A Drag Story Hour that was planned at a Connecticut library has been canceled amid threatening statements and fears of violence.

Enfield Pride announced the group has canceled its upcoming Drag Story Hour for children at the town’s Enfield Center Library in April. The event, which was aimed at celebrating diversity, was called off because of vague threats made on social media.

“I pulled the plug on this before it was time to go to the police,” said Enfield Pride president and United Church of Christ Reverend Dr. Greg Gray. “I want to be real clear that at no point did anyone say they have a gun and are coming to do harm. But the comments were somewhat disturbing. There were comments that said things like ‘I will be there’ and you look at the person’s profile photo and they’re holding a gun. I felt intimidated enough to call it off.”

Gray said that most Pride events in town are met with some form of backlash, but that the comments were unusual in their threatening nature. While the LGBTQ group holds several events for adults throughout the year, this was one of the first events specifically for children.

“These events tell kids that they can be whatever they want to be,” Gray said. “Children come to these events and we read books so it promotes literacy number one. We all know that queer authors and books have been the aim of censorship and book banning. We also know that diversity in all of its forms needs to be highlighted more.”

The event would have hosted Felicity V. Lay, a popular local drag queen and performer, to read to children at the library. Gray said that the event would have been appropriate for children and that nothing inappropriate would be discussed.

“It’s very family friendly,” Gray said. “There have been so many people in the queer community that have said they are disappointed this got canceled. There has been so much more support than I would have anticipated.”

Enfield parent Alyssa Straight said that she was planning on bringing her children, ages 2 and 4 years old, to the event.

“I wanted to introduce my kids to drag, diversity and inclusion. For me, I grew up accepting people for who they are and I want to instill that in my children,” Straight said. “But when I heard about why it was canceled, it made me upset. As a parent, it’s up to me to determine if these events are safe or something my children should be seeing. I feel like that is something always being taken away. I should be able to bring my kids to a drag reading hour if that is something me and my husband have decided is OK for them.”

Enfield Public Library Director Jason Neely said that Drag Story Hour was organized entirely by Enfield Pride and was not a library-sponsored event. The Enfield Public Library has two community meeting rooms at two separate branches, one at the Central Library and one at the Pearl St. Branch, that are available for public use. The library allows any nonprofit to rent out a room for special events or meetings at no cost. Neely did not comment on the decision to cancel the event.

Mayor Ken Nelson said that he would like for the community to come together and that these kind of incidents are only aimed at pulling people apart.

“To the accusations about threats, the pastor himself said people’s profile pictures he found threatening. Nobody made a direct threat about the show or anybody. He just didn’t like people’s profile pictures. My attitude is they are trying to make something out of nothing.”

The incident comes just after the town implemented a controversial new flag policy barring the Pride flag from being flown on town property, scrapping a prior resolution that allowed the Pride flag to be flown at town hall during Pride month. Gray, who denounced the decision, organized a protest outside town hall earlier this month.

“Some people think the town canceled the event. But none of that is true. The town has nothing to do with this,” Nelson said. “I’m trying to unite the community and not tear it apart. If you want to work with me to unite the community, my door is wide open, call me and let’s work together.”