New Jersey Families Evacuated From Drag Queen Story Hour Event Amid Bomb Threat

New Jersey families with children who had gathered in Princeton on Saturday to enjoy a drag queen story hour event were forced to evacuate the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice after somebody threatened it with violence.

An unknown person sent the Princeton Police Department an email containing derogatory remarks about the LGBTQ+ community and the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice shortly before 11 a.m., police said, Patchreports.

The person said that explosive devices were placed around the center's property.

Police responded immediately to this threat, directing people to leave the center.

The organizers of the drag queen story hour maintained calm and still put on a celebration.

While authorities investigated the reported threat, drag queen Carrie Dragshaw, who had to leave her wig behind during the evacuation, led kids and parents down the road with the motto "The show must go on."

The group enjoyed an outdoor reading on the stoop of a nearby building.

“The safe space we offer to our LGBTQIA youth, intersectional families, and all our beautifully diverse folx is not only a physical entity but indeed something we carry within our hearts and our souls,” said Robt Martin Seda-Schreiber, founder and chief activist of the BRCSJ. “These despicable actions threatened, this dishonest, bigoted rhetoric espoused, this abhorrent hate will only ever be answered by a stronger, braver, and more empowering message of love.”

He said the bomb threat didn't deter the organization's gathering.

“We want to thank all the family and community members who showed up and glowed up, our drag queen Carrie Dragshaw, whose lack of wig was made up by far more spirit, and the Princeton Police Department, who were kind and considerate as they did their due diligence to keep us all safe,” Seda-Schreiber added.

The improvised drag queen story hour allowed communities to connect meaningfully, Seda-Schreiber said. After Dragshaw read to the children a drag queen celebration book a parent had brought, the crowd engaged in conversations that Seda-Schreiber said might not have happened otherwise.

“It allowed for this other experience that we wouldn’t have had otherwise. And who’s to say it wasn’t, if not, as good, maybe even better, that we had this special moment — this meaningful moment together,” he noted.