Not everything needs to be a debate.

A local library hosts a free, inclusive reading session for children. It’s completely optional to attend, co-organised by two charities, and hosted by an experienced, DBS-checked entertainer, who just so happens to be a drag queen. Amid accusations of ‘creepiness’ and, at worst, ‘indoctrination’, I ask: how did it get to this?

At the end of this week, the public library from my home island of Guernsey, the Guille-Allez Library, will be hosting its first-ever “Drag Queen Story Time”. It’s a series of two reading sessions, co-organised by the library itself, Drag Queen Story Time, a UK-based nonprofit, and Liberate, Guernsey’s only LGBT+ support charity. Free to attend, tickets for the two reading sessions sold out within just 24 hours of launch.

The performer, Aida H Dee, is on the autistic spectrum themselves, and co-founded the charity with the intention of providing safe, inclusive spaces for children to be themselves, get creative, learn more, and develop more understanding about the community around them… and yes, with the LGBT+ community particularly in mind. The performers are fully police DBS checked and read age-appropriate…