Children’s charity teams up with Ontario Pride group to promote two weeks of Drag Queen Storytime

The Durham Children’s Aid Society has teamed up with Durham Youth Pride to promote Drag Queen Storytime events at libraries across the region for a period of two weeks in May and June.

According to a statement on the Youth Pride Facebook page, public libraries in the Durham region have been partnering with the Children’s Aid Society and Youth Pride for the past five years to bring the “family-friendly community event” to local families.

There are eight separate Drag Queen Storytime events advertised, starting on May 27 at Brock Libraries and ending on June 10 at Clarington Public Library.

In the statement signed by the board chairs of all participating libraries, Youth Pride describes Drag Queen Storytime as being a program attended by children with their parents that “celebrates diversity and teaches love, inclusion, and acceptance in a safe space.”

Such events draw protests all over Canada now, with protesters objecting to children being exposed to an adult form of entertainment. Others argue that Drag Queen Storytime is a form of indoctrination and an attempt to thrust queer theory onto impressionable young minds.

Durham Children’s Aid Society, which is largely funded by the province of Ontario, says on its website that its mission is to work collaboratively with families, community members, and service providers to overcome barriers to safe and healthy development of children and youth.

However, the charity promotes experimental child sex changes on its Facebook page. On May 10, the children’s society shared a video of a “two-spirit” clinician, Dr. James Makokis, talking about his work as a gender clinician helping “two-spirit trans youth.”

The term two-spirit was coined by a queer theorist in the 1990s and attempts to provide a catch-all term for all the various ways indigenous cultures historically embraced extremely gender-nonconforming people, usually homosexual males.

The video features the troubling story of a 15-year-old indigenous girl who first came out as a lesbian, then experienced bullying, and then attempted suicide. Following lengthy mental health issues, she came out as trans, or “two-spirit,” and Makokis started her on testosterone. This message appears to be in conflict with the stated mission of the Children’s Aid Society and its desire to aid the “safe and healthy development of children.”

On May 4, the government-funded children’s charity made a statement about the importance of flying the Pride flag, in response to the Township of Norwich banning all non-civic flags from municipal properties.

“Choosing not to fly the Progress Pride flag sends an unfortunate message that 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals are not worthy of your support and recognition,” reads the statement.

In response to the increasing backlash towards drag shows for children, Ontario NDP MPP Kristin Wong-Tam introduced a private member’s bill seeking to create safe zones around “2SLGBTQIA+” events.

Bill 94, the ‘Keeping 2SLGBTQI+ Communities Safe Act’, would make “uttering threats or making offensive remarks, either verbally or in writing, with respect to matters of social orientation or gender roles,” an offense carrying a fine of up to $25,000.