One Christian Pastor’s Response to Drag Queen Story Times

Calgary has been thrust into the spotlight of the drag queen story time debate in the last few weeks. There are few issues with sides so deeply entrenched and opposed to each other as this. There seems to be little if any common ground on which to meet.

Many progressives seem to dogmatically embrace all-ages drag events, even if their content is glaringly inappropriate as has been undeniably evidenced recently by many social media posts. They call anyone who dares to question their position bigots. On the other side of the debate are religious groups, families and generally concerned citizens who have expressed worries over the nature of these events and the potential sexualization of children that may be occurring.

Activist Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who is no stranger to politicizing police enforcement, has not shied away from showing her radical stripes and has effectively made it a crime to protest these ‘Reading with Royalty’ drag queen story events that have been taking place at libraries around the city.

Despite this, some groups have continued to demonstrate in opposition, and as you likely know Pastor Derek Reimer was arrested for daring to protest, while many others were ticketed.

With a radicalized progressive mayor locking up dissidents, and her supporters seemingly oblivious to why grown men dressed as women courting children might be a concern to some, many are wondering what if anything can be done to reclaim some semblance of sanity at Calgary’s public libraries.

One Calgary pastor is attempting to achieve that daunting task by providing an alternative to drag story times.

Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church, who you may recall from several heartbreaking arrests and the time he spent behind bars for refusing to close his church during Covid-19, is, despite his soft-spoken nature and gracious demeanour, not one to bow down to social pressures… particularly those that defy his deeply held Christian convictions.

With many in his flock now looking to him for leadership on the contentious issue of drag story time, he has come up with ‘Readings From True Royalty,' a series of book reading that takes place at libraries across the city and provides age appropriate content that affirms masculinity in boys and femininity in girls.

Pastor Stephens and I spoke about the inspiration behind and intentions for these alternatives to drag events. He also shared his thoughts on broader societal issues, including the loss of traditional notions of gender and of social norms that have led us to the point in which behaviour that would have quite likely been considered criminal mere decades ago is now being applauded and protected by politicians as somehow heroic.

As you no doubt know, standing up against ideologically-driven politicians who think they can wield police forces like personal progressive enforcement arms in courts of law is critical to safeguarding the fabric of society.

If you agree that pro-drag mayors stripping away the fundamental right to protest is wrong, or if you have received a ticket for peacefully protesting a drag story time event, support and learn more about our legal efforts to resist this overreach at FightCensorshipFines.com.