Drag Queen Bingo at Library Cancelled After Threats, Though Majority Support It

The Downers Grove Public Library in Illinois had planned to hold a Drag Queen Bingo event October 11th, to recognize National Coming Out Day. It has since been cancelled after the library received threats. The library was mailed a letter from “Your Friends at Maga” with a confederate flag, a note that says “[F-slur] Lover Commies: More to Come For Downers Grove Library,” and a bullet.

The Downers Grove Public Library cancelled a drag queen bingo event hosted for teens due to alleged threats made and details for the incident have been released https://t.co/86gfomYdnb

— WGN TV News (@WGNNews) September 30, 2022

Despite the hostility and the cancellation, Downers Grove Public Library found that overall, the community supported the event by a large margin. They tallied over 1,200 comments, including emails, responses to a form, social media commentary, phone calls, and more. They found that 60.6% of respondents supported Drag Queen Bingo, 35.3% opposed it, and 4.1% fell into the “other” category.

Community feedback overwhelmingly supports @DGLibrary's drag queen bingo program https://t.co/bj0FHDTzB3 pic.twitter.com/jkXisLFPNZ

— EQuality Downers Grove (@EQDGpride) October 4, 2022

You can read through all the feedback the library received. It’s worth noting that unlike most other forms of comment, phone calls to the library were overwhelmingly negative. If you support your library holding LBGTQ events and carrying LGBTQ books, it’s worth calling in: most of the voices they’re hearing are likely critical.

For more about the feedback the library received, read the article at Equality Downers Grove. To learn how to fight back against censorship in the library, check out our Anti-Censorship Tool Kit.