Kirk Cameron drew another large crowd and some protesters at a reading of his children’s book in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the final stop on his National Library tour, which offered an alternative to drag queen story lessons.
Hundreds of parents, children and supporters descended on the Fayetteville Public Library on Friday to watch Mr. Cameron read his Christian children’s book As You Grow, published by Brave Books, as did a group of protesters holding signs, by which some were dressed draw.
“We wanted to be a light for the kids who are out here and maybe feel ostracized in their own family,” Sister Annie Philaxis, a member of drag group Hillbilly Harlots, told 5News.
They were outnumbered by enthusiastic parents like Mandy Brooks, who said that she and her children came to Mr. Cameron because “we love these Brave Books, we love our country and we just wanted to come here and be a part of it , what he does .”
This was Mr. Cameron’s sixth stop on the Freedom Island Tour, which kicked off earlier this year after Brave Books said more than 50 public libraries have turned down or ignored requests to include the popular Christian actor, even though they are drag queens – Sponsored readings for children.
Mr Cameron later said the event attracted a “small group of protesters, including some grown men wearing goofy make-up, dressed in skirts and heels and pretending to be women”.
Brave Books estimated that about 500 people attended the children’s reading.
Outside the library, about a dozen protesters waved signs and made chalk art on the sidewalk. No incidents have been reported.
(March 18, 2023; 7:37 a.m. CET) #ARKANSAS
– ActivistBowen: #PFIZER X 4 (@ActivistBowen2) March 17, 2023
“When we got to Fayetteville, Arkansas, we expected a crowd of supportive Christian and conservative families to show up,” Brave Books chief of staff Zac Bell said in a statement. “What we didn’t expect was a group of drag queens and activists attending the event and pacing, giving goosebumps to the kids in attendance.”
Co-authoring Mr. Cameron was Laura Perry Smalts, author of the 2019 book Transgender to Transformed, an account of how she turned to Christianity after living as a transgender man for nine years.
She read Elephants Aren’t Birds, written by Ashley St. Clair and published by Brave Books, which “teaches kids that boys aren’t girls and elephants aren’t birds.”
Ms Perry Smalts said the book showed “that the elephant, Kevin, wanted to be like the birds, the town needed him to be an elephant and he became a hero. I think this book has an excellent message for children.”
She asked the children in the audience, “Do you think elephants can be birds even if they strap on stupid wings and a beak?”
“All 300 children enthusiastically professed ‘No!’ together and to great laughter,” Mr. Cameron said in a subsequent statement. “I felt sorry for the men in skirts. As it is written, “You taught the little children to praise you perfectly. May their example shame and silence your enemies.”
In addition to reading his book, Mr. Cameron, the former teen star of ABC TV series Growing Pains, led the crowd by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the national anthem.
At least one of the demonstrators didn’t like that. Clint Schneckloth, pastor of the progressive Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, called the event “overwhelming and much stranger and scarier than I had imagined.”
“They had the group sing the national anthem AND say the pledge and the loudest applause of the entire event was even more for the nationalist/patriotic stuff than the Christian crap,” Mr. Schnekloth said in a Friday post on Facebook.
Brave Books founder Trent Talbot accused the drag queens of trying to “impose disturbing views on these innocent children.”
“The left’s predatory behavior is just another conspiracy theory being debunked as fact,” he said.
Brave Books canceled plans for a Sunday reading with Mr. Talbot and Chaya Raichik, better known as Libs of TikTok, in New York City, citing safety concerns.
The event was designed to compete with the Drag Story Hour Read-A-Thon hosted by New York Attorney General Letitia James and other state Democrats at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan.
Source : www.washingtontimes.com