Story Telling with Drag Queens event protested in Vancouver by child safeguarding advocates

There were heated scenes outside a Story Telling with Drag Queens event in Vancouver Friday when those protesting were met by a group of counter-protesters who see the whole spectacle as a wholesome form of family entertainment.

Vancouver community charity Kits House hosted the event for children as young as preschool, which featured drag performers Tara Beladi and Satanix. Tara Beladi has been doing Story Telling with Drag Queens performances for years and has a repertoire of material that includes reading graphic pornography on stage.

Kits House advertised the event as having stories and music performances for an audience of children and families, with a Q & A session at the end. The Story Telling with Drag Queens Foundation website says that their “diverse group of LGBTQ2S BIPOC drag performers and allies perform in libraries and schools and answer “questions from the audience about their performances and/or about their gender identities and gender fluidity.”

Child-safeguarding advocate Chris Elston, aka Billboard Chris, was one of the people protesting outside the event which he described in a tweet beforehand as a “total disgrace.”

Global News reported that the protesters tried to disuade parents from bringing their children inside as they arrived at the event.

“They just mobbed these parents and their toddlers who had to squeeze through these people who were screaming at them. It was horrendous,” a counter-protester called Megan told Global News.

“They have attacked the LGBTQS+ community in a way they haven’t attacked other communities, and it’s this singular point of rage and it’s so concerning,” Steph, another counter-protester said in an interview with Global News. “I’m worried about what’s going to happen if this continues.”

When Tara Beladi is not on stage reading explicit pornographic materials or at charity events reading stories to children, the performer can be found hosting the drag show Mixed Messages.

Satanix is a professional makeup artist and self-described “drag clown” whose Instagram page features several photographs of the performer in provocative poses wearing face paint, and a post which declares reading to children to be a “special kind of joy.”

“Why is Kits House, a community-funded charity, spending donors’ dollars so deviant men can larp as hyper-sexualized women in front of preschoolers and kindergarteners?” said Elston in a statement to the Post Millennial.

“Why are drag queens, one of whom goes by the name Satanix, treated as leftist royalty, and given an audience of little children?”

“Can somebody please tell me why they need access to children? Any society that combines smut with story time has deeply lost its way.”

This wasn’t Elston's first encounter with Tara Beladi. Last year, he was approached by the drag queen librarian while protesting on the street and the two had a lengthy conversation about pediatric medical transition, which the drag performer thought was essential to prevent gender-confused children from committing suicide.

Kits House said in a statement on their Facebook page that they are “proud to be a welcoming and safe place for all members of our diverse community.” 

“While we embrace differences, we have zero tolerance for hate speech or discrimination … We are honoured to provide and be a host to a range of diverse programming, and to create safe, inclusive spaces for all,” concluded the statement.