A drag queen was recorded on video ordering children to chant "Free Palestine" during a queer storytime event in Massachusetts last week.
The video posted to social media shows a drag performer named "Lil Miss Hot Mess" telling preschool and elementary-age children to "shout Free Palestine" during a "Queer Storytime for Palestine" event.
The event was hosted by the Valley Families for Palestine group at the Northampton Center for the Arts on April 14 in Amherst, Massachusetts, and promoted "dancing, celebrating Palestine culture, learning about queer heroes and doing arts and crafts," according to the DailyMail.
The drag performer wore a sparkly red dress, green boa, and a large watermelon-shaped brooch while reading the book titled, "If You're a Drag Queen and You Know It."
"Today what we're going to do is we're going to shout 'Free Palestine!' Can I hear that?" the performer could be heard in the video. "If you're a drag queen and you know it and you really want to show it, if you're a drag queen and you know it, shout 'Free Palestine!'"
Little Miss Hot Mess shared photos from the event on Instagram writing, "The event was both a wonderful reminder of the power of imagination, community, and organizing, while at the same time heartbreaking in thinking about how we could feel so much joy together while Gazans (and especially Palestinian children) are suffering."
The event organizer Valley Families for Palestine said, "We came together today in joy and solidarity and learned some important lessons about being ourselves, using our voices to speak out against injustice, and being fabulous while we do it.
But the event has sparked outrage online with some people pointing out that not only is it wrong to subject toddlers to sexualized personas like drag queens, but there's another major problem with the entire idea behind it. It's that homosexuality is criminalized in Gaza and a queer pro-Palestine supporters would be treated horribly by Hamas.
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Amherst, MA - Valley Families for Palestine puts on ‘Queer Storytime for Palestine’ in which toddlers are recorded chanting “Free Palestine”.
The harsh reality? Members of the LGBTQ+ community are often murdered in Gaza and other Palestinian areas such as Ramallah. pic.twitter.com/b8qwU4ycR3
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) April 24, 2024
"The harsh reality? Members of the LGBTQ+ community are often murdered in Gaza and other Palestinian areas such as Ramallah," wrote Stop AntiSemitism on X.
They added, "Oftentimes members of the LGBTQ+ community seek refuge in Israel as their lives are endangered and their families excommunicate them. Were these children taught these points?"
According to Equaldex's LGBTQ+ Equality Index, Palestine is the sixth-worst "country" in the world for legal protections for LGBTQ+ people, ranking 192 out of 197 countries.
Additionally, only five percent of Palestinians find the LGBT lifestyle acceptable, according to a BBC poll.
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)," Jake Wallis Simons, the editor of the Jewish Chronicle, posted to X referring to the event.
"An indoctrination double whammy," Eitan Fischberger, a former Israel Defense Forces sergeant, posted to X.
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