A Drag Queen Story Hour is coming to Fall River’s library — and now a group is planning to protest it

“This kind of pornographic lifestyle and gender confusion should not be normalized in a publicly funded library in front of small children!” officials from the Massachusetts Family Institute wrote on their official Facebook page.

It’s a scene that has been playing out nationwide. A similar event this weekend is being protested at a bookstore in Waterville, Maine, and the Rogers Free Library in Bristol, R.I., has canceled its Drag Queen Story Hour scheduled for June 15. Nationally, there have been protests in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Kentucky, as well as several other states.

With cultural attitudes changing, such events have increased in both number and visibility. Drag Queen Story Hour, an organization that began in San Francisco in 2015 before spreading nationwide, has more than two dozen chapters — including one in Boston, which hosts about one event per month in the city’s library branches, according to its Facebook page.

However, LGBTQ issues, especially ones concerning children, are still a lightning rod for critics. Andrew Beckwith, president of the Woburn-based Massachusetts Family Institute, a group with conservative-leaning values, said the organization plans to protest Saturday.

He called the Drag Queen Story Hour “wildly inappropriate for children.”

Beckwith said his group got involved after being contacted by a community member concerned about the Fall River event. He said he was “horrified” to hear about the event.

“We think it sends the worst message about women’s bodies to young girls and boys,” he said. “The library, which is supposed to serve families in the community, is presenting this as something good to children, when it’s clearly not.”

Beckwith said his group has been calling on people to protest to “hopefully spare some children who wittingly or unwittingly might be exposed to these horrible messages about women’s bodies.”

However, F.R. Pride, the Fall River-based group that helped organized the story hour, said the event seeks to unite LGBTQ people and families struggling with isolation in Massachusetts’ South Coast.

“There are a lot of families in the South Coast, especially in the suburbs like Lakeville and Middleborough, who feel very isolated. There isn’t a huge network,” said Karina N. Valencia, the group’s director of strategic initiatives. “We hope to create a safe space to interact with other kids and families who look like yours, and to build a network of support.”

Valencia said the volunteer-run group aims specifically to help lower the rate of substance abuse and suicide attempts in LGBTQ youth by focusing on mental wellness.

“This isn’t an event that’s being forced upon people,” she said. “It’s an event geared toward a specific population for very specific health reasons.”

When it comes to the protests slated for Saturday, Valencia said she respects the opposition’s differences in opinion but is pleading with protesters not to behave in a disorderly manner.

“We hope if anyone comes to voice opposition, they don’t do it in a way that’s disruptive or traumatizing for the children,” she said.

Verville, the library’s director, said that even though she received about 50 calls in the past day and a half from protesters — fueled in part by a newsletter sent by a local pastor to his parishioners — she has also received messages of support and intends to forge ahead with the event.

“We try to represent the whole community and reflect a wide range of viewpoints,” she said. “Libraries promote inclusivity and acceptance of all people. They’re part of our community; we should be able to represent them.”

She added: “People are getting all upset over this, but it’s not a requirement. They don’t have to attend if they’re against it. We leave it up to the individuals if they want to attend. This is to teach tolerance and a positive exploration of differences — to show people are different.”

Verville said that Naomi Chomsky will read two picture books — “Julian is a Mermaid” by Jessica Love and “Red: A Crayon’s Story” by Michael Hall — before leading a crown-making craft.

Neither Verville or Beckwith could estimate how many people would attend the event or protest. However, Verville said a security guard would be present Saturday as usual and said police would also be patrolling the area because of the event.

When asked why the Massachusetts Family Institute decided to protest Fall River’s event when these events seem fairly regular in the Boston area, Beckwith said that although “there’s frustration with these things across the board,” the group received feedback from community leaders in the Fall River area.

“We’re hoping to make a statement that this is not appropriate for kids and it’s not what a library should be used for,” he said.

Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jaclyn.reiss@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JaclynReiss