research library dedicated to the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, especially the humanities.  The Newberry acquires and preserves a broad array of special collections research materials relating to the civilizations of Europe and the Americas.”    What’s worse, is that the library is having not just one but four of these events.   Why is The Newberry having anything to do with this gender blurring and sexualization of children?  Drag Queen Story Hour represents a departure from all their other programs and speaks volumes about the judgment of the leadership of The Newberry Library and its board of trustees.  If the Newberry wanted to do a child focused program, it could have chosen to do something with Laura Ingalls Wilder, Jane Adams or E.B. White.  But no, it went with Muffy Fishbasket.

With Drag Queen Story Hour, the Newberry Library is coming dangerously close to promoting and advocating child grooming.  It has permitted its programming and premises in an entirely inappropriate way and in no way consistent with its mission to a fringe advocacy group hell bent on normalizing the abnormal.  Would the Newberry similarly expose the children to the joy of  pole dancing?   Would they entertain a pro-NRA program for pre-teens on firearms safety?  Would it permit itself to be used for a pro-life workshop?  

So, at the end of the year, my charitable checks will be mailed elsewhere and I urge my readers to object and withhold support from the Newberry. 

In the words of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, “Hey, teachers.  Leave those kids alone!.