A window at Elderflour includes an LGBTQ+ flag and Black Lives Matter stickers.
Scott Sexton
MOCKSVILLE -- Regina Burcham -- "Gee" to her friends -- didn't know quite what to expect when she went to work Saturday at her fledgling bakery.
She'd spent a chunk of the week sifting through ugly chatter online and fielded more than a few menacing phone calls from anonymous bigots and zealots intolerant of anything (or anyone) who dares stray from their narrow worldview.
That's because Burcham had the temerity to schedule a Christmas story reading featuring a local drag performer at Elderflour Baking Co., her seven-month-old bakery. "I think people think we're going to have a drag show," she said, "but this is different. It's just reading stories to kids whose parents are bringing them."
No singing, no dancing and no flamboyance. Cookies, baked goods and hot chocolate were the order of the day rather than mimosas and fabulous finger foods.
Still, the mere mention of a festive drag-time holiday story hour set off a predictable cacophony. Burcham's original mention on social media collected more than 1,000 comments and 400 shares.
It wasn't enough to frighten Burcham -- she isn't easily intimidated -- but it was enough to cause some unease.
Turns out, she needn't have been concerned.
Solidarity
By midday Saturday, the trickle of online support that had been building through the week turned into a flood of in-person solidarity as more than 150 people turned out to offset a half-dozen protestors who set up across the street under the watchful eye of Davie County sheriff's deputies.
The crowd in front of Elderflour included parents with kids young enough to fervently believe in the goodness of Santa Claus, as well as friends and allies of LGBTQ people.
So many in fact that a bearded 81-year-old wearing a Vietnam veteran's cap, teachers and a sizable contingent from Winston-Salem had to take turns inside hearing performer Anna Yacht read Christmas stories.
By order of the fire marshal, for crying out loud.
"I talked to him at the front door," said retired teacher Dorian Faye of the fire marshal. "I asked him, 'Well how many is it supposed to hold?' He said, 'I dunno.' He measured the building and did the math and then he left."
(Faye, by the way, came with her husband, Charles Cummings, a retired member of the U.S. Air Force who was sporting the veteran's cap. "He doesn't play to type, does he?" she said jokingly.)
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Inside the bakery, kids who could care less about someone's gender or sexual identity sat cross-legged and spellbound on the floor while adults formed a line nearly to the backdoor buying Burchum's scones, cookies and muffins.
"It's important for our children to see that we're all human beings and to support people being who they are," said Amy Badgett Beck, who brought her 3 ½ year daughter. "None of this is hurting anybody. ... I want her around people who are loving and accepting.
"I was raised very Christian and experienced in my own family what it's like when people are not accepting and the psychological effects that come with that."
Culture wars
A few of the week's phone calls and online comments notwithstanding, the protest Saturday was orderly and only lasted for a little more than a third of the scheduled 90-minute reading.
A few demonstrators waved signs with such messaging as "Don't Mock God" and "Eternal Hell Awaits. Repent and Trust" while peacefully exercising cherished rights to free speech and assembly.
All in all, on both sides of Main Street, Saturday's reading oddly turned out to be a show of what's best about America even as we're caught in an intractable cultural tug-of-war between deeply held beliefs warped by mistrust, religious-based animosity and yeah, disdain for the different.
Some of that, perhaps, was due to the presence of bored deputies leaning on their patrol cars, a flimsy plastic barricade and 20-feet of traffic on Main Street bisecting it all. Maybe some of it was attributable to an overwhelming show of support from people fully invested in a live-and-let-live philosophy.
Who knows?
"I saw the negativity on Facebook and decided, 'You know what? I need to be there because you never know if a simple protest could turn violent' ... but everyone has been very kind,'" said John Campbell, a native of Cooleemee dressed in festive seasonal attire.
Beyond simple comportment, Campbell found a positive in the simple fact that such an event was supported so broadly.
"When I was coming up through high school, if there was even a hint that you might be gay, you were fighting your way out of the locker room. I'm happy to see this," he said.
So, too, was Burcham as what was originally intended to be a small story hour on private property produced the happy side effect of financial windfall for a young woman still finding her way as an entrepreneur.
"It was definitely my best (social media) post," Burcham said. "I hate that some people feel that way, but I will defend until the day I die people's right to protest.
"But now I have more customers and my Christmas orders have doubled."
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