June is usually reserved for celebrations in honor of the LGBTQ+ community, but recent incidents of hate aimed at them, with threats to retract or block their rights, have stifled some cheers across the country, and the Bay Area has proved to not be immune.

Just last week, Kyle Chu, whose drag name is Panda Dulce, was reading to a group of preschoolers at the San Lorenzo library for Drag Queen Story Hour when a group of men affiliated with the far-right Proud Boys interrupted the event, shouting homophobic and transphobic slurs to Panda Dulce and the kids. It's now being investigated as a hate crime.

In this episode of “Bay Current”, we hear from Beatrice Thomas (drag name: Black Benatar), drag performer, creative producer, cultural strategist and president of the Drag Queen Story Hour HQ National Board about whypeople seem to love drag so much, what lessons they think people can learn from drag queens, and how the organization plans to move forward.