In the days leading up to the first-ever Drag Story Hour in 2015, Per Sia was nervous as hell. It’s hard to imagine that now: In October of this year, the performer and educator was named Drag Laureate of San Francisco, and in 2024 she led the city’s Pride parade as a grand marshal. But a decade ago, Per Sia was an afterschool teacher by day and a drag queen by night, and she kept the roles very separate.
“As the day approached, I was scared. It was the first time both my worlds were being combined,” recalls Per Sia of that first event, put together by writer Michelle Tea and hosted by her nonprofit RADAR Productions.
That first story hour, held at the Castro branch of the San Francisco Public Library, went off without a hitch. She read Unicorn Thinks He’s Pretty Great; the audience enjoyed milk and cookies and face painting, and several of Per Sia’s 4th-graders came with their parents. But her strongest memory is of the moment afterwards.
“I remember leaving and feeling just this incredible peace for the first time,” she says. “I felt like I didn’t have to hide any part of me. It was such a turning point for me as a performer.”
On Sunday, Dec. 14, Per Sia will once again read to children at the San Francisco Public Library. But this time, she’ll be at the main branch, as part of the massive Drag Story Hour 10th anniversary party she’s spearheading, where planned activities include an honors ceremony for other day-one drag queens like Lil Miss Hot Mess. Drag performers will fly in from all over the globe to read, sing, and celebrate what has, over the past 10 years, grown into a nonprofit with more than 30 affiliate chapters worldwide — and a movement that stares down attacks on queer rights with a full face of makeup.
“I never could have imagined this 10 years ago,” says Per Sia.
'Unicorn Thinks He's Pretty Great' by Bob Shea, the book Per Sia read at the first-ever Drag Story Hour. The performer says she treasures this copy.
Drag has had a big decade in America: The art form has moved squarely into the mainstream zeitgeist, spurred along by massive cultural touchstones like RuPaul’s Drag Race and Beyoncé’s Renaissance (as well as your local drag brunches and bingo nights). That’s all happened, of course, against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s ever-escalating assault on LGBTQ rights, with politicians often using drag as a red herring to target the transgender community in particular.
Those attacks have hit close to home here in the Bay Area. In 2022, a Proud Boys group stormed a Drag Story Hour at the San Lorenzo Library where Panda Dulce was reading; the men shouted violent, homophobic threats, and kicked off a firestorm of national media attention. (The performer, Kyle Casey Chu, recently released a short film about the experience called After What Happened at the Library.)
“They always have a flavor of the month when it comes to hate and who they’re targeting,” Jonathan Hamilt, the founder of New York City’s chapter of Drag Story Hour, says of right-wing extremists. Hamilt was inspired to start the NYC chapter after seeing a story hour in San Francisco in 2016; nine years later, he’s the national organization’s first executive director. “Whether it’s about drag queens, or the bathroom [bills] … what it really comes down to is transphobia, and wanting to control people’s bodies, and stop diversity in any way they can.”
A New York State police officer stands guard during a Drag Story Hour at Marsha P. Johnson State Park in Brooklyn in 2024. (Michael Nigro/Sipa USA/AP Images)
The San Lorenzo attack was a big turning point for the organization, says Hamilt; Drag Story Hour affiliates are now all trained in bomb threat management and follow a specific de-escalation safety guide. In recent months, conversations about security have shifted to focus on protecting immigrants and performers of color from ICE.
“We’ve had these really high points,” says Hamilt, pointing to honors like leading Pride parades, speaking engagements at prestigious universities, and positive attention from national media. The city of San Francisco, for its part, formally recognized Drag Story Hour’s contributions this week, naming Dec. 12 “Drag Story Hour Day” in San Francisco.
“But then there are these really dark things,” says Hamilt, noting that he has personally received death threats. The organization also struggled, as most event producers did, in the early years of the pandemic. “It’s been quite a journey.”
Per Sia says of course she’s conscious of the safety risks. “I’d talk to my mother and she would say, ‘Are you sure this is worth it?’’’ says the performer. “But the reality is, they’re just trying to scare us. They’re trying to dim our light … and no matter how hard it gets, I try to lead with queer joy. Joy is at the core of the program, and I think everyone can relate to that, no matter how you identify. It seems so simple, but it really is a form of resistance to experience and share joy.”
Harmonica Sunbeam reads at the Jersey City Free Public Library. (Courtesy of Drag Story Hour and the Jersey City Free Public Library)
Despite the challenges wrought by COVID and transphobes, Drag Story Hour has actually expanded its programming over the past few years, launching multilingual story hours, accessible story hours for kids with autism or disabilities, STEAM and STEM story hours, an Indigenous drag story hour, an LGBT book club for adults, and more.
Hamilt recalls a note from a parent of a kid with autism who attended an accessible story hour a couple of years ago: “They said, ‘It’s always been a struggle to get them to sit through a story hour, but when we went to yours, they were participating, they were engaged, they didn’t want to leave. And now every time we visit the library, they ask if the drag queen is going to be there,’” he says. “Those stories really keep us going.”
For Per Sia, Sunday’s event is also a chance to play a role she loves: that of an audience member while other people tell their stories.
“In a time where our government is trying to erase us … I really do think storytelling is what’s going to keep us moving as a society,” says Per Sia. “Because when we share our stories, we get to know one another in a better way, and we realize that at the end of the day, we’re all human. We all just want to be heard and feel seen and loved. You know?”
Drag Story Hour’s 10th anniversary celebration takes place Sunday, Dec. 14 from noon to 6pm at the SFPL Main Library, 100 Larkin St., San Francisco. Free, all-ages; more info here.
Emma Silvers is a San Francisco journalist with 15+ years of experience covering the people and policies shaping arts and culture in the Bay. She grew up in Albany and lives in the Mission.
