With homophobic protesters and pro-LGBTQ+ counter-protestors outnumbering them outside, a drag queen story hour to be held this past Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Somerville Public Library was canceled after a bomb threat.
Reports Boston.com:
City Council President Ben Ewen-Campen said on X that a bomb threat canceled the story time, which was set to feature the Boston chapter of Drag Story Hour. The event was scheduled from 2 to 3 p.m. and was recommended for children aged 4 to 8, according to the library.
Drag Story Hour has also hosted events where storytellers in drag read books at Brookline Public Library and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
“Bigoted right-wing cowards are stooping to new lows every day but we’ll never let them steal our joy,” Ewen-Campen wrote.
Somerville police did not return a request for comment on Sunday. Cambridge police said their bomb squad responded to the same block of Highland Avenue where the story time was being held at SPL’s Central branch.
A Cambridge police spokesperson did not confirm the threat targeted the library, but said the threat came through email and the building “that the email referenced as the potential threat” was evacuated.
Cambridge police’s team searched the area with dogs around 2 p.m. and determined “there was no potential threat,” a spokesperson said. Somerville Police Chief Shumeane Benford told WCVB Saturday they haven’t determined if the bomb threat was a hate crime. …
Multiple outlets reported that pro-LGBTQ+ demonstrators outnumbered a small group of protesters who were speaking out against the drag story time. Ewen-Campen told The Boston Globe that “the police were prepared, they were aware there were going to be protesters and counterprotesters, so this was on everyone’s radar.”
Read the complete Boston.com story here.
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