By Kevin Ferrisi –
A Pride event in Enfield, Connecticut, was canceled after organizers said they received social media threats. Enfield Pride recently canceled their upcoming Drag Story Hour at the Enfield Public Library after an insinuation of violence surfaced on social media. Before this devastating news against the queer community, earlier last month, the Enfield Town Council banned the display of the Pride flag on the town hall building. Drag artist, queer rights advocate, and host of the town’s Pride celebration, Felicity V. Lay, spoke out against the injustice recently on the local NBC news.
The town was set to hold the Drag Story Hour on April 20th of this year. The local news show recently caught up with Felicity and she told NBC, “A lot of people did not like that, apparently, and it warranted different threats. People were trying to protest. Getting very, very deep threats, too.” She later explained how her performances are catered to be age-appropriate with young children in mind, “I just like to wear pretty dresses and kids like to look at me because they think I’m a princess” she said. Mayor Ken Nelson said he’s aware of the community uproar against the event, however, the Enfield police said the threats haven’t been reported.
Following the NBC interview, we caught up with Felicity V. Lay to learn more about how the town’s decision has affected her. She explained, “The cancellation of the story hour made me feel very hurt and disappointed. The reason for the cancellation was for safety reasons and the imposing threat that the Enfield community has brought on. The reasoning behind their hate brought me to tears. Having so much hate brought onto me and the Enfield Pride community was devastating.”
She went on to say, “When I think of this situation, I put it into the perspective of when a new movie comes out. All movies have a rating, much like a drag show. If a movie is rated R, you’re not going to plan on bringing your kids to it, but if a movie is rated PG, then you will. It’s the same thing as a drag show. At most shows, there is an age restriction, whether it be 21+ or 18+ or ALL AGES. It should be up to the parent’s discretion on whether they bring their kids or not and not the opinions of others, who are uneducated on the subject and only listen to what the media has to say, which seems to push the negativity of it more than the positives. Drag queen story hours are run for the safety and enjoyment of everyone.”
In the US and around the world, there have been several protests against drag queens reading books to children at storytime events. Drag is about celebrating gender identity. For the LGBTQ+ community, drag queens symbolize queer expression. For homophobic conservatives, queer representation poses one of the biggest threats facing our country. When a young person sees someone older openly and fully expressing themselves, they know that it’s okay for them to do the same thing. If we erase that representation, we’re erasing kids who are looking for a place to feel accepted. Drag isn’t dangerous, it’s the celebration of queer identity that’s dangerous to conservatives, which is exactly what they are trying to police.
We asked Felicity if there was one message of hope that she could send to the kids who might have been disappointed by the town’s decision, what would it be? Her reply, “I want to share that no matter what, drag is not going anywhere, and drag story hours are not either. Us drag entertainers are trailblazers and will not back down to fight for what’s right. Enfield Pride and pride organizations are all working full force to continue with all of our events, and to help engage and educate the community, to give everyone a better understanding of what we drag entertainers do. Enfield Pride is working diligently on more all-ages events for the kids, to show them that we are not harmful in any sort of way.”
In light of the aftermath, citizens agree that they certainly don’t want any children to be harmed as a result of bigoted ignorance. Enfield Pride is determined to work every day to raise the visibility of the queer community in the town of Enfield. They are encouraging local businesses and citizens to display a Pride flag during June and all year, proving the removal of one flag will not stop them from flying more rainbow flags than ever.
You can watch Felicity’s interview aired on January 31, 2024 with NBC here.
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