Huntington Woods Commissioner Against Drag Queen Story Time Resigns Amid Backlash

[TexasTowelie]

A Huntington Woods commissioner has resigned after reportedly joining an anti-gay group in trying to shut down a library series in which drag queens read to children.

Commissioner Allison Iversen said she planned to bring up her opposition to Drag Quee Story Time at the commission's meeting Tuesday, after an out-of-state anti-LGBTQ group, MassResistance, reportedly whipped up controversy over the program with an email and phone campaign targeting city and library officials. Instead, Iversen tendered her resignation early. She had planned to resign later this year because she's moving to Lake Orion.

Michigan Radio reports people who spoke at the Tuesday meeting were overwhelmingly supportive of the story program.

Azriel Apap is a senior at Berkley High. He says he came out as a trans boy at age 13.

"The idea that children exposed to other ways of life are somehow at danger or at risk for sexual victimization is completely and utterly false." Angie Povilaitis, former Michigan assistant attorney general
"I wonder if it would have been easier, if, when I was younger, I had an opportunity to attend something like Drag Queen Storytime," he said. "When I came out, I was so scared, I was so depressed. I was admitted to a hospital for being suicidal. I wonder if I could have realized sooner, if I could have had more of my childhood to be myself."

Four people at the meeting spoke out against Drag Queen Storytime, but only one was a city resident. One man said he was a Stockbridge resident and a friend of MassResistence, the anti-gay group contacted by Iverson. His remarks about the dangers to children from "sexual ideologues" drew angry protests from some in the crowd.

Read more: http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/21257/huntington_woods_commissioner_against_drag_queen_story_time_resigns_amid_backlash