Children can observe Pride Month at library

Some libraries are providing pride-related recommended books and reading lists for folks of all ages; special attention is being paid to children’s LGBTQ+ awareness and questions relating to gender at several locations.

Burlingame’s downtown main library has boosted its participation with a colorful pride book display on the main-floor corridor directly across from the children’s section.

The promoted tomes, designed specifically for curious youngsters, include “Queer Cheer” and “The Art of Drag.” A kids’ reading list recommends such titles as “Rainbow: A First Book of Pride,” “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” “When Aidan Became a Brother” and “Grandad’s Pride.”

San Mateo’s main library features a bright pride display within the children’s room. It includes suggested LGBTQ+ reading material that is similar to Burlingame’s. The Millbrae library has a more subdued selection of pride-based literary offerings for the young.

Meanwhile on the Coastside, Pacifica’s library hosted a pride-themed kids’ event scheduled for earlier this week.

Taken as a whole, libraries seem to be in the vanguard of a gender-explanatory movement designed with an educational focus on the younger set.

A PRIDE ADDENDUM: There is more to June than a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and its overall relevance in society. On a national basis, the month is crowded with specified observations beyond the obvious focus on pride. These include: Adopt a cat; pollinators (bees); candy; the great outdoors; PTSD awareness; safety; and men’s health. But the emphasis on pride clearly dominates the collective consciousness.

WIENER MAY BE HEADING EAST: In spite of generally low overall voter turnout for last week’s primary election, there was a morsel of very welcome news emanating from that exercise. Scott Wiener, a Democrat who represents San Francisco and, unfortunately, a portion of our North County in the state Senate, appears to be on a fast track to Washington after he emerged as a firm victor in the race for S.F.’s seat in the House of Representatives. He is seen as the clear favorite to replace the retiring Nancy Pelosi in the November general election. The likely departure of Wiener, a nagging burr in the side of California suburbia for years due to his persistent and intrusive advocacy for draconian state-mandated housing laws, would be a godsend for the Peninsula and its policymakers and homeowners. He can do far less local damage as a first-term voting member (one of 435 diverse individuals with their own parochial agendas) of Congress.

WHERE WILL CASH COME FROM?: The discovery of serious structural damage to the aging Pacifica Pier last week comes at a difficult financial moment for the coastal town. Its latest published estimate of the city’s tenuous fiscal condition indicates that a lack of adequate revenue will require just over $2 million in budget cuts, and soon. Three years ago, an analysis of full repairs to the crumbling pier predicted that the price tag could run to at least $19 million. Inflation, not to mention further ocean-generated wear and tear, has doubtless only increased that estimated figure. The concrete and steel pier, which is more than a half-century old and shows signs of increasing deterioration, is now closed to the public for an indefinite period of time as its future seems murkier and more tenuous than ever.

LET’S MAKE SOME LEMONADE: Still in Pacifica, businesses there are being asked to create price points set at $13.34. Why? Because an online financial outfit, WalletHub, ranked the community as the worst small town in America in which to begin a small business, or 1,334th. So the coastside municipality has decided to try to make lemonade out of a well-publicized lemon. Good move. At this trying juncture, Pacifica can use all the help it can muster.

INDUCTION EVENT IS SOLD OUT: The June 25 Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony has sold out. Tickets are no longer available. The evening event, which began in 1989, will be held at the San Mateo County History Museum in downtown Redwood City.