As the 2024 election cycle unfolds, certain actors are resorting to the same old fear-mongering tactics, attempting to stoke fear by attacking our community with lies and misinformation.

In recent years, we have seen a worrying rise in anti-LGBTQ+ hatred and intolerance – particularly directed towards our transgender siblings and the drag community – so Drag Queen Story Hours have become an unexpected political battleground.

That’s right, story times, which usually take place in public libraries and feature lively drag artists reading age-appropriate books about love and acceptance to children, have been portrayed by some right-wing groups as sinister events.

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Do these people even have any idea what a drag queen story hour looks like?

Well, there It’s okay comes into play, a striking short film that “offers a quiet view of a very noisy subject” by following a young family on their way to a neighborhood kindergarten where a queen, Shelita Bonet Hoyle, reads children’s books like It’s okay to be different.

As Out of As reported late last month, the short film is a collaboration between Emmy-nominated and Tony-winning actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family), his husband and co-producer Justin Mikita and acclaimed documentary filmmaker David France.

France is, of course, behind a series of powerful films that explore the past, present and future of our queer community, from harrowing accounts of the anti-gay purges in southern Russia Welcome to Chechnyato a chronicle of the mothers of our liberation movement Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnsonto the Oscar-nominated How to survive a plague Looking back at the impact of the AIDS epidemic.

And although the 11-minute short film It’s okay may seem like a smaller undertaking compared to Frances’s previous works, but its central message seems just as big and just as important.

Filmed in Charlotte, NC, a week after local lawmakers introduced a bill that would ban drag artists from performing in front of minors. It’s okay presents the Drag Queen Story Hours boldly as they always are – at least when fear-mongering protesters don’t try to disrupt them with anger and violence: They are peaceful, joyful and a real opportunity for children to just be themselves.

In an exclusive with QueerProducer Jesse Tyler Ferguson says the following about the short film:

“It’s okay is a powerful refutation of the very real threat of government intervention in our performance and art production in our country. At a time when book bans and performance bans are cropping up in our cities, It’s okay reminds us that everything will be okay.”

This reminder could do many of us some good right now, and thankfully this heartwarming short documentary will soon be available to all.

It’s okay will premiere this Sunday, August 11, at 9 p.m. ET on MSNBC (following the premiere of the book ban documentary Be destroyed) and starts streaming simultaneously on The New Yorker digital platforms.

Ahead of the premiere weekend, Queerty is pleased to present an exclusive first look clip from It’s okay below:

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