Vienna: Right-wing boycott around children's book reading by drag queen

With the first of June, this year's "Pride Month" also began in Vienna. Within the framework of this special month, various events will be held. These should help as many people as possible to get to know the diversity of the queer community and to deal with it in an informative way.

And it is precisely in this context that a protest action has now taken place in the Austrian capital. The background: The drag queen Candy Licious is planning to hold a children's book reading in a Vienna library. (Probably) right-wing activists apparently wanted to come up with something to prevent the event. They simply bricked up the entrance to the library.

Suspected perpetrators of the "red-white-red" action assigned

On Friday night, perpetrators bricked up the entrance to Vienna's Mariahilf library. The trigger for their anger is the planned reading of the drag queen Candy Licious. Apparently, the saboteurs had a problem with the fact that the books to be read are LGBTQIA+ friendly.

As in every country, there are also groups in Austria for whom the local community is a thorn in the side. Many assume that the action was probably carried out by supporters of the nationalist action "Aktion rot-weiss-rot". This is suggested by the red-white-red painted concrete wall. And to further underline the homophobic message, the hashtag #NoPrideMonth was written on the wall.

No one will be intimidated here: the reading will still take place!

The children's books that will be the focus of the reading are aimed at preschool-age children. Among others, they bear titles such as "Julian celebrates love", "Julian is a mermaid" and "The cook in love".

In a language suitable for children, it should be possible for young readers and listeners to immerse themselves a little in the world of the community. In simple terms, the aim is to convey that every sexuality or sexual orientation is normal. Candy Licious also plans to talk to the very young audience after the reading and answer questions.

Despite the protest action, the reading will take place. Meanwhile, the Green politician Ewa Ernst-Dziedic has also spoken out. She demands that the perpetrators behind the homophobic action be punished.

The wall that was built by the perpetrators has already been removed.

Candy Licious also comments

In the meantime, drag queen Candy Licious has also commented on the incident to the media. She explained, among other things, that she had already encountered a lot of hatred on the Internet. Among other things, she has already been called a "pedophile".

So really surprised that such actions against Pride events are planned, many in politics, including Ernst-Dziedic, do not seem to be. Because: For quite some time, especially right-wing groups have been investing a lot of time when it comes to sabotaging events like the reading (or the upcoming CSD). Both the Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Ministry of the Interior have been informed accordingly.

The goal now is to fully investigate the incident and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Soon Pride will be celebrated in Vienna

As in many major cities around the world, Pride 2022 will soon be celebrated in Vienna. The big parade is to take place here on June 11, 2022. Against this backdrop, the action in front of the library once again takes on a disturbing flavor. Some may wonder whether the event could also become a target for right-wing or homophobic groups.

But: Police and others are informed and accordingly vigilant. And it would certainly have been wrong to cancel an event like the drag queen reading, which is aimed at the next generation and can have so much impact.

 

Finally the gay priest is back in office!

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