In Ontario, Butch Bikers Formed a Human Chain to Protect Drag Queen Story Hour

By James Factora

No cops at Pride, only a motorcycle gang of butches.

As has been the case at many such events over the past year, roughly two dozen anti-drag protestors showed up at the Middlesex County Library in the small, rural town of Parkhill, Ontario on April 29, according to CTV News. They were there to protest a drag queen story hour. But they were met with self-proclaimed protectors, all affiliated with the all-women motorcycle club the WindSisters, who linked arms to form a chain at the entrance and helped escort patrons safely inside.

The event was put on by the Rainbow Optimists, a southern Ontario LGBTQ+ youth advocacy group focusing on rural communities, and Strathoy Pride, which organizes pride events in Middlesex County, the primarily rural municipality in which Parkhill is located. It was the first drag queen storytime event at the library since 2019 and the first with so many protesters, according to comments that Lindsay Brock, Middlesex County's director of library services, made to the Canadian news outlet CBC.

Brock attributed the vitriol toward drag events to such protests being in the news, stating that "We're hearing things that are happening south of the border, and it's kind of mingling with concerns and feelings that people are having here locally."

American politicians and other far-right influential figures have been steadily demonizing drag performers over the past few years. The anti-drag protests have become a particular fixation for neo-Nazis and other white supremacist groups, who have repeatedly stormed drag queen story hours across the U.S. In March, a Florida neo-Nazi even told NPR that anti-drag protests had led to "the largest upticks in recruitment."

Accordingly, 70-year-old Patricia Ginn, a member of the WindSisters, told CTV that "Historically, a butch — like myself, and I’ve been one for 50 years now — our role in the community has always been one of the great protector."

Ginn told CBC on Monday that the counterprotest was "brutal for two hours."

"They were in our face, pushing and shoving, screaming, calling us everything they could think of," Ginn said. "They actually went up to several members who were walking in with their children and called them pedophiles."

Ginn said that her mission is to support drag queen storytime events across southern Ontario, a predominantly conservative area. Despite protests, Middlesex County organizers are still planning on more drag queen story hours, including two that Ginn plans to attend next month.

She told CBC that she wanted "our children to be able to safely walk into a library for storytime on Saturday morning in small-town Ontario without harassment."

Strathoy Pride director Frank Emanuele additionally told CTV, "Often queer children and queer teens say they don't feel safe in rural communities."

"So we need to hold more events like this to show there is love and acceptance even in small towns," Emanuele concluded.

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