Morning Briefing: Far Right Anti-LGBTIQ Activists Target Pride Month Events
Far right anti-LGBTIQ groups targeted Pride Month celebrations around the country.
Morning Briefing: Pride Month celebrations and “parades in New York, Chicago and San Francisco are among events that roughly 400 Pride organizations across the U.S. are holding this year,” and there have been 101 record incidents of anti-LGBTIQ protest and harassments during the “first three weeks of June.”
Anti-LGBTIQ activists interrupted a sermon on Pride Month at United Church of Christ in Enfield, Connecticut, and protested the Sacramento Children’s Museum Pride event in Rancho Cordova, California.
Members of Patriot Front, the White Nationalist neo-fascist group, reportedly staged a protest in Prattville, Alabama to “protest a picnic hosted for the city’s LGBTQ+ community,” however, “counter protesters from the picnic used colorful umbrellas to try to shield the attendees.”
The Northwest Nationalist Alliance, a white supremacist neo-Nazi group, staged a protest against the Pride in Perry event in Spokane, Washington.
A group of far right anti-LGBTIQ activists, lead by the Missouri chapter of Gays Against Groomers and Scott Newgent of Rainbow Rebellion, staged a protest outside PrideFest in St. Louis, Missouri, “arguing children should not be allowed to receive gender transition care.”
Jon Minadeo, leader of White Supremacist neo-Nazi group Goyim Defense League, was reportedly arrested in Bibb County, Georgia, and members of his were apparently “livestreaming when sheriff's deputies handcuffed him and put him into a patrol car.” Minadeo was reportedly charged with “disorderly conduct and public disturbance.”
White Lives Matter, the White Supremacists group, reportedly distributed racist White Supremacist propaganda througout Enumclaw, Washington, as “zip-loc bags weighed down with beans were scattered in the Garfield Street, McKinley Street, and Florence Street areas.”
Paul Lovley, who is affiliates with the Nick Fuentes’ America First movement, was recent sentenced for participating in the Capitol Riot, and the “government’s sentencing recommendation suggests that he provided evidence against his co-defendants or possibly others, while only lightly addressing his involvement with Fuentes.”
Must Reads
Sarah Posner writes that “too often media coverage fails to dig deeper into the religious ideology driving the activists behind this anti-trans crusade. As Graph Massara wrote in a recent analysis of news coverage of trans issues in the Columbia Journalism Review, news outlets have published a disproportionate amount of coverage of “an incredibly small population of young ‘detransitioners,’” thereby doing a disservice to readers by making the phenomenon appear more common than it actually is. This coverage then raises doubts about gender-affirming care among a poorly informed readership, and further provides fodder to anti-trans activists and legislators, who showcase these individuals in conservative media and legislative hearings.” [MSNBC]
Sunny Sone writes that “domestic extremist groups — many of which are animated by guns — like the Oath Keepers militia, the Proud Boys, and the Three Percenters often seek out veterans and active-duty service members for their experience with combat and surveillance, among other skills. And while the proportion of veterans who get involved with extremists is relatively small, the START study shows that extremists with military backgrounds pose an outsize threat. Just as there’s no single reason why Americans at large are radicalized, neither is there one for why a service member who has vowed to protect the country might come to hold extremist sympathies. Some enter the military already holding extremist beliefs.” [The Trace]
Kelly Weill reports that “over the past year, some of the regular drag defenders have formalized techniques for shielding the children’s story events. On Tuesday, a line of pro-LGBTQ activists rattled colorful noisemakers to drown out chants of “groomer” and held up a wall of rainbow umbrellas, shielding the library’s entrance from the anti-drag faction, some of whom were filming on phones. In Elmhurst, drag defense is a neighborhood affair, said New York City council member Shekar Krishnan, who represents the neighborhood and nearby Jackson Heights. Krishnan pointed to a recent trend of anti-drag incidents, particularly in Jackson Heights which is home to a long history of LGBTQ activism.” [The Daily Beast]
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