A drag queen story hour at a Massachusetts library was canceled after the library received a bomb threat. A subsequent investigation by police revealed the call to be a false alarm, but the authorities are taking the threat seriously, local ABC affiliate WCVB reported.
Police estimated around 100 people showed up outside Sommerville Library on Saturday, with supporters vastly outnumbering protesters. Organizers planned to continue with the story hour until they received the bomb threat. The building was evacuated and searched, and organizers and community members decided it was best to cancel the event.
“Hate has no place here in Somerville,” Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said. “When any one of us is hurt, we’re all hurt, so it’s just not acceptable.”
One of the groups reportedly protesting the drag queen story hour on Sunday was Super Happy Fun America, a Massachusetts right-wing political advocacy group founded in 2019. The group praised the efforts of protesters but denounced and disavowed any connection to the bomb threat.
“We are relieved that today’s drag queen story hour for 4- to 8-year-old children at the Somerville Public Library was canceled. It is our goal to preserve children’s innocence and we did show up to peacefully voice our objections to the event,” Christine Doherty, the group’s director of operations, wrote in a statement provided to the media. “We do, however, denounce the action of a bomb threat being called in, especially at a children’s event. We have no connection to the caller.”
The group’s president and a former congressional candidate, John Hugo, once said the group’s name was chosen to force the journalists and the media to repeatedly use Super Happy Fun America in their reporting.
The group first gained notoriety in 2019 when it announced a Straight Pride event.
Police Chief Shumeane Benford told reporters the authorities were taking the threat to the library and public seriously.
“It was a threat against a public space, so we’re going to investigate it,” Benford told reporters.
