Drag Story Hour NYC Allows Performer to Interact with Kids Despite Sexually Explicit Social-Media Presence

Drag Story Hour (DSH) NYC, a taxpayer-funded nonprofit that puts on shows for children as young as three years old, employs a performer whose social-media accounts are replete with nudity and other sexually explicit content.

Oliver Herface, who also goes by Angel Izaguirre, is one of the performers listed on the DSH website. The organization’s sanitized bio of Herface describes him as a “drag king” and a former “day care teacher” who has a “passion for working with children and education about what it means to be queer and trans.”

A quick Google search, however, reveals that his public social-media accounts predominantly feature him striking sexual poses while performing in a thong with his breasts exposed. (Graphic content warning.)

DSH NYC receives roughly $200,000 annually in funds appropriated by the New York City council and the New York Public Library, and events are held in over 200 locations across the city, including public schools and libraries. The lessons feature men and women dressed as the opposite gender reading books, making crafts, and singing songs.

The lawmakers claim DSH NYC is an opportunity for children as young as three years old to engage with the “play of gender fluidity in childhood” and to learn about “love” in a “safe space.”

When he’s not interacting with children, Herface stars in adult drag performances. His social-media accounts show he starred in a 21-and-older “boylesque” performance on June 14. The event was advertised with a picture of a nude man and described as “the pinnacle of enter’taint’ment,” meant to “tease and tantalize to delight and arouse your senses.”

Beyond the near-nudity, Herface’s language on his social-media accounts is full of sexual innuendo. 

He identifies as a “Nonbinary ADHD Boric Drag King, Producer, Model and Host,” according to his Instagram, and describes himself as “the nasty, punk, queer-coded villain of your wet nightmares” on his Patreon.

“The theme was fantastic beasts and cum find them and I think I delivered,” Herface captioned a series of pictures of him on Instagram dressed in a minotaur outfit with his behind fully exposed.

He also titled his scheduled events as “Upcummin shows.” 

One video featured on his profile shows Herface pretending to stab his breasts while wearing a chest binder. He warns his followers to “not bind longer than 6-8 hours,” and “be safe.”

Herface and DSH NYC did not answer to several inquiries from National Review asking if they think his social-media presence is in line with the organization’s values and its focus on children.

Democratic lawmakers have sung the praises of DSH, with New York City mayor Eric Adams saying, “Drag storytellers, and the libraries and schools that support them, are advancing a love of diversity, personal expression, and literacy that is core to what our city embraces.”

Democratic New York representative Carolyn B. Maloney promoted DSH as an example of “well-rounded education” on Twitter.

“Across the country, books are being banned, which are depriving our nation’s youth,” Maloney wrote. “But thanks to @NYPL and programs like Draq Queen story hour, NYC’s next generation are getting a well rounded education about LGBTQ+ issues and gender identity.”

NYC council members who fund DSH claim it’s an opportunity for children as young as three years old to engage with the “play of gender fluidity in childhood” and to learn about “love” in a “safe space.”

The only New York City council member to call out DSH, Vickie Paladino, stood up to DSH in June, calling the programming “adult entertainment” and “grooming.” She was then criticized by fellow council members and Mayor Adams, and was threatened so severely she requested police protection for a week.

Paladino has refused to retract her comments, telling National Review that she has nothing against drag queens and the LGBTQ community but that she does “have a problem with them pushing gender fluidity into a five-year-old’s head.” Drag queens and members of the gay community have contacted Paladino in support, she added, agreeing with her that drag is “adult entertainment” and has no place in children’s lives.

New York City’s funding of DSH can be stopped only if people protest loud enough, Paladino said, noting that she started her own story hour in her community as a response.