Modesto 'Straight Pride' Rally Draws More Protestors Than Bigots

Modesto’s controversial attempt at a Straight Pride Rally has finally come to a close with little more than a whimper.

The event’s organizer, Don Grundmann, previously insisted the rally would happen one way or another, despite the group’s failure to qualify for a permit from city council. And the city council admitted they had no grounds to stop them from convening in public, nor would they try to. Though they did pass an emergency law banning certain items that could be used as weapons, due to a fear that the event might promote both anti-gay and racist violence.

But at the end of the day, the rally reportedly only drew around twenty people “celebrating straight pride” and another 200 protestors. In fact, it sounds like even the police presence outnumbered supporters of the National Straight Pride Coalition.

The event began with a private meeting at a barn just outside of town, but it was shut down early. Grundmann claims the Sheriff’s Department ordered the shut down out of fear for their safety, but the owners of the barn say an acquaintance asked to use the space without saying what it was for, and they kicked them out as soon as they figure out what was going on.

“This whole thing was presented to me as a little meeting, and I had no idea it was going to end up like this,” barn owner Leo Durrer said. “I trusted these people wholeheartedly because I did not think they had a mean bone in them. Maybe it’s a really good lesson for me to check things out better in the future.”

Despite the high emotions on both sides, the event went off without any serious incidents, centering mostly arround chants, according to the Modesto Bee, which cited people yelling a variety of slogans from “Love not hate makes America great!” to “Build the wall!”

Grundmann, whose National Straight Pride Coalition website claims that they are fighting to save things such as heterosexuality and Caucasians from “sustained attack,” previously revealed the NSPC for what it really is during a city council meeting two weeks ago, calling his people a “peaceful, racist group.”

Additionally, his co-organizer, Mylinda Mason, was publicly dragged when her estranged gay son stepped forward to accuse her of a longstanding campaign against the LGBTQ community, including dragging him to protest queer events after he came out to her as a teen.

Considering the Straight Pride Rally's ultimate failure to draw supporters, despite its organizers' claims of expecting hundreds and hundreds of like-minded bigots, hopefully we never have to hear anything about these people again.