Protesters gathered in Gerritsen Beach on June 6 to express outrage over the appearance of a drag queen at a reading event for children, which they said would be detrimental to the welfare of minors.
“I was rather appalled by it simply because I really feel that it is not just a diversity issue but a morality issue,” said James Bickle. “It’s especially bad because it’s an indoctrination of little children.”
The event, which hosted Angel Elektra at the Gerritsen Beach library, was part of a citywide series to connect members of the LGBTQ community with New York City youth.
“Drag Queen Story Hour captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity in childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models,” read the event’s promotional material.
Readers shared their thoughts online:
A choice? Nobody who looks through the pictures in this article could come away thinking that gay is a choice. If you could choose to be gay, everyone would opt to look as gorgeous as Angel Elektra and no one would look like those bigots.
Mike from Williamsburg
Of course there’s an idiot with a red MAGA hat, classic.
Henry Ford from Bay Ridge
Great piece! I drove to attend the counter-protest from Park Slope. I am 51 years old, straight, I have 4 kids…. and was completely unnerved that the bigots would hold there protest on the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a day when thousands of men died for our freedom. Don’t like the story hour? Don’t go! Leave those who attend to do so in peace.
Susan from Park Slope
FYI, nobody is forcing anyone to attend that event. If you don’t want your children to go to reading done by a drag queen, then simply don’t. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to deny others from going to that. For the record, there are plenty of events that I don’t like, but you don’t see me trying to get any of them cancelled or even denying others from going to them. Sometimes, those haters have to understand that respect is a two way street that go either way. Personally, I don’t see any harm with a drag queen doing a reading at a library and sometimes it could have been because he was picked to do so hence no involvement with the LGBTQ movement.
Tal Barzilai from Pleasantville
Anti-Semitism
New York City may be the safest big city in the America, according to the mayor and police commissioner — but it is not immune from the troubling wave of anti-Semitism across the country.
As anti-Semitic hate crimes remain on the rise, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the launch of the Office of the Prevention of Hate Crimes to put a cap on the number of attack and ultimately uphold the city’s new status as the safest big city in America.
Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea said the highest number of incidents were in precincts outside of Queens, but the “World’s Borough” has had its share of hate crimes in recent months.
“We definitely see some precincts spiking and taking a disproportionate share of those crimes [such as the 71st Precinct and 94th Precinct] in Brooklyn. We also see it on the Upper East Side in the 19th Precinct,” Shea said. “So, there are hotspots, if you will, where we see a disproportionate share but that’s not to say that it’s confined solely to that. We see small instances spread throughout the city.”
Readers were divided online:
My guess continues to be, that anti-Semitism is mostly originating from where it came from 40 or 50-years ago — at home. Parents are continually badmouthing Jews, as money-misers, Christ-killers, slumlords, etc. Children hear this and act upon it. Especially as teenagers, or young adults. Unlike others places, there is little evidence of anti-Jewish acts by Muslims, here in NYC. Or anti-Semitism by the hard left-wing. This includes, anti-Zionism. As for a connection to the Donald Trump presidency, it’s frustrating to try to prove. He’s a bit like the ten or twelve-year old, who influences others to seriously misbehave. Yet, nobody could pin-down him for the same BAD behavior. Whatever, he’s definitely NOT without any guilt.SCR
from Realityville
Observant Jews know who our friends are. Just look at the voting maps from 2016 if you need proof. Leftists and Muslim extremists are our enemies in 2019 and we will destroy them from a position of strength.Chaim from Midwood
In France, the anti-Semitism is coming from the Muslim Immigrants, not from the ethnic French. In NY, It seems to be the brown and black kids who blame the Jews for gentrifying their neighborhoods. Blame the politicians and media for stirring the pot. The leftists want to lie and blame it on Trump and white supremacy but that is simply another bit of fake news by the lying, fascist DemonRats.LaQwerty Jones
from Gowanus
The problem is immigration from countries where anti-Semitism is rifeFelicio
Show me a tolerant muslim country where freedom is allowed including being openly gay.Keko
Postal apocalypse!
To the Editor,
Kudos to reader Ed Greenspan for calling attention to the often sorry state of our postal service. Several times a week my mail arrives in the later afternoon, or early evening. That would be fine if all I ever received was junk mail, but when there’s a bill to pay, or a doctor’s report, or an urgent notice from my health insurance company, that’s another matter entirely. Some things have to be dealt with immediately, but how can they be if the mail is frequently delivered after business hours?
And what about this; the other day a woman came to my door with a piece of mail addressed to my wife. It was a check, and this woman (who did not live nearby) had received it by mistake!
An acquaintance of mine, a retired letter carrier, explained to me recently that postal workers have so much to do every day that tardy deliveries are unavoidable, and that, now and then, the incorrectly delivered letter, or package can be expected as well. I understand that, I really do. But service is only getting worse.
Can’t something be done to improve it?Stuart R. Brynien
Sheepshead Bay
Transit issues
To the Editor,
Critics of the shoddy bus service in Manhattan ought to look at the surface transit problems plaguing another part of the city: Southern Brooklyn.
I have spent many an hour waiting for the 3, which links the Sheepshead Bay/Marine Park area to Bensonhurst and beyond, on Avenue U; the 36, which originates on Nostrand Avenue and travels all the way to COney Island; and the 44, also on Nostrand Avenue, which heads deep into the heart of the borough.
The schedule information posted at each stop often means nothing, and even the real-time app on my phone isn’t always accurate.
And, of course, the later the hour, the sketchier the service. After midnight, the 44 runs no more than twice an hour, if that.
The most egregious example of horrifically bad service that I can recal is one night, perhaps at 8 or 8:30 p.m.m across from the N train stop on Avenue U, I waited a full two-and-a-half hours for a 3 bus. Seven buses — I counted them — crawled by in the opposite direction, before one came rumbling along. Granted, it was a cold and icy night, only a few days after a snowstorm, but still — two-and-a-half hours?
And how to explain the wrongheaded decision to divide the 44 route into “select” and “local” service? Sure, the select bus will get me to my destination faster — though not always much faster — but that’s only because it makes fewer stops, and the bus stop nearest to me isn’t one of them. To catch that select bus, I have to bypass the stop that is practically right on my cirner and walk to the next one, cane and all, a couple of blocks away.
And — as if that’s not enough — some buses are operated by inconsiderate drivers who see me flagging them down after they;ve pulled into a stop, completely ignore me, and head back into traffic.
Come to Brooklyn, all you city-dwellers, and see what disgracefully bad bus serbice is really like. You may never complain agin.
Stuart R. Brynien
Sheepshead Bay
