Pastor Paul Edwards just sent the following email to Mike McConnell, the Oakland Press reporter who wrote a story gaslighting readers who oppose Drag Queen story hours. The publisher, Greg Mazanec, and the editors of the Oakland Press, Don Wyatt and Jeff Hoard, were copied:

Your story published on March 9, 2023 about the planned protest of a Royal Oak bookstore’s drag queen story hour is not journalism. It’s advocacy.

You gaslight and mispresent the views of those of us who reasonably conclude that the LGBTQ+ community uses these kinds of events to groom our children.

The quotes you cite from Tom Regan, chairman of the Royal Oak Area Democratic Club, are pure gaslighting intended to preempt any reasonable person from concluding that drag queen story hours indeed DO have an agenda: the grooming and sexualization of our children. To say that out loud is not extreme. It’s not hate speech. It is a conclusion any reasonable person would reach based on what is actually happening.

Further, you wrongly characterize those of us who are opposed to the sexualization of our children as violent and extreme (“Protests over costumed drag queens reading stories to young children have increasingly drawn protests and sometimes threats nationwide;” “Royal Oak police have been notified of the…protest and are expected to be there to keep order.”). Yet in your article you say that other such protests have not seen any violence at all (“Police were on hand and there were no reports of violence.”)

Your story contains numerous quotes from sources in support of drag queen story hours. Not one quote from a source opposed.

This isn’t journalism. It’s advocacy. It belongs on the Opinion Page.