Jadein Black leads the Drag Queen Storytime program during Arts & Pride June 7 at Civic Center Park in Madison Heights.
By: Andy Kozlowski | Madison-Park News | Published June 8, 2026
MADISON HEIGHTS — In the days leading up to the city’s LGBTQ+ Arts & Pride festival at Civic Center Park June 7, a narrowly divided Madison Heights City Council held an emergency meeting that canceled a storytime and singalong by a drag performer.
The vote on June 1 triggered public outcry and widespread media attention. The council then held a second workshop June 5, reversing its decision, allowing the performer to hold her program as planned that weekend.
The whirlwind series of events, which transpired after the previous Madison-Park News went to press, began with concerns about government transparency but ended with the council reaffirming its commitment to diversity and inclusion.
The votes
The original vote to cancel the drag performer came with a 4-3 margin, with Mayor Corey Haines, Mayor Pro Tem Bill Mier, and council members Toya Aaron and Sean Fleming voting to cancel the program. Council members Quinn Wright, Emily Rohrbach and Laurie Geralds had voted to keep the performer from the start.
During the second vote, all members who had voted to cancel the event reversed course, although Fleming was absent. However, in a phone interview prior to the meeting, Fleming said that he was OK with the drag performer holding her program, since he had received assurances there would be security at the event, held indoors at the shelter building.
The meetings were also notable for where and how they took place. The June 1 meeting — where the council majority originally canceled the drag performer on short notice — was held in a small room at Fire Station No. 1. While open to the public, no cameras were there to record the session.
The June 5 meeting, however, was in the spacious council chambers at City Hall, a short walk across the parking lot. Here, the vote to restore the performer was broadcast live and archived online for full transparency.
The way the June 1 meeting was held raised some eyebrows. Haines said that it’s not uncommon for “special workshops” to be held off camera at the fire station. However, Mark Bliss — the former mayor pro tem — noted that the council virtually never casts a vote off camera. Workshops are intended to be fact-finding sessions only, he said. Here, the facts to be found concerned the nature of the drag program.
“Outside of three minutes during public comment, the organizers were not allowed to present at the (June 1) meeting to share details of the event and inform the council about what the community wanted,” Bliss said. “All of this drama could have been avoided if those conversations had been allowed to properly take place.”
‘My drag is my armor’
Arts & Pride is a collaboration between the city’s Arts Board and its Human Relations and Equity Commission. The Arts Board has a “morality clause” that prohibits any lewd or vulgar content in any city display, such as murals or concerts.
Bliss sits on the Arts Board that he founded a decade ago, and he said that the drag program had already been found to be in full compliance with the morality clause.
As for the performer, Jadein Black is a state-certified K-12 educator who has practiced drag for 18 years now. Her attire is colorful but not revealing or suggestive in any way. In her program, Black reads children’s books with themes about love and kindness, self-expression, and accepting others for their true selves.
“My drag is my armor,” Black told the Madison-Park News in an interview following the cancellation but prior to its reversal. “I use (drag) to advocate for our community, to keep us safe and on the frontlines in the fight for equality. Because equality is really what’s at stake.”
She described drag as “fun and wonderful and positive,” a form of self-expression that shows kids it’s OK to be your true self. For some kids, this can be a liberating realization, she said — even a lifesaving one for those who are experiencing suicidal thoughts.
“I had friends who took their own lives because they weren’t supported (in their identity),” Black said. “I tell people that if you wake up in the morning and want to identify as somebody, that’s fine and your business — nobody else’s.”
The reversal
In a statement to the media following the cancellation, Haines said that some members who originally voted to cancel the program did so because they were not clear about its contents.
Fleming told the Madison-Park News he originally voted against the program because he was worried it would be controversial and lead to security concerns. He said he once attended a drag storytime at the library in Huntington Woods “to show support for the LGBTQ+ community” but that a commotion caused by out-of-state protesters scared children leaving the library.
Aaron said she had been called a “Bible-toting homophobe” following the cancellation. She wanted to clarify that she fully supports the LGBTQ+ community. She said that she doesn’t like using disclaimers like “I have a gay friend,” because it often rings hollow, but that here she felt it was important to note that her goddaughter and stepdaughter are lesbians married to women, and that she has always supported them.
She has also counseled people who were looking to have gender reassignment surgery.
“I have written recommendations for those surgeries, because I understand sometimes you may be born in the wrong body,” Aaron said.
Prior to the reversal, Aaron told the Madison-Park News her concern was that she didn’t know the contents of the book the performer would read. She felt that information should be available in advance, so families could decide whether they want to attend.
“I apologize to anyone who feels I slandered the LGBTQ community, because I did not, and that was not my intent,” she said at the June 5 meeting.
Mier echoed Aaron’s sentiment, saying that he also supports the LGBTQ+ community. Mier told the Madison-Park News that he originally voted to cancel the event because he felt it should be held in a more private setting. He said he was now satisfied by the decision to hold it at the shelter building.
“I am very supportive of the entire community,” Mier said at the meeting June 5. “The vote I gave (June 1) had nothing to do against any people of the LGBTQ community.”
Haines was last to speak at the meeting, which adjourned shortly past 2:30 p.m., roughly a half-hour after it started. Some council members had to leave early due to Lamphere High’s graduation ceremony that evening.
“I want to acknowledge the hurt, disappointment and frustration our earlier decision caused a lot of people. For that, I am sincerely sorry — I am,” Haines said. “My hope is that we move forward with respect to one another and build a community where everyone feels welcomed, valued and included. There is no tolerance for hate. Choose kindness.”
Wright, who had voted to keep the drag performer from the start, said he was pleased to see the program reinstated. He encouraged people to always speak up for the dignity of others.
“I want to encourage you all to be curious about our neighbors, their experiences, them as human beings, beyond what you see on a day-to-day basis,” Wright said. “Remember to be kind.”
Bliss said he feels the council has righted a wrong. He noted the program was a success, and that the shelter building was at maximum capacity due to the high level of interest.
“Democracy can be messy, and progress is not always a straight line,” Bliss said. “I’m just thankful our officials heard us. They gained the awareness they needed to make an informed decision and ultimately corrected their error. And they should be applauded for that.”
Call Staff Writer Andy Kozlowski at (586) 498-1046.