Police have escorted two drag queens from a library where they had been running a storytelling event for children after angry protesters gathered outside.
Drag Queen Story Time at Holywood Arches Library in Belfast featured Lady Portia Di’Monte, known as the ‘First Lady of Northern Irish drag’, and Miss Dora Belle.
The ticket-only event was advertised as ‘suitable for all ages and families’ and to ‘champion individuality and inclusivity amongst its young audiences, featuring sing-alongs and dancing.’
Lady Portia read storybooks to the children, including family favourites such as Dear Zoo, while Miss Dora Belle narrated them with British Sign Language (BSL).
Local parents protested outside the library before the police were called to escort the two drag artists away and appear to have given them a lift home.
There were no arrests but Northern Ireland’s Communities minister Gordon Lyons has said the event was ‘not appropriate for children’ and ‘should not have taken place’.
A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: ‘Police attended a report of a small demonstration at the Holywood Arches area of east Belfast on Friday August 1, shortly after 1.40pm and engaged with those present.
‘Two people were escorted from the building to further ensure that there would be no breach of the peace.
‘At this stage, no offences were determined to have taken place.’
Footage of the incident showed at least three police officers attended the library.
Protesters called ‘shame on you’, ‘leave our kids alone’ and ‘you do your thing but leave our kids alone’ at the drag artists.
Lady Portia confronted the protesters and said they would have been welcome to attended and waved the classic story read to the children, Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell.
One critic commented on the video and said: ‘The police are being used as a taxi service to ferry drag queens’.
The incident has sparked a political row in Northern Ireland with critics asking why the police needed intervene.
Northern Ireland’s Communities minister Gordon Lyons has said the event had ‘compromised the perception of our public libraries as a welcoming and inclusive space for all as set out in the Libraries NI policy’.
He said he has ‘directed’ his officials ‘to liaise with Libraries NI to ensure that policy is faithfully implemented’.
While TUV MLA Timothy Gaston said: ‘Drag performance, by its very nature, is a sexualised and exaggerated parody of womanhood — rooted in adult entertainment and gender subversion.
‘Why then is it considered acceptable for someone best-known for adult-themed performances to adopt the same persona while reading stories to children?’.
