On the first three days of September, the 1st “Queer Literature Festival Munich” takes place on the stage of Hall X in the cultural center Gasteig HP8. A children’s reading is also on the program for this premiere on Saturday afternoon. “Stories about being different, stories about being yourself and stories about being in itself,” the announcement says. The whole thing takes place in a smaller hall, only families with children come in, and only after written registration. “We are aware that there could be problems,” says festival director Korbinian Häutle.
When the Munich City Library offered a drag reading for children aged three to six during the so-called Pride Weeks for the LGBTIQ scene in June, it became a political issue. The CSU demanded that children “not be indoctrinated with woker early sexualization”, the Free Voters feared “a threat to children’s welfare”. On the day of the reading, a large police force protected the city library in Bogenhausen, in front of it AfD and some small groups demonstrated against the event and many more people in favor of it; the association “Munich is colorful” called for this. Supporters of the right-wing “Identitarian Movement” tried to break into the building and disrupt the reading. In view of the previous excitement, it turned out to be quite harmless.
Häutle is confident that the children’s reading for which he is responsible will run unhindered. The anger in early summer was sparked by the stage name of the drag king involved – “Eric Big Clit”, big clitoris. This time, the stories are not read by a disguise artist under a possibly offensive pseudonym, but by the stage actor Mario Högemann. The Kuckuck children’s bookshop was involved in selecting the books: “Everything pink” by Maurizio Onano, “Dog Tired and Wide Awake” by Lawrence Schimel and Elina Braslina, and “Butterfly Child” by Marc Majeweski. It is about gender stereotypes, rainbow families and personalities. The festival boss, Korbinian Häutle, hasn’t heard anything from potential critics. “It’s been relatively quiet so far,” he says. “We are in good spirits.”