BOSTON — Mayor Michelle Wu's Boston is rolling out the red carpet for tots — with the city's public library system scheduling 19 drag queen story hours for children at branches across the city in June, as the New Boston Post first reported.
The taxpayer-funded Boston Public Library has booked three performers — Ms. Patty, Just JP, and Rose Quartz — to read picture books and sing songs to kids and families, with Ms. Patty alone headlining an eight-show tour of branches from the West End to Dorchester.
The library is pitching the sessions as a way to "raise awareness of gender diversity" and "build empathy" — buzzwords that have triggered parental-rights groups, religious leaders, and Republicans nationwide, who say drag shows have no business doubling as children's programming.
Ms. Patty, who is booked for eight Boston Public Library drag story hour sessions across the branches in June.
MASSDAILYNEWS
STAY UPDATED
Get Mass Daily News delivered to your inbox
ADVERTISEMENT · Interested in advertising?
ADVERTISEMENT · Interested in advertising?
Storytime sprint
Ms. Patty kicks off the month-long blitz Monday, June 1 at the West End branch at 10:30 a.m., then hits Codman Square, Dorchester, Faneuil, Adams Street, the North End, Lower Mills, and South End Library Park on near-consecutive weekdays. Rose Quartz takes Brighton on June 5, while Just JP headlines a bilingual session at Connolly on June 9, per BPL's events calendar.
More dates at Roxbury and Connolly are loaded into the back half of the month — part of a broader Pride Month splash that includes a screening of "Boys in the Band," workshops, and Pride flags flying over the library's historic Copley Square headquarters.
Wu's rainbow résumé
ADVERTISEMENT · Interested in advertising?
ADVERTISEMENT · Interested in advertising?
Wu — who marches every year in Boston's Pride for the People parade in a rainbow "Mayor" sash for the cameras — has made LGBTQ+ programming a centerpiece of her City Hall, expanding the Mayor's Office of LGBTQIA2S+ Advancement that coordinates the city's broader June Pride calendar.
Mayor Michelle Wu wearing a rainbow "Mayor" sash at the Boston Pride for the People parade.
The mayor was rocked by international backlash last month after MDN exposed her administration partnering with a nonprofit to dangle up to $500 yoga, massage, and wellness vouchers for "LGBTQ+ migrants" — all while City Hall was $100 million in the red on its $4.8 billion budget and slamming homeowners with back-to-back double-digit property tax hikes — 10.4% in 2025, then 13% in 2026. Wu's office blasted the grant spending as "inappropriate" and yanked the program.
Drag Queen Story Hour launched in San Francisco in 2015 and has spread to libraries nationwide, drawing cheers from LGBTQ+ advocates and jeers from protesters who've squared off outside Massachusetts branches including the Fall River Public Library.
Loading Comments