Supporters rally for Winnipeg café’s drag queen story time amid concern

Supporters rallied together Saturday to counter concerns directed at a Winnipeg cafe for hosting a kid’s drag queen story time.

Scout Coffee + Tea regularly host reading events for children, including one taking place called “Story Time with Sally,” a character from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

However, last week, after only 24 hours of announcing the drag queen story time event, a barrage of direct messages filled with alleged harassment and threats along with promises of protest began landing in their inbox.

“You start seeing posts being like, ‘Oh, call this business and complain.’ You know, ‘this is grooming. This is sexual assault. This is pedophilia,’” owner Katrina Tessier said last Sunday.

But on the day of the event Saturday, there was a counter-protest called the Drag Queen Story Time Welcome Committee.

“We heard from both the organizers and the performers that there was some pushback from people who were convinced that drag and children don’t mix,” said organizer Alex Krosney.

The committee gathered together at the cafe to escort the storytime-goers and drag queens safely inside.

“What we believe is that drag is for everybody. It’s a celebration. It’s fun. It’s for kids,” Krosney said.

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“We wanted to make sure that there was support for that in case those unfriendly folks showed up to share their views.”

The opposition comes from a place of fear, according to Krosney.

“I think the people protesting this, you know, are coming from some of the factions that we’ve seen pop up, you know, throughout the pandemic, people who are unhappy with a world that they don’t understand,” Krosney said.

“And instead of trying to open their minds and be supportive and loving, they choose to shut down and be hateful, and that’s not the experience we want for the folks coming to this event.”

For Tessier, the negative reaction — including some coming from people living outside Manitoba — is a sign more education is needed to push back harmful misconceptions about the drag and queer communities.

Despite the alleged threats, the business said the event was a success.

–With files from Rosanna Hempel