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On May 25, 2026, the Centinal reported that drag story time was coming to Guilford Free Library, targeting children aged five to eight as part of a monthly series of social-emotional and/or growing-up milestone events meant to teach young children empathy.

The event got canceled just a day before it was scheduled to take place.

Well, not entirely canceled, but it was changed at the last minute to an adults-only affair.

“Due to backlash the story hour has been canceled, however, I will still be there," wrote Bleach on social media. "Adults only and come get to know me. If you have a question about a drag queen, here I am. I’m not that scary, I swear. There might be protesters, they said. Am I nervous or afraid? A little.”

Bleach thanked one adult attendee, Linda-Cristal Young, for showing up "in their 'drag is not a crime' shirt and their flag-filled skirt."

The drag story time event was researched and planned by Eleni Galanos.

Galanos joined Guilford Free Library as a Children's Librarian in 2024. She received her MS in Library and Information Science from Southern Connecticut State University in 2020. She previously worked as a Library Media Specialist for the Jonathan E. Reed School in Waterbury (PreK - 8th grade) and Norwich Public Schools.

On May 12, Galanos reached out to Richard Stillson, aka "Mucha Mucha Placer," to check his availability for drag story time on June 4th.

Galanos was careful to use "they/them" pronouns in the email. She felt that Mucha Mucha would be a "wonderful addition" to the program which also included a "rainbow-themed craft" for the children.

The first picture that popped up on Facebook for Mucha Mucha Placer was from 2024. It included a link to a queer blog. He's a Hartford-based "performance artist, political queen, and psychologist in semi-retirement" per his Facebook bio.

But Stillson, who also refers to himself as "Queen Mother" in the email, was not available.

He offered to connect Galanos to drag queen Bleach who was available.

Bleach responded to Stillson's email on May 15th.

"Thank you for sending this over!" wrote Bleach. "That date and time works for me, I'd love to do the storytime at Guilford Free Library! What is the rate for this gig?"

Prior to becoming a drag queen, Bleach worked as a high school teacher for seven years, a math and Spanish tutor for three years, and an adult education English teacher in New Haven. He said he once felt "isolated" as "a little queer boy" and now promised to make everyone feel included.

Angelina Carnevale, the head of the Library's Children's Department, was copied on a May 19 email Galanos sent to confirm the event details with Bleach, and obtain approval for a draft of the flyer.

"Also, we will have a check ready for you on the day of the event," wrote Galanos. "We are thinking around $200 for the event, but want to make sure you are being paid your preferred rate."

The preferred rate, as it turns out, was quite a bit higher -- between $350 and $700 for these types of events. Indeed, an Old Greenwich, CT, library just shelled out $700 for a drag cabaret for a small adult audience. Guilford agreed to pay Bleach $350, and started to market the event shortly after that.

Guilford Library Director Rob McCoole received his first complaint email on May 28th.

"These 5-8 year-old children don't need to prematurely contemplate dysphoria nor consider questions they aren't mature enough to answer. Many children go through awkward and unsure phases and work it out as they mature. They don't benefit by adults with dysphoria who seek social acceptance. They benefit from men and women who are good role models."

McCoole was encouraged to review Bleach's "exhibitionism" online.

Other complaints followed:

• A local therapist condemned the library for exposing 5–8-year-olds to a drag performer who presents in a highly sexualized manner, arguing that using such a “messenger” confuses young children about appropriate adult behavior and trusted figures while promoting a caricature of women rather than neutral ways to teach acceptance.
• Parents denounced the event as inappropriate and potentially harmful to impressionable young children, warning that any child searching for “Drag Queen Bleach” would immediately encounter explicit adult content (including descriptions of the performer exposing himself), and objected to taxpayer dollars funding what they called child abuse.
• Residents expressed outrage that the library, after receiving complaints about scheduling “Drag Queen Bleach” to read “Queer” books to young children under the “Big Hearts Book Club,” chose to sanitize and disguise the event in its newsletter by removing the performer’s photo and rebranding as a generic “Pride Advocate” instead of canceling it.
• A feminist critic accused the library of promoting misogynistic and degrading caricatures of women by featuring drag performers—who were compared to offensive minstrel-show stereotypes performing in black face—in children’s programming, calling it unnecessary “sex clowns” for kids and an inappropriate way for a public institution to insert itself into divisive cultural debates.
• Taxpayers demanded accountability, stating that library staff should be fired for scheduling the event and insisting that while they have no objection to gay people, public libraries funded by their tax dollars have no business hosting what they described as abhorrent, adult-oriented drag performances on public property.

Bleach was notified on June 3 at 9:49 am that the library didn't have any sign-ups for the story time, which would normally trigger a cancellation. McCoole promised to make sure Bleach would get paid no matter what happened.

On the day of the event, June 4 at 12:07 pm, Library Director McCoole responded to an email with more than a dozen community members and officials copied on it, including Sean Scanlon's wife Meghan, to address community concerns about the drag story time event.

McCoole promised children would not be permitted without parental consent. He said, "taxpayers have never funded library programming." Yes, salaried staff are paid while planning programs (Galanos earns $61k/year), but "no musician, artist, author, scientist, etc. who presents at the library has ever been paid with taxpayer funds." He said, "it simply isn't a line item in our town budget."

He claimed the event description had been changed not to hide anything, but because the presenter’s identity should not have been the main focus — the emphasis should have been placed on his storytelling ability. The program was ultimately canceled, McCoole said, due to very low parent registration. He had anticipated the program wouldn’t draw enough interest and wasn’t worth the controversy it caused.

In response to the "vehement" public reaction, McCoole personally invited Bleach to host a voluntary adults-only Q&A session at the originally planned story time. McCoole said he would personally pay Bleach, and use vacation time (an hour) to host the event. He invited anyone curious from the email list to attend, while also promoting a competing Revolutionary War history program at the same time.

While McCoole's response was appreciated, it was pointed out that politics didn't trigger a "vehement response" from the community, but rather it was just inappropriate for a drag queen to read to young children, full stop.

Four days after the event, McCoole reached out to Bleach to assure him the cancellation had nothing to do with the "controversy surrounding it" but the lack of registration.

"I wanted to invite you anyway to make sure you got paid and to enjoy your company for a bit and I'm very grateful you accepted," McCoole told Bleach.

Bleach had nothing but "love and respect" for the folks at the Guilford Free Library.

Turns out, only one person complained about the cancellation by email.

It made her "angry" even though she doesn't have children and isn't a member of the LGBTQIA+ community.

McCoole assured the concerned woman that "the program wasn't canceled because of political pressure but because there wasn't sufficient registrations to justify the program. This happens sometimes and is really no big deal (though I'm getting a lot of angry messages all around)."

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