More than $207,000 in state budgets has been allocated to Drag Queen Story Hour NYC, a state chapter, according to the New York Post. According to the chapter's website at least 49 drag programs have been organized at 34 public elementary, middle, and high schools.
“I can't believe this. I am shocked,” said State Assembly candidate Helen Qiu, who is also a mother to an 11-year-old. “I would be furious if he was exposed without my consent. This is not part of the curriculum.”
GONE TOO SOON: NYPD MOURNS FALLEN OFFICER AFTER FATAL CONFRONTATION, IS BIDEN'S AMERICA TO BLAME?
The total funding includes $50,000 from New York State’s Council on the Arts, alongside $157,000 in funding from the city’s departments of Education, Cultural Affairs, Youth and Community Development, and even the Department of Transportation.
GONE TOO SOON: NYPD MOURNS FALLEN OFFICER AFTER FATAL CONFRONTATION, IS BIDEN'S AMERICA TO BLAME?
At least one City Council member is weighing taking action against the funding.
DIPLOMATIC RIFT DEEPENS: NETANYAHU CANCELS TALKS WTH BIDEN AFTER UN CALLS FOR CEASEFIRE
“I am considering pulling funding to any school in my district that is implementing Drag Queen Story Hour,” Republican City Council member Vickie Paladino said. “We are taking hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the pockets of hardworking New York taxpayers … to fund a program teaching little children about their gender fluidity? Not. On. My. Watch.”
WATCH: TULSI GABBARD ADDRESSES WHO REALLY INFLUENCES POLICY, AND IT'S NOT BIDEN...
“DQSH captures the imagination and play of the gender fluidity of childhood and gives kids glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models,” the nonprofit organization’s website says. The readings have featured a variety of texts, from children’s classics such as Where the Wild Things Are and The Rainbow Fish to pro-LGBT texts such as The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.
WATCH: AOC DISPLAYING HER IGNORANCE ONCE AGAIN
Drag Queen Story Hour has been an origin of debate for years. Initially hosting story hours in public libraries, the events have grown more popular during Pride month and began appearing at other public events. It brought considerable controversy in Texas after angry parents protested outside a “Drag the Kids to Pride” event at a Dallas gay bar on June 6.
FIVE ARRESTED IN SOUTHERN TEXAS FOR TRAFFICKING OF MILITARY-GRADE WEAPONS TO CARTEL
In 2022 alone, Drag Story Hour NYC has made 49 appearances at 34 public schools in New York City, according to its website.
The organization describes itself as encouraging inclusivity, creativity, and acceptance of the self in children by exposing them to drag queens reading similarly thematic books.
GONE TOO SOON: NYPD MOURNS FALLEN OFFICER AFTER FATAL CONFRONTATION, IS BIDEN'S AMERICA TO BLAME?
“Through fun and fabulous educational experiences, our programs celebrate gender diversity and all forms of difference to build empathy and give kids the confidence to express themselves however they feel comfortable,” the website reads.
Pictures from the site show people dressed in bedazzled dresses, shimmering wigs, and heavy eye shadow, reading to young children in the classroom, and even helping them apply makeup themselves.