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  • 2017-10-18 (xsd:date)
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  • Did a Drag Queen in a 'Demonic' Outfit Read a Sexually Explicit Book to Children at a Public Library? (en)
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  • In October 2017, right-wing web sites reported with a significant degree of alarm that a drag queen in a Satan-inspired costume had read to children at a California public library associated with former First Lady Michelle Obama. In their headline, Conservative Fighters falsely claimed that Xochi Mochi had read a sexually explicit book to the children. World News Daily reported: The right-wing Media Research Center wrote: Setting aside for a moment the alarmist language used to describe this event, the Los Angeles drag performer Xochi Mochi (also known as Jorge Alcantar) did read to children at the Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library in Long Beach, California, on 14 October. The reading was part of a series called Drag Queen Story Hour, which is run by the writer Michelle Tea and the literary and arts non-profit Radar Productions. Here's how the Drag Queen Story Hour web site describes the project: The photograph used in the reports mentioned above is authentic, and was posted to Facebook and Instagram by Xochi Mochi, who added: Long Beach Public Library also posted the photograph to its Twitter account, but has since deleted that tweet. (An archived version can be viewed here.) Republican candidate for Congress Omar Navarro asked in a tweet what are we teaching kids in school? and claimed the photograph of Xochi Mochi showed demonic teachings. Setting aside the fact that the event took place at a library, not a school, the book Xochi Mochi is reading in the photograph is Todd Parr's children's book It's Okay to be Different, which includes the following lines: The web sites also made much of the fact that Xochi Mochi's costume involved horns, though there's no evidence that those horns are Satan-inspired. They could just as well have been inspired by the Greek gods Pan or Dionysus, both of whom are often depicted with horns. Or they could simply be Xochi Mochi's own invention. Satan and other Christian demons (as well as Pan and Dionysus) are typically portrayed with two horns, rather than the five that Xochi Mochi wore. She was also wearing a pink dress and cape; a gem-encrusted necklace and bracelet; and flowers in her hair and on her cape -- all of which are hardly in keeping with Satanist or demonic symbology and suggest that -- like most drag -- Xochi Mochi's appearance was driven by playfulness and eclecticism. Contrary to Conservative Fighters's claim, there is no evidence whatsoever that Xochi Mochi read the children anything sexually explicit. Finally, Michelle Obama had no role in the event. The Conservative Fighters web site misleadingly referred to Michelle Obama's public library in its headline, suggesting that the former First Lady owns or operates the institution. She doesn't, but the library was named in her honor in September 2016. (en)
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