A one-hour childhood story in a California library was interrupted by several Proud Boys on Saturday, prompting local authorities to launch a hate crime investigation as LGBTQ and anti-extremism supporters warn that such threats from far-right extremists are intensifying. About 25 miles from San Francisco across East Bay, the San Lorenzo Library hosted the Drag Queen Story time when a group of five men interrupted the event and started firing homophobic and transphobic insults at attendees, including the attraction performer known as Panda Dulce, officials said. Drag Queen Story Hour, where performers read books to children, takes place in a part of the library where any member of the community can have a meeting, according to Lt. Ray Kelly, a spokesman for the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. “The men were described as extremely aggressive with a threatening violent behavior that causes people to fear for their safety,” Kelly said in a statement. In addition to the hate crime investigation, authorities also launched an investigation into whether the Proud Boys’ actions “harassed or harassed children,” which is a violation of the criminal code. On Monday, detectives were still investigating. They were expected to hand over any information to the district attorney, who would determine whether charges of hate crime should be brought against the Proud Boys, a far-right group with a history of violence. With the Bay Area at the heart of the Pride movement, LGBTQ events are often uneventful and “smooth,” Kelly told the Washington Post on Monday. “As for hatred and being a focal point, I have not seen it in years. “This is something new,” Kelly said. He also noted that members of the Proud Boys who interrupted Saturday’s reading event are not believed to be from the San Lorenzo community. “We do not have far-right extremist groups coming out in the Bay Area and that much,” he said. “We believe there is a group connected to San Mateo County, so we believe these people crossed the bay for this event.” Meet the woman behind TikTok’s Libs, secretly feeding the right-wing outrage machine Kelly said investigators believe the conflict was prompted by the Twitter account Libs of TikTok, which spreads anti-LGBTQ sentiment and promotes inflammatory stories in the right-wing media. Across the country, far-right or white extremist groups have increasingly rallied around LGBTQ activists and activists, trying to justify their attacks with false allegations that gay and transgender – and sometimes considered ideological opponents – are looting children. Dulce, who is one of the co-founders of the Drag Queen Story Hour program, said the men paraded in white power gestures and had “light cameras”. Yesterday, a group of Proud Boys stormed a children’s story event in San Lorenzo. It was held by the Bay Area Public Library and drag area queen Panda Dulce. I sat down with Panda tonight to talk about the experience and will share the story tonight at 11 at @ abc7newsbayarea pic.twitter.com/L8GTUupLwn – Tim Johns (@tim_johns_) June 13, 2022 They said: “Who brought the crunchy? He is a beautician. He is a pedophile. Why do you bring your children to this event? ” said Dulce in an interview with KGO-TV in San Francisco. On the same day in Idaho, police arrested 31 men allegedly linked to the white superiority team Patriot Front on charges of conspiring for uprisings at a local Pride event. Extremism researchers say hate groups targeting LGBTQ-friendly organizations or individuals are driven by overlapping beliefs about hyper-masculinity and archaic gender roles, fears of different people and misguided queer and power-hungry queer groups. at their expense. Men linked to hatred group designed for riots, ‘confrontation’ at LGBTQ event, police say Over the past two years, conservative activists and lawmakers have increasingly fought for the inclusion and promotion of transgender and LGBTQ in girls’ sports, school curricula, and public libraries. Libraries across the United States have seen a large increase in the number of attacks and protests against inclusive reading lists or book fairs in recent years, while the Library Liberty Bureau of the American Library Association has seen an overall increase in targeting libraries in general. said Emily Knox, who teaches at the School of Information Science at the University of Illinois and serves as editor of the ALA Journal of Intellectual Freedom and Privacy. Libraries are also one of the few local governments where people feel they can be heard, Knox said. Most people do not go to town council meetings, Knox said, but many people do go to the library. Gender identity classes, which have been banned in some schools, are on the rise in others History classes have long been a key program in public libraries to promote literacy and engagement among young readers, although the Drag Queen Story Hour program is organized in local chapters and hosted by a local library. Jonathan Hamilt, executive director of Drag Queen Story Hour, said the program had a strong positive response when it launched in 2015 to bring fun and charm to children’s stories, although it has always been rejected by some conservative groups. Over the years, however, Hamilt said, repulsion has turned into hatred and now focuses more on train culture instead of homosexuals as a whole. “With right-wing conservatives and Republican groups, saying clearly that they do not like gays sounds homophobic. “He is not playing well,” he said. The transition to the culture of attraction provides coverage under the argument that reading drag queens to children is inappropriate or inappropriate. Contrary to what Drag Queen Story Hour’s opponents claim, Hamilt said, the team is not trying to persuade or “catechize” anyone. It exists for the people who want it and need it, he said. “Our program is for queer families and their allies,” he said. “It is not our job to teach people [about] the difference between sex and gender or to make people like us. “People who are against us, no matter how much we explain what we are doing, are not going to understand or listen.” Dulce, the drag performer who was allegedly harassed by the Proud Boys in the San Lorenzo library, told KGO that there was no reason to fear or hate them. “I do not want to hurt you,” Dulce said. “I just want to tell you a story. This is.”
