Tallahassee community defends LGBTQ bookstore against reactionary religious protest
Tallahassee, FL – On August 25, over 80 local community members showed up at Common Grounds Books, a local LGBTQ-friendly bookstore, to support their “Drag Story Hour” event which was threatened with protest by a religious organization, America Needs Fatima.
According to Alex Spencer, the owner of Common Grounds Bookstore, her shop received a threat of protest. In an email, America Needs Fatima reads, “We must peacefully and legally say NO to the homosexual plan to expose young children to indecency, impurity, and unnatural vice.” Drag Story Hour is a monthly event held at Common Ground in which a local drag artist reads storybooks to children.
Spencer says she mobilized the community because “Story hour promotes diversity and inclusion and loving people for exactly who they are. We feel Common Ground is important because it is a safe space in the community for anybody who needs it. We are so happy that we have so much support to make that happen.”
Attendees held signs such as “Trans rights are human rights” and “Love is love.”
The crowd used dozens of chants, some of which include, “When trans lives are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back” and “Racist, sexist, anti-gay, Ron DeSantis go away.”
Many speakers connected the issue of LGBTQ liberation to the Palestinian struggle and the fight against police brutality. Danyal Colomathi of the Tallahassee Dissenters states,“In the same way that we come together for Sonya Massey, George Floyd, and so many more we come together because of this struggle”
Several speakers took note of the fact that the counter-protesters failed to make an appearance. Delilah Pierre, president of the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, said, “80 people came out to stand up for queer and trans rights while these right-wing protesters aren't even here to be seen. Why? Because they are cowards, They’re scared. They like to bully queer and trans people. They like to bully drag queens because they think no one cares and they’ll get away with it. Well, Guess what? We do care. You won’t get away with it and there will be consequences.”
After the event, participants were encouraged to attend story hour, which featured Iggy Monroe, a drag queen from Mobile, Alabama.
The organizers of the event to support the bookstore were Tallahassee Community Action Committee, the Tallahassee Dissenters, Tallahassee Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and Food Not Bombs.