More than 100 people demonstrated outside the main public library in Fall River, Massachusetts, on Saturday, wearing rainbow-colored masks and waving LGBTQ+ flags in support of the library's monthly "Drag Storytime" event.
The group came out as a response to a smaller protest of the drag event, NBC affiliate WJAR reported.
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"We wanted to make sure that we had a good amount of support and I think that's what we got," said Heather Souza, a local LGBTQ+ supporter, to the station.
Drag story times, in which people in drag read stories to kids as a way of sharing a new perspective on the world, have drawn protests around New England and the country.
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The Fall River Public Library's previous story time event had drawn protesters, WJAR reported, by opponents of the being protested by Fall River residents who wanted the library to end the monthly event.
Christine Doherty, one of the protestors outside the library Saturday, said she was pushing for the events at the library to be stopped: "Drag shows and drag queens are not appropriate for children. Nobody's homophobic on our side at all. Drag shows are fine for adults who want to go see them."
For Sean Connell, the president of the Fall River Pride Committee who was hosting Saturday's story time event as Miss Gloria, the event is about showing children that LGBTQ+ people exist.
"It's not recruitment. It's not grooming. It's love. It's stories," Connell told WJAR, adding that "Drag Storytime" will continue no matter if protests continue.
