Children as young as 9 months old and their parents watch drag queen lead room in song: 'Show things that kids haven't seen before'

Children as young as 9 months old and their parents attended a Drag Queen Story Hour at a Washington, D.C., community center Saturday, the Daily Caller reported.

It was an event that provided an opportunity to "show things that kids haven't seen before," the performer "Cake" told the outlet.

What are the details?

More than 50 people attended the event at the LINE Hotel D.C. community center, which was hosted in collaboration with the D.C. Public Library, library spokeswoman Johnna Percell told the outlet.

Cake — decked out in high heels, a pink wig, makeup, and a glittery leotard outfit — read three books to about 30 children, the Daily Caller said, adding that parents held kids too young to walk in their arms while other toddlers stood near the front of the stage.

The drag queen began with the song "The More We Get Together," encouraging parents and children to sing along, the outlet reported, after which Cake read the book "The Snowy Day" and two other books before leading the group in a rendition of "If You're Happy and You Know It":

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'Show things that kids haven't seen before'

After the event, Cake told the Daily Caller that "it's, like, pretty cool that we're able to expand everyone's horizons and show things that kids haven't seen before."

More from the outlet:

Drag Queen Story Hours started out as niche events on the West Coast but have spread to libraries and schools across the U.S. The official Drag Queen Story Hour website boasts over 45 independently operated chapters across the U.S., including in New York City, D.C. and Chicago, as well as two international chapters in Tokyo and in Berlin.

The events are designed to be about 45 minutes long for children aged 3 to 8 years old and intended to capture children's imagination and help children explore their gender fluidity through “glamorous, positive, and unabashedly queer role models," according to the Drag Queen Story Hour's official website.

Cake told the DCNF that Drag Queen Story Hour's expansion across the U.S. is “great."

“I think it's good that people are open. It's, of course, optional for anyone that wants to bring their kids to it," Cake told the Daily Caller, adding that “I think it's great to see these opportunities popping up."

What did parents have to say?

"This is my second one that I've brought her to," mother Marisa Kline told outlet in reference to her 1-year-old daughter Matilda. "As she gets older, she pays more attention, loves the stories and so yeah we will keep coming."

Kline added to the Daily Caller that "it's such a great thing that D.C. communities do. It's one of the reasons we live in this neighborhood ... we like the diversity and the community."

She also told the outlet she “would fundamentally disagree" with those who believe Drag Queen Story Hours aren't appropriate for children.

“I think giving kids as many perspectives on the world is really important, and I think that drag queens in particular teach kids positivity and acceptance," Kline added to the Daily Caller. “Those are absolutely values I want to pass on to my daughter."

Meg Dominguez brought her 1 1/2-year-old daughter Evangeline to the Drag Queen Story Hour because “the more opportunities that kids get exposed to the better," she told the outlet, adding that "it's a great opportunity and way to show different diversity and expose kids to different ways of self-expression."

A babysitter showed up, too

A babysitter — who gave only a first name, Shane — brought a child to the event and told the Daily Caller, "He was just taking it all in. I think it's a little different because he's not with his parents so he's feeling a little bit shy."

Shane added to the outlet that the child's parents knew they were at the Drag Queen Story Hour.

“I love it because I am familiar with drag queens in my personal life on the evening side of things as a part of the nightlife and actually brunch life," Shane told the Daily Caller. “I haven't gotten the opportunity to run into a drag queen on the scene at a library."