September 2nd, Leiden: don’t give fascists a chance to disrupt drag queen reading hour
This Saturday, September 2, drag queen Dina Diamond will read to children for an hour in the Leiden public library. Torch-fascist Max van den Berg and Forum voor Democratie (FvD) hate monger Gideon van Meijeren have seized this opportunity to incite their supporters, and to call for “a counter-voice” to be heard at the library “on personal capacity”. For some time now, the extreme right has been trying to attack and discredit the LGBTQIA+ community and movement. Especially trans people and drag queens are currently suffering.
We, however, think that the reading hours of drag queens are very important to instill the message of inclusivity in children. In this way, they can see at a young age how many forms of self and gender expressions are possible. This is obviously in stark contrast with the limited and limiting idea of the male/female binary and heterosexuality that the extreme-right is using to suppress people.
Fortunately, there is usually a lot of resistance against the “counter-voices” of the extreme right. When various extreme right-wing groups wanted to disrupt a similar reading hour in Rotterdam on April 16, they were confronted with an enormous force of very combative queer activists and anti-fascists. The hate mongers are also not welcome in Leiden and we are going to stop them. Especially on the day of the Leiden Pride, which also takes place on Saturday!
The reading hour is at 10:30 am at the library (BplusC) on the Nieuwstraat. We gather at 10:00 am at the Hooglandse Kerkplein, at 80 meters away from the entrance of the library. We hope that as many people as possible come in drag and at least want to wear colorful clothing, so that it is immediately clear to passers-by what we stand for: liberation and diversity! Come demonstrate with us!
We ask other organizations to sign this call, let us know, and spread this call further. Unfortunately it is short notice.
For those who want, we can hang afterwards at a location that will be announced at the protest. Then we can go together to the anti-capitalist block at Leiden Pride. This starts at 15:15 pm, at the Catharina Bridge.
Doorbraak
This call is co-signed by:
Saturday, September 2nd
Starting at 10:00 am
Hooglandse Kerkplein
Leiden
