DRIVE celebrates Pride Month and the transformative work of Drag Story Hour Central Valley

For Morrigana Regina, Executive Director of Drag Story Hour Central Valley (DSHCV), creating inclusion and upward social mobility for the local LGBTQIA+ community is both life-giving and life-altering.

Morrigana was born and raised in Fresno and returned after 15 years of living on the East Coast with a mission of uplifting LGBTQIA+ community members and supporting the destigmatization of local drag performers. She taught drag in Pittsburgh and was disappointed to learn that there was not a drag storytelling organization in the Valley, despite people hosting drag story times. Morrigana sought to change that by attending a safety training and affiliation onboarding at DSH’s national headquarters in Oakland last year. The Central Valley chapter was then born a year ago. “This nonprofit is definitely grassroots and community driven, providing nontraditional education through entertainment, joy and celebrating literacy,” Morrigana said.

She hopes the nonprofit amplifies the voices of local LGBTQIA+ community members and creates eye-opening experiences that instill acceptance and inclusivity from Fresno residents collectively. “Fresno feels ten years behind,” said Morrigana, citing examples of the various forms of pushback she has received on the progressiveness of drag — even from insurance companies. “People are still afraid of drag queens reading books to kids. Caring community members need to consider how they can listen to their friends that understand we must have safe spaces for kids and entertainers.”

Since many of DSHCV’s storytellers are educators, the organization is developing programs to resonate with people of all ages and simultaneously build community while providing fun learning opportunities. One of DSHCV’s most popular story times is “Villain Story Hour.” This storytelling arc features Disney villains, such as Ursula from “The Little Mermaid,” telling a story from the villain’s point of view that their actions — while perceived negatively — were in fact trying to help others. The purpose of “Villain Story Hour” is to encourage kids to evaluate two sides of a story and ask questions before formulating opinions and judgments. The storytelling events are free and offered to the public and provide both autism-spectrum and sensory-friendly activities.  

The nonprofit participated in the Fresno Pride Parade and Festival for the first time this year. DSHCV gave away all 50 free books it brought to parade goers. Many of the books were donated by parents. DSHCV collects book donations and gives them away at events to encourage people to read queer-affirming literature. “Books are literacy and freedom,” Morrigana said. “I don’t think families or kids should have to pay for books.” She sees reading books as more than a hobby or a means to further one’s education. “We’re able to protest with our books and have social emotional language. DSHCV wants to develop relationships with each person as a human, considering how we can remember to be human beings,” Morrigana said. “This is forgotten in traditional education.”

This past May, Morrigana received both local and national media coverage for speaking in opposition to the Fresno County Board of Supervisors’ proposal to ban the library from participating in Pride Month activities. She describes the experience as “beautiful — but scary — and life-changing.” “It was important to show up and represent the drag community and my business as a literacy advocate,” Morrigana said. During the agenda item’s public comment period, Morrigana, clad in a drag queen costume, read a letter and statement from Fresno State’s Dr. Ángel González’s queer artifacts research paper. “Queer artifacts are life-affirming in many places but especially for queer youth in libraries,” Morrigana said. “I’m worried about queer kids. I wish there was representation, so queer kids can be seen.”

An event that Morrigana feels provided representation for queer youth was the storytelling hour co-hosted by DSHCV and Gender Alchemy. A gender non-conforming storyteller told a story about trans kids to trans kids. “I want to see spaces where families can hear books normally read about controversial topics. Having safe spaces to read these books is so important,” Morrigana said.

Not only during Pride month, but all throughout the year, it is vital for LGBTQIA+ allies to show their support. “Allies can work on their history, continuing to be respectful and knowing people’s backgrounds and not assuming,” Morrigana said. “Building bridges is really important right now.” She encourages allies to attend DSH’s story hours and cis-hetero families to build connections with queer families. 

To learn more about DSHCV, please visit: https://dshcv.org or follow the organization on Instagram @centralvalleydsh and Facebook @Dshcentralvalley. DSH needs storytellers as well as board members with board experience. To donate to the organization or inquire about becoming a volunteer or board member, click here.

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