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Texas Judge Throws Out Christian Lawsuit Against Drag Queen Story Hour
The popular event brings drag queens to libraries to read stories to young children across America.
Christian activists who sought to stop drag queens from reading to children have been thwarted.
Drag Queen Story Hour, a non-profit program in which drag queens visit libraries and bookstores and read to children whose parents bring them up to participate, began in San Francisco a couple years ago and has bloomed across the U.S.
But the group Christ Followers has taken offense, and brought forth a lawsuit against Houston library directors last October for allowing the events to take place.
They alleged that Drag Queen Story Hour promotes an “ideology [that] is immoral, obscene and subversive to human flourishing and that the LGBTQ ideology is inseparably linked to the religion of Secular Humanism,” according to their lawsuit.
On Thursday, a judge threw the case out.
U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal said the plaintiffs failed to state a viable First Amendment Establishment Clause claim.
Moreover, she said, they could not prove they had been in any way damaged by the events because “they purposefully avoided ‘Drag Queen Storytime’ because of its alleged immorality and potential to harm their children. Instead of witnessing the event, the plaintiffs ‘researched [it] online.’”
Rosenthal also rejected the idea that secular humanism is a religion, or that drag queens had discussed it at any events, which dismisses the plaintiffs’ protest that Drag Queen Story Hour shouldn’t be hosted at Houston libraries if Christian events aren’t allowed to be hosted there.
One of the plaintiffs, Chris Sevier, is becoming known for these fairly ridiculous lawsuits and stances against the LGBTQ community. He’s filed a lawsuit in Louisiana for the same reason, and previously filed lawsuits in several states trying to marry his laptop, in misguided protest against the legalization of gay marriage.
Tex Christopher, the lead plaintiff, plans to take his appeal to the Fifth Circuit.
But in the meantime, kids in Texas will continue to have stories read to them by animated adults who are excited to help their imaginations blossom.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
Rachel Kiley is presumably a writer and definitely not a terminator. She can usually be found crying over queerbaiting in the Pitch Perfect franchise or on Twitter, if not both.
