Rival campaigners who faced off in a bitter confrontation over a drag show for children have now turned their ire to the authorities over their handling of the event.
Around 70 Proud Boys, a controversial far-right organization that had openly announced plans to crash the event, donned camouflage gear and armed themselves with rifles to protest outside the church where the drag show was to be held. Other groups, such as Patriot Front, joined them, on Saturday.
Organisers Red Oak Community School in Columbus, Ohio, reportedly decided late on to cancel the event over safety fears. Still, counter-protesters, many of whom were LGBTQ activists, launched their own demonstration in support of the event and police still attended the site on Saturday to “ensure safety”, local mayor Andrew J. Ginther said on Facebook.
Now the LGBTQ groups have now hit back at police officers who were there for seemingly openly supporting the Proud Boys. Mayor Ginther was also criticized by LGBTQ groups for his handling of the situation.
Ginther, who later posted a statement online declaring his support for the LGBTQ community, was then accused by Proud Boy supporters of bowing to public pressure by siding with their liberal opponents.
The Red Oak Community School, which caters for children in the kindergarten to the fifth grade, was due to host a “Holi-Drag Storytime” event at the First Unitarian Universalist Church for its pupils on Saturday morning. A statement released online beforehand said the event would promote “values in young children that we hold dear to our hearts – love, kindness, inclusivity and understanding.”
That statement added: “When young children are raised with these values, it prevents bullying, hate, and fear of ‘others’ later in life. It also helps normalize and celebrate the beautiful diversity of the gender spectrum that is now and has always been a natural part of the human experience.”
The school reportedly sold almost 1,000 tickets for the $10 event and raised more than $6,000 in donations, which it said would be given to local LGBTQ charities.
After the event was cancelled, the school posted a comment on its Facebook page, saying it was planning to make a full statement in due course. It added: “Please be patient with us as we (parents, staff and board members) take time to recover, breathe, check in with each other, take care of ourselves and reflect on this unprecedented position we stumbled into.”
However, the situation in the aftermath of the protests remains fraught.
Ginther posted a lengthy statement online on Saturday. He said: “I stand fully with our LGBTQ+ neighbors, and I condemn any and all efforts to intimidate, harass, threaten or cause harm to any member of this community.
“Earlier today, an extremist group known as the Proud Boys staged a demonstration outside of an event intended to be a family-friendly program…That is why we took this threat so seriously from the very beginning, and that is why we began developing a safety plan weeks ago… Despite the cancellation, Columbus Division of Police officers and personnel were onsite today to ensure safety at the site and throughout the surrounding neighborhood.”
He concluded: “Our Division of Police, working in close coordination with the LGBTQ+ community, invested significant resources to ensure that this event could take place peacefully and without disruption. It is very unfortunate that the event was canceled, and we will continue to uplift and support the LGBTQ+ community moving forward.”
He also shared a statement from Columbus police saying the force “protects all residents of the city equally.”
But his two posts were condemned by all sides online.
Proud Boys supporters criticized his support for the LGBTQ community. One said: “Protect your tax paying members of the proud boys mayor. Do not discriminate.” While another Facebook user said: “Supporting a group of people is one thing, supporting the grooming of children is another! Disgusting! There was nothing ‘family friendly’ about this event! I’m thankful the Holy Spirit showed up and shut it down! Lord God help us!”
Local residents were also angry with Ginther, with one writing: “I live in the neighborhood. Nobody warned. No notice until goons with machine guns walking the street.”
But the majority of the furious comments Ginther received were from the LGBTQ side, which felt let down over the incident and the official response to it. One wrote: “So we are clear, a terrorist organization threatened a church in our city, and you did nothing.” Another added: “You failed us. Stop using our community for votes.”
One Facebook user wrote: “This is full of lies and your cops were budding up with the groups there to intimate that it really calls into question how many of them are in those groups.” This post and many others referenced footage that was posted on TikTok and circulated on Twitter showing a police officer high-fiving a Proud Boys member. The officer later insisted he was impartial and was trying to remain on good terms with both sides because his job was “to facilitate people’s right to protest.”
Newsweek has reached out to Mayor Ginther for further information and a comment.
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