(Photo by Jeremy Williams)
ORLANDO | After threatening to protest a drag queen event at the LGBT+ Center in Orlando Oct. 29, even after the event was canceled, anti-LGBTQ groups never showed up.
The event, a Halloween-themed Drag Queen Story Hour that was to be hosted by drag entertainer Bridgette Galore, was canceled after members of the National Socialist Movement, a neo-Nazi group, posted on the instant messaging app Telegram that they intended to march on The Center Orlando to protest the event.
The only protesters to appear were eight members of a local church, who held a sign that read “Dear God: Let NOT the little children be perverted by Drag Queen story hours!” and waved a U.S. flag in front of Addition Financial, compared to nearly 50 counter-protesters who stood in front of The Center Orlando with signs of their own, some reading “End White Supremacy” and “Queers Bash Back.”
Outnumbering all protesters were Orlando Police Department officers, whose vehicles lined Mills Street in front of The Center Orlando along with dozens of officers on bikes, who were in place in response to the NSM’s threat to march. Protesters from both sides dispersed around 2:30 p.m. once it was realized members of the neo-Nazi groups would not be showing up.
Photos by Jeremy Williams.
“We take these threats very seriously and would not want to endanger or expose children and their parents and guardians to bigotry and hate,” said George Wallace, chief executive officer of The Center Orlando, in a statement earlier in the week after the LGBTQ organization cancelled the event. “We have the support of so many in our community including law enforcement, but as much as we would like to continue this fun-loving, innocent event, we feel that the safety of our community is our number one concern.”
After the protesters began leaving, Wallace simply commented “I’m just happy that there wasn’t any violence.”
Drag Queen Story Hours have been a point of attack for anti-LGBTQ, conservative groups and politicians across the country, with opponents saying the events are “grooming” children.
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