Church group holds sit-in protest against Pocatello drag queen reading program

“By the time we arrived at the library around 1 p.m. Saturday, a bus chartered by Mountain Valley Baptist Church had unloaded and occupied all of the seats in the meeting room,” said event organizer Joseph Crupper, who goes by the name Miss Cali Je while performing in drag. “It was very clear their intent was to cause trouble, occupy space, and, though not being disruptive according to the library’s policy, be incredibly disruptive to our event in practice.”

According to Eric Suess, the director of the Marshall Public Library, the meeting room at the library has a maximum seating capacity of 40 people. Once the capacity of the room hit that number, those who arrived last were asked to leave.

Those shown the exit were mostly the usual parents and children who attend Reading Time with the Queens while the protesters were allowed to stay, according to Crupper.

“That room has been way more full in the past than it was on Saturday with a room full of homophobes,” Crupper said. “But the library director told everybody who hadn’t gotten there first to leave the room. So, we did the program for a bunch of adult children, just not the kids and families that we had set out to make the program for.”

The event typically begins with a craft-making session and includes individuals dressed in drag clothing reading books, a song singing portion and a brief sign language lesson, Crupper said. Saturday’s event was no different, aside from those seated in the audience.

Don Whitecar, pastor of Mountain Valley Baptist Church in Pocatello, told the Idaho State Journal on Monday that he and others from his church and other local churches did travel to the Reading Time with the Queens event together on Saturday in a Mountain Valley Baptist Church bus. Whitecar said he attended the event because he finds it to be immoral and a point needed to be made.

“It was totally peaceful and all of our people were polite,” Whitecar said. “Nobody made any rude comments. We’re just trying to make a point that we believe that this is an immoral issue that’s using a public building and taxpayer money to promote it and we believe that’s wrong.”

He continued, “So we went in and sat down, took up the seats and essentially there wasn’t room in there for the children to get in there. What we believe and what the Bible teaches is that what they are doing is a perversion. To invite children into that would be perverting their minds and we stand against that.”

Local Republican Party leader David Worley, a former Pocatello mayoral candidate and former state Legislature candidate, was also in attendance for the sit-in. He said, “It was inspiring to see Christians of various faith traditions standing together and that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and at least three other churches were present.”

Worley continued, “The purpose of the sit-in during the Reading Time with the Queens event was to protect children from being exposed to sexual deviancy. This event is also part of a series that seeks to normalize transgenderism, a flawed and immoral combination of radical sex ideology and pseudoscience, which causes irreparable harm to those who undergo its various chemical and surgical procedures. No public institution should be used to promote sexual deviancy and immorality. The innocence of children is sacred and should be protected by our community.”

Worley also said, “It shows that you don’t need to agree on every point of doctrine to be united in protecting children from sexual immorality. It was great to see Pastor Whitecar of Mountain Valley Baptist Church personally leading from the front to protect the children of our community.”

But The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued a statement Tuesday that took issue with Saturday’s sit-in protest and the involvement of some LDS church members.

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not sanction or support these protests. Our faith does not support divisive or hateful behavior toward our brothers and sisters. We strive to follow the example of Jesus Christ to love one another,” said Cameron D. Brower, Chubbuck Idaho Stake president and the local representative for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Tuesday’s statement.

Whitecar confirmed that supporters of MassResistance, a pro-family advocacy group that the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as an anti-LGBTQ hate group, were also in attendance at Saturday’s sit-in.

The Southern Poverty Law Center defines a hate group as “an organization or collection of individuals that — based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities — has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.”

Ron Nate, a former Republican state lawmaker from Rexburg, also participated in the sit-in.

“I don’t understand why drag queens need to have children for an audience,” Nate told the Journal. “It was nice to see Christians of various faiths stand in the gap to protect children. I would hope that Christians all across Idaho will see this as an example of how they can protect children, too.”

Saturday’s sit-in also attracted the attention of Pocatello Mayor Brian Blad as well as the local chapter of the NAACP.

In a statement provided to the Journal on Tuesday, Blad said, “I am aware of the protest held over the weekend at the Marshall Public Library, and I appreciate that the participants remained peaceful. However, I want to remind Pocatellans that our Welcoming Resolution states we wish to cultivate a culture of harmony and inclusion and promote understanding and friendship for all citizens and visitors. Pocatello is all-inclusive. As a city, we remain committed to the safety and security of all our citizens.”

Pocatello NAACP President Ken Monroe condemned the actions of those who held the sit-in protest, adding, “The NAACP has always worked with these kinds of issues. LGBTQ rights and marriage equality have been topics that we have been involved in before. We look for equal rights and justice for all Americans, not just Black people. This is a great teaching opportunity for families.”

Crupper said he will continue to host Reading Time with the Queens in the future, though Saturday’s incident has caused some concern for him.

He said part of him wants to continue hosting the weekly event in spite of Saturday’s sit-in protest but another part of him doesn’t want to put children in an environment that could become hostile if pro-drag supporters and anti-LGBTQ protestors show up in force and tensions escalate.

“People have floated the idea of our supporters and participants showing up even earlier next go around and I’m just really concerned about the safety of the kids,” Crupper said. “I just foresee this big fight and I don’t want kids in the middle of it.”

Crupper said he is hopeful the library staff will review its policies and procedures and work to expand their level of understanding when it comes to their policy on disruptiveness.

“Their understanding of the policy right now is that disruption is loud, boisterous or violent,” Crupper said. “But if a community group has reserved a public room and they’re impeded on using the room by a group of actors, who are clearly intent on making sure that we’re not able to use it, then disruption has taken place.”

Suess says the library’s policies regarding room rentals is publicly available on the Marshall Public Library website, adding that all uses of public meeting rooms must at all times be open to the public.

“The library does not support, advertise or condone the uses of our public meeting rooms. We have no stake in their usage,” Suess said. “This was not a library event and maybe the event did not go off as the organizers would have hoped but we had to maintain the fire code and I had to have some people leave the room so that we could maintain that fire code.”

Suess said he is in the process of getting the maximum room occupancy issue clarified for future public meetings at the library, but as of now the fire code prohibits more than 40 seated people in each of the library’s meeting rooms. Additionally, Suess said those in attendance of Saturday’s Reading Time with the Queens were not being actively disruptive.

While Saturday’s Reading Time with the Queens didn’t go off quite as planned, Crupper said he won’t stop exhibiting his First Amendment rights and holding what he believes is a positive, uplifting event.

“What happened on Saturday was theater,” Crupper said. “These people do not care about the kids in this community. If they did, they would not have done what they did. They only care about getting rid of the protections that queer people have in our society — our right to exist, to be in the public and to make spaces for ourselves. My recommendation to the library is that they step up, be brave and expand their understanding of what disruptive behavior is.”