A pastor in Massachusetts is speaking out after the Chelmsford Public Library changed its decision and allowed the minister to host a “Pastor Story Hour”. Previously the public, tax-payer-funded institution chose to cancel the event.
Around the country, Christians are taking initiative and attempting to host faith-based story hours at the same public institutions which allow “Drag Queen Story Hours”. This is an effort where evangelicals are attempting to exercise their freedom of speech, just as the drag queens are, but spread the word of Christ instead.
Kendall Lankford is the teaching pastor of The Shepherds Church in Massachusetts. He claimed that the popularity of drag queen story hours motivated him to start his own kid-friendly story hours.
Fox News reported on Lankford’s initiative:
Kendall Lankford, the teaching pastor of The Shepherd’s Church, sat down with Fox News Digital to discuss the details that led to his battle with the library, the local protests that subsequently erupted, and how the popularity of Drag Queen story hours pushed him to go through with his own kid-friendly reading.
The story began when Lankford contacted the library. He was told the process on how to secure a room for his reading and filled out an online form. A few hours later the event was approved.
He planned to offer a Christian perspective on gender, reading from two books titled “God Made Boys and Girls: Helping Children Understand the Gift of Gender,” and “Jesus and My Gender.”
Lankford later received numerous angry comments over the phone and on social media accusing him of homophobia, transphobia, and bigotry. Many called on him to cancel the event, labeling The Shepherd’s Church as a “hate group” and comparing Lankford to Hitler. Others said the church, by teaching biblical Christianity, was engaging in child abuse.
Lankford said, “I didn’t use the word intersectional or critical race theory, but that’s the world we live in. Where if you’re a boy you have less victim status then a girl. I was trying to show them—it’s a good thing that you were made a boy. It’s a good thing that you were made a girl. Every single child in the room got that, it’s the adults that are confused.”
“We’ve gotten to a place in society where we can’t even have any meaningful discussions anymore without someone throwing a temper tantrum. The adults have left it seems, and we’re in a country full of toddlers—and I don’t say that to be inflammatory or mean,” the pastor continued.
One day prior before his “Pastor Story Hour”, Lankford received an email notifying him that the event was canceled. The email stated that his event was canceled due to “violations of the library’s meeting room and acceptable behavior policies,” which states that “proselytizing” is not allowed. The email also claimed the Shepherd’s Church incorrectly suggested the library was a cosponsor of the event.
The Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) offered Lankford assistance in helping him fight the library and secure the event. MFI sent a demand letter to the library which claimed that the center had violated its own policies allowing anyone to book public meeting rooms. The organization also asserted that the library violated Lankford’s federal, and state constitutional rights related to free speech and religious liberty.
A few hours later, the “Pastor Story Hour” was back on as the library reversed the cancellation.
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