Saturday’s Drag Queen Story Hour at North Park Library was a huge hit. The library even had to turn away over 150 people who wanted to attend. Despite the large turnout, there were no fights or arrests during the event.
At the center of it all was Florintine Dawn.
Her day started early. "It took me three hours today to get ready. I took my time," she says. "I put seven layers of panty hose on and fish nets, hip pads, obviously a bra and everything, gotta put the outfit on."
Her outfit is conservative. She wears a blue and pink dress and a sequined shawl. On her head sits a bleach blonde wig.
"Flashy bright colors like the kids like to see," she says. "The earings, let me tell you. They’re not hurting like they normally do because they’re held by magnets so they pinch on my ear."
She’s been trained for this very day. She says she’s ready and feels great.
"I told somebody I’m like a football player right now going to tackle someone," she says.
The room bursts into applause as Florintine walks in. Among the around 65 people there is Vicki Francis and her grandson Lucian, who loves books.
Vicki says they showed up a little early to make sure she and five-year-old Lucian could go to the story hour. They’re among the estimated 275 people to come pass the small room to hear Florintine read. So many people wanted to come that the library had to do the reading four different times.
Florentine leads the children in dance and reads three books to them. She chose books she figures the kids are familiar with. They’re also ones read to her as a child.
Among them is Florintine’s favorite, Goodnight Moon.
The children look engaged throughout the entire story hour. Even the adults laugh from time to time.
Florintine makes it look easy.
"There is actually a lot more to reading a book than what people normally think," she says. "There’s dialogue. There’s getting the room all geared up, making sure the kids are focused."
And it could be hard to stay focused with all the hubbub. Music drowns out the noise from outside, where street preachers from out of town harangue the event’s supporters with megaphones.
The rooms’ windows are covered and block the view.
People opposed to Drag Queen Story Hour pulled into a parking lot next door at 6 a.m. It’s the fortieth day they’ve stood in front of the library to pray for the futures of the community’s children.
"I wish that we could stand against a program without people assuming that we hate them," says pastor Steve Ary. He joined the circle at 7 a.m. and passed out stickers reading “My Voice Matters.”
Some of the out-of-town preachers were vocally anti-LGBT, but Ary wants to make it clear that his group doesn’t share those views.
"We are not here to oppose the LGBT community," he says. "We are here to oppose a program, and that is it."
But some in the LGBT community say they’ve been met with hate.
Zackary Hoskins says he's received death threats daily. "The messages that I received were absolutely crazy," he says. He’s transgender and often facilitates library storytimes.
"The support from friends and the support from the community and the support from new friends from the community has been overwhelming and has completely drowned out all the other messages," he says.
He stands on the left side of the barricade, which protects the walkway into the library. He smiles and waves at families entering the building.
He says some of those kids may later discover they’re LGBT.
"I hope that they can remember their storyteller, the guy that read them books," he says. "I hope they know that he’s getting older, and he’s doing okay, and that there is a future for them."
There’s a lot at stake for both groups- the future of the city’s children.
"I actually think that it’s good that we have people who are here for, and people who have maybe a different opinion," says Cyndee Landrum, CEO of the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library.
"In addition to teaching this idea of diversity and inclusion and equitable services, I think it’s also a lesson as a community around civic engagement," she adds.
The price of that lesson isn’t entirely known yet. Some say they’ve lost faith in the library because of its decision to hold the event.
Cyndee’s taken a lot of heat for it. Some even want her fired.
But she says she isn’t worried.
“No, not at all."
Correction: A previous version of this story mispelled Zackary Hoskins' first name.