Montreal’s Saint-Laurent borough pulls plug on drag queen storytime event for kids

A widely known tv persona and drag queen, Barbada De Barbades, says a Montreal borough has cancelled her upcoming storytime occasion for youngsters at its native library, with little rationalization.

Barbada, the stage identify of Sébastien Potvin, has been studying uplifting tales to children throughout Quebec for about 5 years — tales that ship the message that it is OK to be completely different.

She mentioned that is the primary time in Quebec that an occasion she is paid to do has been cancelled on this approach.

“Every thing was good. We had the contract signed,” Barbada mentioned. From what she’s since been informed, the occasion, which included two readings, was nixed after the programming schedule went to borough council for approval.

“It went very, very quick final week, and I’d have liked to have been knowledgeable and will have prevented this complete factor.”

She mentioned she would have been joyful to have carried out the story hour for the council, if want be, studying tales like The Crocodile Who Did not Like Water by Gemma Merino.

The story is a couple of crocodile who’s afraid of water however will get coaxed into swimming. Lastly, the crocodile tries one final time to swim, virtually drowns, later sneezes and breathes fireplace —  discovering it could not truly be a crocodile in spite of everything.

“It is about feeling completely different, not likely understanding why you are completely different, however ultimately discovering your true self and getting to grasp it is OK to be completely different,” Barbada mentioned.

The occasion is geared towards younger youngsters and accommodates not one of the adult-oriented humour one would possibly anticipate at a late-night drag queen efficiency for grownups, Barbada mentioned.

Saint-Laurent borough Mayor Alan DeSousa mentioned his borough could be very culturally various, a spot the place all people lives collectively peacefully.

“We’re primarily involved in regards to the topics that might be mentioned,” at Barbada’s storytime occasion, he mentioned. DeSousa mentioned he and different elected officers will meet Barbada to ask about the content material of her efficiency.

These topics could possibly be delicate, mentioned DeSousa, a member of Montreal’s opposition celebration, Ensemble Montréal.

No phrase from council, Barbada says

Barbada mentioned she hasn’t heard from anybody from the borough, providing to debate the matter.

“I’m simply actually shocked that it’s occurring now,” she mentioned. “I’ve a children’ TV present. I’m a music trainer.”

Having been a drag queen performer for 17 years, she hosts conferences, household reveals and different occasions for vary of audiences and she mentioned she has not run into this sort of pushback earlier than. 

Whereas it’s shocking, she mentioned, it’s an remoted incident. She mentioned she has been getting an outpouring of assist on-line, and three new occasions have been booked rapidly, proper after native media picked up the story about Saint-Laurent’s sudden aboutface.

The occasion in Saint-Laurent was scheduled for early November, so Barbada hopes as soon as officers there see the thrill this has created, they are going to change their minds and permit the story hour to go on as deliberate.

Different Montreal libraries, together with the Grande Bibliothèque, are nonetheless on Barbada’s agenda, and Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante mentioned on Twitter Wednesday that there’ll “all the time be room for drag queens in our libraries and venues.”

“By way of their presence and their artwork, they contribute to creating Montreal a extra open, honest and inclusive metropolis,” Plante mentioned.

Dorval efficiency hit with complaints

The occasion’s cancellation comes after the town of Dorval in Montreal’s West Island acquired a wave of complaints in early June, as quickly because it introduced its library was internet hosting a narrative hour with Barbada.

“We acquired hate mail. We acquired threats. You identify it — we acquired it,” mentioned Sébastien Gauthier, a Dorval spokesperson.

Household-friendly drag occasions throughout Canada, many hosted by municipal libraries, have been the goal of hateful feedback and threats throughout Satisfaction month, prompting a number of police investigations and renewed issues in regards to the security of the LGBTQ group.

Drag Story Hour occasions are fashionable at many libraries within the nation, and normally function a performer in drag studying youngsters’s books about inclusion. The occasions have brought on solely minor controversy prior to now, however amid a surge in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and insurance policies within the U.S., the all-ages drag occasions have changed into flash factors of anger right here in Canada.

Greater than half a dozen libraries from Saint John to Victoria, and the drag performers who have been to carry out at these venues, have reported being inundated on-line and over the cellphone by homophobic slurs and, in some instances, threats of violence.

The cancellation of her present, Barbada mentioned, is a reminder that Canada is influenced by what’s going on within the U.S.

“We’re not resistant to all that negativity and hate.”