A Nebraska children’s museum has canceled a “drag queen story hour” event after receiving “an overwhelming number of threats.”
The Lincoln Children’s Museum announced the planned event, put on with LGBTQ organization OutNebraska, which was private and would have happened while the building was closed to the public, was no longer occurring.
The event was canceled after the museum and OutNebraska “have both received an overwhelming number of threats of violence against our organizations, many going as far as death threats,” KLKN reported.
“The Lincoln Children’s Museum is an equal opportunity facility and supports inclusivity. Cancelling this event and not having the children in our building to create, discover, and learn through the power of play breaks our heart, but the safety of ALL of our visitors, our staff, our exhibits and our building is and always will be our priority,” the museum wrote on social media.
OutNebraska said it was already planning how to hold the event safely.
“We look forward to working with Lincoln Children’s Museum to reschedule this as an entirely private event. It’s so sad when hate threatens families with children,” the organization wrote on Facebook. “All parents want their children to be safe. Because we could not be certain that it would be safe we will cancel this weekend and reschedule for another time — this time without a public portion of the invitation. We will be in touch with the families who have already registered with more information about when we are rescheduling.”
Lincoln Police are investigating a number of threats, the station added.
“Playing politics with people’s lives is never acceptable. Inflammatory online posts about a private event at the Lincoln Children’s Museum inspired threats and fueled hatred and fear. All threats are being investigated by the Lincoln Police Department, and, to our LGBTQ friends and neighbors, know you are loved and welcome in our city,” Lincoln Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird said after the event was called off.
