Readers: Don’t drag the kids into your bigotry!
Protesters gathered in Gerritsen
Beach on June 6 to express
outrage over the appearance of a
drag queen at a reading event for
children, which they said would be
detrimental to the welfare of minors.
“I was rather appalled by it simply
because I really feel that it is
not just a diversity issue but a morality
issue,” said James Bickle.
“It’s especially bad because it’s an
indoctrination of little children.”
The event, which hosted Angel
Elektra at the Gerritsen Beach library,
was part of a citywide series
to connect members of the LGBTQ
community with New York
City youth.
“Drag Queen Story Hour captures
the imagination and play of
the gender fl uidity in childhood
and gives kids glamorous, positive,
and unabashedly queer role
models,” read the event’s promotional
material.
Readers shared their thoughts
online:
A choice? Nobody who looks
through the pictures in this article
could come away thinking that gay
is a choice. If you could choose to be
gay, everyone would opt to look as
gorgeous as Angel Elektra and no one
would look like those bigots.
Mike from Williamsburg
Of course there’s an idiot with a
red MAGA hat, classic.
Henry Ford from Bay Ridge
Great piece! I drove to attend the
counter-protest from Park Slope. I am
51 years old, straight, I have 4 kids....
and was completely unnerved that
the bigots would hold there protest on
the 75th anniversary of D-Day, a day
when thousands of men died for our
freedom. Don’t like the story hour?
Don’t go! Leave those who attend to
do so in peace.
Susan from Park Slope
FYI, nobody is forcing anyone to
attend that event. If you don’t want
your children to go to reading done by
a drag queen, then simply don’t. However,
this doesn’t mean that you have
to deny others from going to that. For
the record, there are plenty of events
that I don’t like, but you don’t see me
trying to get any of them cancelled
or even denying others from going to
them. Sometimes, those haters have
to understand that respect is a two
way street that go either way. Personally,
I don’t see any harm with a drag
queen doing a reading at a library
and sometimes it could have been because
he was picked to do so hence no
involvement with the LGBTQ movement.
Tal Barzilai from Pleasantville
Anti-Semitism
New York City may be the safest
big city in the America, according
to the mayor and police commissioner
— but it is not immune from
the troubling wave of anti-Semitism
across the country.
As anti-Semitic hate crimes remain
on the rise, Mayor Bill de
Blasio announced the launch of
the Offi ce of the Prevention of Hate
Crimes to put a cap on the number
of attack and ultimately uphold
the city’s new status as the safest
big city in America.
Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea
said the highest number of incidents
were in precincts outside of
Queens, but the “World’s Borough”
has had its share of hate crimes in
recent months.
“We defi nitely see some precincts
spiking and taking a disproportionate
share of those
crimes such as the 71st Precinct
and 94th Precinct in Brooklyn.
We also see it on the Upper East
Side in the 19th Precinct,” Shea
said. “So, there are hotspots, if you
will, where we see a disproportionate
share but that’s not to say that
it’s confi ned solely to that. We see
small instances spread throughout
the city.”
Readers were divided online:
My guess continues to be, that
anti-Semitism is mostly originating
from where it came from 40 or
50-years ago — at home. Parents are
continually badmouthing Jews, as
money-misers, Christ-killers, slumlords,
etc. Children hear this and act
upon it. Especially as teenagers, or
young adults. Unlike others places,
there is little evidence of anti-Jewish
acts by Muslims, here in NYC. Or
anti-Semitism by the hard left-wing.
This includes, anti-Zionism. As for
a connection to the Donald Trump
presidency, it’s frustrating to try to
prove. He’s a bit like the ten or twelveyear
COURIER L 38 IFE, JUNE 14–20, 2019 M BR B G
old, who infl uences others to seriously
misbehave. Yet, nobody could
pin-down him for the same BAD behavior.
Whatever, he’s defi nitely NOT
without any guilt. SCR
from Realityville
Observant Jews know who our
friends are. Just look at the voting
maps from 2016 if you need
proof. Leftists and Muslim extremists
are our enemies in 2019 and we
will destroy them from a position of
strength. Chaim from Midwood
In France, the anti-Semitism
is coming from the Muslim Immigrants,
not from the ethnic French.
In NY, It seems to be the brown and
black kids who blame the Jews for
gentrifying their neighborhoods.
Blame the politicians and media for
stirring the pot. The leftists want to
lie and blame it on Trump and white
supremacy but that is simply another
bit of fake news by the lying, fascist
DemonRats. LaQwerty Jones
from Gowanus
The problem is immigration from
countries where anti-Semitism is rife
Felicio
Show me a tolerant muslim country
where freedom is allowed including
being openly gay. Keko
Postal apocalypse!
To the Editor,
Kudos to reader Ed Greenspan for
calling attention to the often sorry
state of our postal service. Several
times a week my mail arrives in the
later afternoon, or early evening.
That would be fi ne if all I ever received
was junk mail, but when there’s a bill
to pay, or a doctor’s report, or an urgent
notice from my health insurance
company, that’s another matter
entirely. Some things have to be dealt
with immediately, but how can they
be if the mail is frequently delivered
after business hours?
And what about this; the other
day a woman came to my door with
a piece of mail addressed to my wife.
It was a check, and this woman (who
did not live nearby) had received it by
mistake!
An acquaintance of mine, a retired
letter carrier, explained to me
recently that postal workers have so
much to do every day that tardy deliveries
are unavoidable, and that, now
and then, the incorrectly delivered
letter, or package can be expected as
well. I understand that, I really do.
But service is only getting worse.
Can’t something be done to improve
it? Stuart R. Brynien
Sheepshead Bay
Transit issues
To the Editor,
Critics of the shoddy bus service
in Manhattan ought to look at the
surface transit problems plaguing
another part of the city: Southern
Brooklyn.
I have spent many an hour waiting
for the 3, which links the Sheepshead
Bay/Marine Park area to Bensonhurst
and beyond, on Avenue U;
the 36, which originates on Nostrand
Avenue and travels all the way to COney
Island; and the 44, also on Nostrand
Avenue, which heads deep into
the heart of the borough.
The schedule information posted
at each stop often means nothing,
and even the real-time app on my
phone isn’t always accurate.
And, of course, the later the hour,
the sketchier the service. After midnight,
the 44 runs no more than twice
an hour, if that.
The most egregious example of
horrifi cally bad service that I can recal
is one night, perhaps at 8 or 8:30
p.m.m across from the N train stop
on Avenue U, I waited a full two-anda
half hours for a 3 bus. Seven buses
— I counted them — crawled by in the
opposite direction, before one came
rumbling along. Granted, it was a
cold and icy night, only a few days after
a snowstorm, but still — two-anda
half hours?
And how to explain the wrongheaded
decision to divide the 44 route
into “select” and “local” service?
Sure, the select bus will get me to my
destination faster — though not always
much faster — but that’s only
because it makes fewer stops, and
the bus stop nearest to me isn’t one
of them. To catch that select bus, I
have to bypass the stop that is practically
right on my cirner and walk to
the next one, cane and all, a couple of
blocks away.
And — as if that’s not enough —
some buses are operated by inconsiderate
drivers who see me fl agging
them down after they;ve pulled into a
stop, completely ignore me, and head
back into traffi c.
Come to Brooklyn, all you citydwellers,
and see what disgracefully
bad bus serbice is really like. You
may never complain agin.
Stuart R. Brynien
Sheepshead Bay
LET US HEAR FROM YOU
Submit letters to:
Zach Gewelb, Edi tor, Courier Life,
1 MetroTech Center North, Brooklyn,
NY 11201, or e-mail to editorial@
schnepsmedia.com. Please include
your address and tele phone number
so we can con fi rm you sent the
letter. We reserve the right to edit all
correspondence, which becomes the
property of Courier Life.
SOUND OFF TO THE EDITOR
LETTERS AND COMMENTS FROM OUR READERS
/schnepsmedia.com