An emailed bomb threat caused parents and children to leave a Drag Story Hour event at a gay bar in Arlington, Virginia on Saturday. The guests gathered in the back outdoor seating area and parking lot of Freddie’s Beach Bar until the police and a bomb-sniffing dog checked the premises. Ultimately, they didn't find any bomb.
“We had a lot of neighborhood families with kids and babies and one grandmother in there,” Freddie Lutz, the owner of the establishment, told the Washington Blade. “It was a great turnout, and we had to push them all out to the back parking lot. And they waited, which I thanked them for, until the coast was clear. And then they came back in.”
According to Lutz, two protesters appeared outside the bar on Saturday, when the Drag Story Hour event was taking place. Tara Hoot, the drag performer conducting the story hour, told him before the event began that some of her previous Drag Story Hour events had been the target of protesters and bomb threats.
“So, we were kind of prepared or I guess you could say psychologically prepared for it,” Lutz admitted. “And sure enough, we got an email threatening the bar and also me personally at my residence, which was a little unsettling.” He added that nothing was found at his nearby South Arlington home.
“At approximately 11:15 a.m. on April 6, police were dispatched to the report of a bomb threat emailed to a business,” said a statement from Arlington Police. “Responding officers made contact with the occupants, conducted a sweep of the business, and found no evidence of criminal activity at the restaurant during the sweep. The investigation into the threat is ongoing.”
Hoot has been conducting Drag Story Hour events in the D.C area for over a year and, as stated above, many of her past events have been targeted by bomb threats and/or hostile protesters, such as a similar incident in Takoma Park, Maryland in December 2023.
“I’ve lost count. It makes me sad that I’ve lost count,” Hoot told ARL Now. “No one should lose count of the bomb threats they are getting.”
Thankfully, no bombs have ever been found at the establishments hosting these events.
Hoot told the Blade that similar to those targeting her previous events, the two protesters at the Virginia event used their religious beliefs as their cause for opposing Drag Story Hour.
“They were spewing religious hate,” Hoot said. “They were trying to shame parents for bringing their kids.”
She said she performs songs of interest to children and reads to them from children’s books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
“And then I give them bubbles and rainbow ribbons and we all color together,” she said. “It’s just fun and love and joy.”
As far-right actors continue to demonize drag queens, incidents like this one have become far from rare. Despite the difficulties, Lutz isn’t discouraged. “I’m hoping the next story book hour will be packed,” he said. “I hope we have a line around the block. We need to fight back.”
