Lizzie Conklin, Contributing Photographer

Libraries don’t always have to be quiet. When Tiki Malone performs, they can even get pretty upbeat. 

Malone, a local drag queen, read stories, sang and danced with families at Mitchell Library in New Haven on Wednesday afternoon. With the help of the New Haven Pride Center, she celebrated the six-day Pride New Haven festival with bubbles, snaps and many a “yas queen” during her Drag Queen Story Time.

“I know we’re in a library,” Malone said, “But we’re allowed to use our outside voices right now.” 

She peppered winky jokes into her performance, fitting three books and two songs into a tight hour with ease. Kids and librarians alike danced around the normally quiet space, slipping and sliding on soap from a bubble machine.

Eight kids and 10 parents attended the event, as well as four organizers from the New Haven Pride Center.

Malone opened with “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” inviting the audience to sing along with her to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus.” Kids hopped up and down, bursting into laughter — after gauging their parent’s reaction — when she read the word “fart” from “The Princess and the Pony.” Babies gazed as Malone sashayed under fluorescent lights to the crowd-pleasing “Let It Go,” inviting the audience to perform with her. They obliged, with parents perhaps singing louder than their kids.

“I love to see families come together, especially during pride events,” said Juancarlos Soto, executive director of the New Haven Pride Center. 

Soto said the goal of the event was to make fun and safe spaces for LGBTQ youth. He emphasized that these events were meant to bring everyone together for a joyous experience, whether or not they are a part of the LGBTQ community.

For Malone, drag performance provides representation that she never had, performing even in the face of nationwide Proud Boy-populated protests against drag queen story hours. 

“When I first started doing drag, this was one of things I was most looking forward to doing because representation matters,” Malone said. “The protests started happening, [and] it’s a little scary, but it’s not going to stop me.”

Eliza Benitez brought her son to the event because she wants him to know that he can be whatever he wants to be in life.

During the show, she saw him smiling and modeling Malone’s dance moves, much to her delight.

“Inviting a drag queen to the library is a wonderful idea,” Benitez said. “I think it worked. I think [my son] got the message.”

The story hour was an important force to combat the hate that many libraries have seen at similar events, Laura Boccadoro, communications coordinator and producer of New Haven Pride, told the News. 

Boccadoro says that the library approached the Pride Center about hosting the event for Pride, which it fully backed.

 “Watching the kids enjoy themselves with this colorful performer in front of them in a safe, queer, learning, engaging space — it’s so special to involve youth in the Pride events,” Boccadoro said. 

The New Haven Pride Center will host a Pride Block Party on Saturday, Sept. 23, from 12 to 6 p.m. in the Ninth Square.