Drag queen leads children in 'Free Palestine' chant at 'Queer Storytime' event in Massachusetts
Critics denounced the performance, which made waves on social media.
A video from a "Queer Storytime for Palestine" event organized by the Valley Families for Palestine group at the Northampton Center for the Arts in Amherst, Massachusetts, has sparked outrage in recent days. The video, captured on April 14, shows drag queen Lil Miss Hot Mess leading a group of preschool and elementary school-aged children in a chant of "Free Palestine" while reading her book "If You're a Drag Queen and You Know It."
The event, which included dancing, celebrating Palestinian culture, learning about queer heroes, and participating in arts and crafts, also featured Palestinian American activist and author Hannah Moushabeck and Sarah Prager, a Massachusetts-based author of several LGBTQ-themed books. Profits from the event were donated to alQaws, a Palestinian organization working for queer liberation, Fox News reported.
An indoctrination double whammy: "Free Palestine" meets "drag queen story hour" in Connecticut River Valley pic.twitter.com/uQ6bf67Owg
— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) April 24, 2024
The video has been met with harsh backlash online, with many critics pointing out the poor treatment of LGBTQ people in Gaza and other Palestinian areas. The LGBT Equality Index, which ranks the most LGBT-friendly countries in the world, placed Palestine at 192 out of 197 countries, just a few ranks above Iran.
Jake Wallis Simons, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, criticized the event on X, writing, "If you're a drag queen and you know it, kids, shout 'free Palestine.' Seriously. Yahya Sinwar, Putin, Xi and the Ayatollah are laughing so hard (and sharpening their knives)."
"If people can't see that drag queens teaching kids to chant 'Free Palestine' is wrong on every level, then they seriously are part of the problem," wrote British commentator and politician Nigel Farage on X.
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