A drag queen story hour for children held inside the New York Public Library on Saturday night resulted in authorities arresting a man for shoving an NYPD detective monitoring the situation after clashing with several protestors boycotting the event.
Local independent media captured 28-year-old Chase Catapano of Manhattan shouting obscenities and making insulting gestures at a group of protesters known as the Guardians of Divinity inside the Midtown branch of the second-largest public library in the United States, which hosted the “Drag Story Hour” for children between the ages of three and nine years old.
“Get the f*** outta here! You’re a f***ing disgrace,” Catapano repeated a few times while ripping one of the male protestor’s signs that read “‘leave our kids alone” from his hands before throwing the property back toward the crowd and walking in the opposite direction.
The crowd followed Catapano.
“Go ahead,” one protestor responded. “Take the first shot.”
At that point, the large plain-clothed New York Police Department detective intervened, pressing his hand against the small-statured agitator in the middle of the crowd of demonstrators.
Catapano quickly pushed the detective’s hand from him.
“I don’t give a f*** who you are,” Catapano can be heard saying in the video.
“You better watch who you’re touching,” one protestor said. “He’s an officer.”
“That’s an officer fool!” another protestor added.
A man was arrested for assaulting a police officer at New York Public Library in Manhattan during a protest after a heated argument with protesters over Drag Story Hour #news #nypd #nyc #Police pic.twitter.com/THSruI27l1
— NJEG Media (@NJEGmedia) December 10, 2022
Drag queen story hour events have recently popped up n bookstores and libraries nationwide, drawing staunch criticism from parents and protestors.
The Daily Mail reported parents and library staffers were huddled around the drag queens with objects barring the doors shut to keep the event space private, which was described to children as a “trans and gender non-conforming rainbow unicorn princex.”
Staffers wrote the event was to “celebrate gender diversity and all forms of difference to build empathy and give kids the confidence to express themselves, however they feel comfortable.”
Video footage showed one member of the Guardians of Divinity saying he was proud of shutting down the Drag Story Hour event early.
“They’re using our taxpayer dollars to fund this,” the unnamed man said, according to NJEG Media. “As taxpayers, we have a right to say where our money goes — this is a public library. We went in there, and we protest at the drag story, and we shut it down early,” he added. “It was a big success.”
A protester speaks about why they are trying to shut down Drag Queen Story Hour at New York Public Library. #NYC pic.twitter.com/DfOKmAeZI8
— NJEG Media (@NJEGmedia) December 11, 2022
Police reported that Catapano was not attending the drag queen event or involved with the protestors.
Catapano appeared later in the video, struggling with officers arresting him in a stairwell until authorities put him in handcuffs and escorted him out of the building.
The Daily Mail reported police said Catapano faces charges of disorderly conduct, harassment, attempted assault, and obstructing governmental administration for attacking the on-duty officer.
Before Saturday’s run-in with law enforcement, the Daily Mail reported Catapano was cited for criminal contempt in the second degree after apparently disobeying a court order barring him from a property in Staten Island in 2018. Two years later, authorities arrested him again in Long Island for misdemeanor aggravated harassment.
Catapano has not received a court date yet.