Report Back on Community Defense of Story Hour in Denton, TX

Report from Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club on recent defense of a community event in so-called Denton, Texas.

Activists and allies held trans story-time in Denton to bring a little hope to Trans Awareness week. There’s no need for a depressing reminder of the pressing legislation and violent rhetoric being directed at trans folks worldwide right now, particularly children, particularly in Texas.

On Community Defense Pt, 2
-Militias are gross, actually.-https://t.co/yjSuWOnXVK pic.twitter.com/xttem9c9ZX

— Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club (@EFJBGC) November 21, 2022

Shortly after publication of the event, Protect Texas Kids (PTK) called for a protest which led to vile phone calls and a string of threats to the venue. What PTK underestimated was the resolve of the owners and the commitment of the community to protect trans kids.

We were invited to support organizers and our trans siblings by ensuring them a safe space to gather in peace. The street was filled with obnoxious hate speech, a few bashful Proud Boys, a clump of D list YouTube personalities, and a couple Catholics who couldn’t remember the words to the hymns they sang. Inside, the cheers and laughter of the kids drowned out anything resembling unpleasantness.

The Fash love to try to push in with violence and then just post fancams for hours when they get stopped. pic.twitter.com/Kr52cS9lAB

— Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club (@EFJBGC) November 19, 2022

The importance of these spaces for children and parents to bond and grow is paramount. We hold in our hearts the innumerable trans children who did not survive to see the joy in the world. It is our hope that in their light, every community can stand in solidarity of the oppressed among them and refuse its continuance. Trans story-time ended as peacefully and joyfully as it began, and we cannot wait for the next.

In the course of writing these events, we came to know of the mass shooting at a drag show at Club Q in Colorado Springs. One needn’t look further than the narrative alternative media sources like Blaze TV, Family Project TX, and Turning Point USA have tried to spin after yesterday’s story-time to see the manifestation of their yearning for terrorism come to light. There is no productive change in arguing with fascists in the streets but there is one fundamental flaw that erodes the foundation of their logic.

They insert themselves into communities of which they are not a part of, to capture a fluid something to sell, ever changing with what ideologues tell them to believe. We insert ourselves at the behest and with the leadership of our community, because it is simply the right thing to do. Our values ​​​​​​do not change with the wind, this is why we will win.

“Leopards eating your face” fascists eating each other’s faces.

Stein: “it’s funny bc you guys would say we’re homophobic or transphobic, we’re not”

Jamal: “No no no, I want all this Pride stuff gone. We’re gonna classify drag queens as domestic terrorists when I take power” pic.twitter.com/gAOY3zebGg

— Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club (@EFJBGC) November 22, 2022

There is more to be done across the state and across this so-called country. Is your community defense org in contact with parents of queer and trans children? You should be. Can your community defense org provide compassionate resources, the means to defend themselves, and safe passage to marginalized people? This should be your first priority. Build strong communities together.