(The Center Square) – According to event officials, a July 26 event held at Donald Eismann Elementary School, part of the Sumner-Bonney Lake School District in Washington state, that included a “Drag Queen Story Hour” and other controversial drag performances, has inspired death threats against organizers and participants.
In the meantime, school board members have been getting an earful from community members concerned about the event.
Some parents spoke out at Wednesday’s school board meeting.
“Did the Sumner Bonney Lake School District conduct a thorough review when approving this Pride event?” asked Daniel Sanders, whose daughter attends Donald Eisman Elementary School. “My question to the board is, since the district approved hosting this event on school property, how does this align with the school district’s values?”
Hope Development Practice, located in Puyallup, hosted the event. The organization describes itself as a “nonprofit Behavioral Health Agency.”
Much of its work centers around supporting and promoting the LGBTQIA+ community.
After concerned parents’ comments, Hope Development Director Abby White addressed the board via Zoom.
“I would love to give a little bit of education around the importance of drag for the LGBTQ community,” White said. “Pride initially started out of discrimination that was happening, and the first people to step up were drag performers and trans people in the community, to rise up against the discrimination that was happening.”
She suggested that the inappropriate photos displayed on social media were taken without the consent of the people in the photos.
“They were taken to try to slander the LGBTQ community … to cause a rise up of hate which resulted in me getting death threats, my staff getting death threats, our pride performers getting death threats,” White said.
In a Friday email to The Center Square, she said feedback on the event was overwhelmingly positive.
“Pride has a long history of including drag and ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show,’ and this year’s performances were conducted with parental consent and clear explanations of consent to the audience,” White noted.
She pointed out that the district did not sponsor or advertise the event, but agreed to rent out the school.
“With recent federal cuts to support our already marginalized community, we face more hate and fear than ever. We encourage people to support mental health funding and support those most vulnerable to acts of hate like we are seeing here,” she continued.
White did not respond to questions about the death threats she said she has received since the event.
Cathy Hayden contacted The Center Square with grave concerns about the event. Hayden said White is her nephew’s wife. Despite the family connection, she felt compelled to speak out against what she considers pushing adult material on children.
“My sister and her children came to dinner. They were talking about this fabulous event that they had volunteered at, and we didn’t know what it was. And then a day or two later, I saw a post on Facebook about it and realized that it’s the event that they had participated in,” said Hayden. “And then I began to do my own investigation and found out, yes, this is my nephew and his wife.”
Hayden said she takes issue with encouraging families with young children to attend an event that includes a drag show.
“They had a bouncy house. They had hamster balls. They had crafts and things that would attract children,” Hayden said. “And at the same time, they had the drag queen show. There were five drag queens there. They were in very suggestive dress. Men wearing lingerie. And then the drag queens would do their act. And there’s a picture of a child tipping money to a drag queen.”
The Center Square contacted all Sumner-Bonney Lake School Board members and the superintendent and received an email response from a district spokesperson.
“This was an outside event, by a nonprofit entity that rented our facility. It was not a district event. This event, and all events held outside of school hours by outside organizations, are not district-sponsored. Approval of a facility rental does not mean the district endorses or approves the event itself,” Communications Director Elle Warmuth emailed The Center Square.
She continued: “As a public entity, we are legally required to provide equitable access to community groups in a way that does not discriminate based on protected class. Again, the district provides rental access to school facilities without endorsing or opposing the views or activities of any group that rents them.”
Warmuth admitted the response from the community has been mixed.
“We take these concerns seriously, and we are currently reviewing our facility use policies and procedures,” she said.
Hayden conceded that speaking out against the event has been difficult because it involves family.
“I love my family, but I’ve notified my family that I’m taking steps. I’m investigating this myself, and I’m against it. I’ve let them know that,” she said. “They’ve not responded to me, and I might be canceled. But I’m going to just continue any course I can find to bring this to public attention and to get it stopped. Right is right, and we know when things are wrong.”
