Photo Of Horned Drag Queen Reading To Kids At Long Beach Library Goes Viral

LONG BEACH (CBSLA) — A Long Beach congressional candidate says he's "outraged" after a drag queen sporting demon-like horns was invited to read to children at a local library.

Omar Navarro, a Republican candidate looking to unseat Maxine Waters for the 43rd District, posted an image of performer Xochi Mochi reading to kids as part of the Drag Queen Story Hour at the Michelle Obama Neighborhood Library on Saturday.

Navarro's tweet asked, "What are we teaching kids in school? Demonic teachings alive in Long Beach. I'm outraged they would allow this."

The image shows Mochi - clad in heavy makeup and sporting red-tipped horns on his head - in front of an audience of kids, some of whom also appeared to be in costume.

An official link for Drag Queen Story Hour did not describe it as a Halloween-themed event.

Mochi later said it was one of his "best experiences...as a drag queen."

"It's so important to have representation and normalize all the letters in LGBTQIA+ in everyday lives," he wrote on an Instagram post.

Other posts showed Mochi taking pictures in drag with a library staff member.

A photo of the event posted on the Long Beach Public Library's Twitter and Facebook pages was later removed.

It did, however, catch the eye of the Church of Satan, which tweeted "Hail Satan!" in response to one parent's criticism.

The Drag Queen Story Hour is part of a collaboration between the LBPL, The LGBTQ Center of Long Beach, the Genders and Sexualities Alliance Network and the LGBTQ nonprofit Imperial Court of Long Beach.