Protest and counter-protests held over local library's 'Drag Queen Storytime'
LANSDALE, Pa. (WPVI) -- Protest and counter-protests surrounded a public library during a special story-time in Lansdale, Montgomery County Saturday.
At the center of the dispute is the person who did the reading.
"Love thy neighbor. Love thy neighbor."
Certainly not your typical morning at the Lansdale Public Library.
The reason for the dueling protests and big time police presence is the Drag Queen Story Time happening inside.
Dozens of families brought their children to hear readings by Drag Queen Miss Annie.
Her stage name though is Annie Christ.
But Christ says her name shouldn't stop her from doing events like these.
"It's like an actor being in a rated R movie not being able to read to kids. It's my side job it's what I do at a club that's 21 and over," said Annie Christ Drag Queen.
She says the focus of today is "Acceptance diversity not bullying."
Families, who showed up by the dozens were thrilled to be here.
Missy Bonham of Lansdale said, "I wanna raise him to accept people and be nice to everyone."
Tristan Bonham of Lansdale added, "Treat people how you want to be treated."
However, outside, the police had to line the middle of Susquehanna Avenue, while those supporting Annie Christ were in the parking lot.
Elaine Ely of Lansdale said, "Annie is in there sharing a message of acceptance and love and being able to be who we are."
And those against her are across the street.
"When you do that, little children, they think oh well this is okay. When it's really not natural or normal," said Marilyn Teed of Lansdale.
Albert Howard of Lansdale added, "If you want to do what you wanna do and be that's fine. That's between you and God one day, but to teach the kids - no."
We also spoke with library director Tom Meyer because we wanted to clear something up.
"People have been asking me why you don't have bible story times. We do! We've done it. It's happened," he said.
You can clearly see both sides here had their say this morning.
But there was one thing they did agree on.
We're lucky to live in a country where you can have two sides.
There's many places where that's not the case.
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