Library sued over LGBT event
Protesters seek to close book on Drag Queen Story Hour
A crew of anti-gay protesters rallied outside the federal courthouse Friday afternoon, announcing they have sued the Houston Public Library over a city-sponsored Drag Queen Story Hour that they say violates their freedom of religion.
Other opponents of the story hour have also turned out to protest the library events, which began this summer in Montrose, the city’s historic gay enclave.
Similar drag queen events have been hosted around the country with the aim of providing queer role models for children.
The lawsuit was filed Friday by a group of individuals who have vocally opposed marriage equality and joined the fight to defeat a proposed Houston ordinance that would have lifted gender restrictions on bathrooms.
They asked a federal judge to halt the reading event because, they contend, it’s not appropriate for all patrons.
The library director and Mayor Sylvester Turner are named as defendants, accused of being recklessly entangled in “LGBT doctrine.” The lawsuit says the storytelling sessions advertised as appropriate for patrons of all ages at the Freed-Montrose Neighborhood branch should not be funded with taxpayer dollars since the library would not host a “man-woman marriage storytelling hour.”
Members of the group behind the lawsuit identify themselves as “Christ followers,” taxpayers and card-carrying library patrons. One of those bringing the lawsuit is Tex Christopher, who says he home-schooled his children using library books.
Another plaintiff is Chris Sevier, who has filed a number of lawsuits across the country, including one in Houston for the right to marry his laptop. If men can marry men, he has argued, why can’t he marry a computer?
The plaintiffs also include an evangelical minister and a woman who says she got into a custody battle with her husband after he left her for a transgender woman.