Just weeks after the shooting at Colorado LGBTQ+ bar Club Q, the self-professed Proud Boys showed up armed to a drag queen story hour event.
According to theAnti-Defamation League, the Proud Boys are "a right-wing extremist group with a violent agenda. They are primarily misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration. Some members espouse white supremacist and antisemitic ideologies and/or engage with white supremacist groups." The group arose during the Trump administration.
The group was just a fraction of the people who showed up to protest a drag queen story hour in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday morning, largely in camouflage clothing, masks, and carrying large guns
The Holi-Drag Storytime event was organized by The Red Oak Community School and was located at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus. Hours before the event took place, it was canceled out of safety concerns, Queerty reports. “I spent a week calling our police department and leaving voicemails about the reports we had seen,” School Manager Cheryl Ryan said. “After a week, I was told we could hire a special duty police officer who may or may not show up because they are understaffed.” Ryan also reached out to an LGBTQ+ group to provide security "they would only do so if there was no police presence," Queerty reports. “In the end, our performers felt unsafe without a police presence, while our safety team felt unsafe with a police presence."
The CPD disagrees with the story. "During this week, CPD continued to communicate with the church, school, neighbors, and businesses in that area to inform them of our safety action plan," they shared in a statement. "The school and church were consistently involved in those discussions through email and phone calls. CPD was told by the school that we could have plainclothes officers outside the event, but not inside the building for they had hired their own private security. CPD pulled together resources from several units to make sure we were present, including officers from our bike patrol and dialogue team. Even though the event was cancelled, we still had personnel and officers in the area to make sure all parties were safe.”
LGBTQ+ advocates weren't happy, especially as cops on the scene were spotted high-fiving members of the armed protest.
Then, it got even weirder. Inexplicably, the protestors were filmed dancing to "Y.M.C.A." by The Village People. It's not clear if they were attempting to reclaim the gay anthem or a nod to Donald Trump who has played the song at his rallies. Either way, it's ironic. And more than a bit cringe.
How embarrassing.
Drag shows have become one of the most visible political lightning rods, even inciting potential laws that could make it a criminal offense to perform drag where children can view it.
From Your Site Articles
Related Articles Around the Web
![Paulie Calafiore dishes on his steamy thirst traps: 'Everybody wants to see [me] half-naked'](https://www.out.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=59778323&width=300)
