Drag Queen Dilemma

Part 2

So, what’s my Drag Queen Dilemma? Let me start from the beginning. About two years ago the longtime Director of the B&EC Public Library System retired. As a 25-year veteran on the Buffalo and Erie County Board of Trustees, I volunteered to sit on an Ad Hoc Committee to hire a new Director of one of the largest and unique library systems in the nation. The Board contracted a prestigious human resource firm to do a nationwide search to provide the board with a slate of candidates from across America. Those were narrowed down to three or four applicants who were interviewed and given a opportunity to present their cases on how they would lead the institution.

By law, Trustees were not allowed to ask personal questions of candidates, which is intended to minimize human bias. But there was one standout gentleman who was exceptionally personable and highly qualified that caught the attention of the board. During his interview, he straight out of the box let us know who he is, by referencing his “partner”. To be honest, I was taken aback for a moment because I really didn’t want or need to know how he got down. He was qualified and bright, so I didn’t need any reason to allow my personal bigotry to get in the way of hiring the best person for the institution. However, I did respect and appreciate his honesty.

It also enlightened me how far the LBGQT community has come since I was an un-woke youth. He was hired with the unanimous approval of the Board of Trustees. That same day, I wondered to myself if there was going to be a Drag Queen Story hour coming to my library future?

My dilemma started on a sunny Saturday last June. My wife and I were on our annual special weekend at the Saratoga Jazz Fest in Saratoga Springs, an event we have attended almost every year since 1984. I had just finished packing my car in the motel parking lot before driving to the venue, when I decided to pause to fuel up and happened to check Facebook. I scrolled and found the BECPL page where I saw pics of an event held at the B&ECPL Main Library. It was a Drag Queen Story Time event. OMG, apparently co-sponsored by Fillmore District Councilman Mitch Nowakowski in celebration of Pride Month.

The Drag Queen Story session featured two African American Drag Queens reading LBGQL “Fairy” Tale propaganda to children. I was upset to say the least. My wife was shocked. Why are they messing with children’s heads like that? she asked. I was so upset I did something I had never done before in my 25 years on the board. I called the Board Chairman because I didn’t know what else to do. She’s an African American woman. I erroneously assumed she would understand the potential public relations concerns. She wouldn’t. She didn’t seem to understand why I was complaining and had a dismissive “just go along to get along attitude.”

The more I looked at the pictures of the event, I became offended on so many levels. The fact that somebody hired not one, but two African American Drag Queen (men) to bring to the library. I found that particularly rich considering the BECPL has not employed an Africa American man in administration (outside of maintenance or security) since the retirement of the legendary William Miles (the innovator of the bookmobile) 20 years ago.

I was even more exasperated as a Black man to see the emasculation of Black males in the minds of poor children with no positive male role models in their lives. That is the childhood memory they will have of the library for the rest of their lives. I thought it to be an “abomination”. I use that biblical term because I feel it the apropos for people that use children for carnal reasons.

I couldn’t hardly wait for the next Board meeting to express my displeasure.

At that meeting I sat down with an angry Black male attitude. Soon after the meeting formalities, I pressed the issue. The Board Chair immediately put on her Hattie McDaniel apron to chastise me like I was an uppity buck from the field. She exclaimed: “You read to your kids, don’t you? What’s the difference?” she asked. (OMG). I was dumfounded she saw no difference in me reading to my own children and reading to them from a grown queer man dressed up in a dress with heavy makeup and wig, and fake boobs.

I simply asked what is the reason – why? And I believed it to be an “abomination”. I used that biblical term in hopes I could appeal to some moral consciousness in the room. I admonished the Board that I was raised Catholic and a Boy Scout, and both those institutions are bankrupt today because of a laissezfaire attitude by bureaucrats who are supposed to be entrusted to act in an ethical and moral way. I got crickets.

Then, out of nowhere, my grievance was shot down like an inbound scud missile by the Board’s newest Trustee who had attended two previous meetings. She interjected her White privilege and declared she would take her children to attend a Drag Queen Storytime; then declared the entire Board rejects my objection and is in favor of Drag Shows in the library. There was no further discussion, and my concerns were kicked to the curb, as frivolous rhetoric. I was put back in my place like a naughty schoolboy. She would never have done that had a White member of the Board made the objection. I found it particularly galling considering I have spent more time sitting on a library toilet seat than she has on that Board seat. That deeply wounded me.

That week, I debated whether I should resign from the Board in righteous indignation. Then I remembered – nobody would give a crap.

A few days later while sitting in a chair watching TV, I felt my left arm go numb. I thought I had fallen to sleep laying on it. I tried to ignore the numbness,until my wife noticed I wasn’t using my left hand when driving. She insisted I go to the emergency room where I was diagnosed with having a “mild stroke.”

I was in the hospital for 3 weeks. I was very lucky, it could have been far worst. By the grace of God, I’m okay as of this moment. They say the life expectancy of a Black man is 68. I’m 68. So, I’m on my last chapter of my checked-out book of life, and I’m about to be overdue, and the fees are mounting.

My dilemma, should I fall on my sword and resign from the Board in righteous indignation, or stay and fight against the immoral sexualization of public libraries by perpetrating a banned book bamboozle? But that’s another column.