So as you read the story of how thugs enter a library and say they will prevent a event of reading to children and despite a 45 minute stand off with library staff asking them to leave, library security telling them to leave and the police coming and arguing with them, they get their way.ย Scared parents took their kids and left so the event was canceled.ย ย This is the brown shirts of the Republican party, scaring and threatening people to get their way and the police allowing it.ย ย This is stunning, it was a legal event supported by the patrons of the library and a gang of thugs was allowed to just stop it because they did not like it based on the rabid rantings of the Republicans in office and their rabid right followers.ย ย The accusations have no basis in fact, it is completely wrong.ย ย ย Yet this is the new fascist theocracy USA.ย ย Hugsย ย
Minutes before aย scheduled โRainbow Storytimeโ program,ย about a half a dozen men walked into a reading room at theย Tutt Branch of theย St. Joseph County Public Libraryย and demanded the event be shut down.ย
The men mostly wore black shirts and hats with yellow trim. At one point during the confrontation, one member unfurled a flag reading โMichiana Proud Boys,โ appearing to identify the men as a local chapter of theย white nationalist hate group. ย
In a video, the men badgered library staff and event attendees for aroundย 45 minutes, calling the books that were to be read a โperversionโ and belligerently asking โwhat gives you the rightโ to push sexuality on children. ย
Eventually the men left after being talked to by South Bend police officers and the libraryโs security personnel, though the reading event was postponedย afterย most of the families went home.ย ย
โIt is a shock and we are very disappointed an event celebrating LGBTQ+ communities was disrupted,โ said Marissa Gebhard, communications manager for the library system. โOur staff are very affected by it.โย
Gebhard added that the library will reschedule theย event,ย which was planned in partnership with theย Tree House Gender Resource Center, and will continue to offer programming โto all members of our community.โย
โThe library willย always be a welcoming place for everyone of all viewpoints, so the library will continue to offer programs like this no matter what the response is,โ Gebhard said. ย
She added that the books that were to be read were โcarefully selectedโ and meant to promote gender inclusivity in an age-appropriate manner.ย ย
Though Mondayโs standoff ended without violence,ย similar confrontationsย have played out in libraries and schools across the county in recent months as members of the Proud Boys have disrupted LGBTQ-themed events.ย
The Proud Boys has been designated as a hate group by multiple advocacy groups, and often engages in violence to further its white extremist agenda, according to theย Anti-Defamation League. ย
Local activist Tonna Robinson, who works with the Indiana Mutual Aid Coalition and Black Lives Matter South Bend, said the local Proud Boys chapter has not been active to her knowledge, but said the groupโs attempt to target an LGBTQ-themed event at the library is part of the groupโs national goal.ย
โThis is an organized effort to disrupt and target LGBTQ people nationwide,โ Robinson said.ย
Robinson pointed out altercations at libraries inย San Fransisco, Wilmington, N.C,ย andย Dallasย in the last month, as well as an incident in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho where nearly threeย dozen members of the white supremacist groupย Patriot Front were arrestedย for planning a riot at a pride parade. ย
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Earlier this month, federal prosecutors charged former Proud Boys national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and four other group leaders withย seditious conspiracyย in connection to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.ย
Locally, Gebhard couldnโt remember any other instances of library events being disrupted by white supremacist or any other groups.
Rainbow Storytime
A video posted byย theย Proud Boys appeared to depict the incident and begins by showing six men and their videographer walk into the library and stand in the middle of a room where staff were preparing for theย Rainbow Storytime event. The event was set for 5 p.m. on Monday.ย
The men then accost a librarian setting up a whiteboard with questions about why she’sย indoctrinating children with โsexuality.โ ย
โYouโre grooming these children’s minds,โ one of the Proud Boys said. โThis is our region and we will not have that in our region.โย
A library patron then enters and begins debating with the group before a manager asks the group to leave. The group doesnโt and other staff and patrons come talk to and argue with the group for 20 to 30 minutes. One woman enters, identifies herself as a mother and also criticizes the event. Eventually,ย South Bend police officers show up and tell the group they canโt interfereย the event.
Proud Boys members repeatedly deny disrupting the event, while also repeating the contradictory statement that they will not permit the event to take place.ย
At one point near the end of the video, an unidentified South Bend police officer tells the group they can remain at the library only if they quietly observe the event and not disrupt it. The members reiterate their intention to prevent the event, and the officer says, “You know the program is going to go on, right?” Less than a minute after police tell them they cannot stop the event, the video abruptly ends.ย
Rona Plummer, the St. Joseph Public Libraryโs director of branch services, arrived at the Tutt branch around 5:15 p.m. to a scene full of confusion as the Proud Boys confronted library staff, curious patrons and police. Plummer said library staff wereย concerned for their safety during the incident.ย
โThe Proud Boys vocalized that the program was not going to happen, period. Thatโs where our concern was,โ Plummer said. โIt was very disruptive and it changed what was supposed to be a pleasant, positive experience into a confusing and negative experience.โย
Gebhard and Plummer said they didn’t see any violence and don’t believe members of the Proud Boys were carrying weapons.ย
South Bend Police Department logs list the incident as a miscellaneous public report and show no arrests were made.ย A representative with the department did not respond to a message from The Tribune seeking more information about the incident.ย
Gebhard said the library has two security officers stationed at libraryโsย main branch in downtown South Bend, as well as a few otherย officers at different branches. After Monday, library leadership is considering changes to security, Gebhard said, but nothing has been finalized. ย
— Indiana Mutual Aid Coalition (@INMutualAid) June 28, 2022
The Proud Boys recognized one person because Purple for Parents (a local hate group focused on schools) had doxxed her before.
This disruption is extremely concerning because it seems to be a part of coordinated disruptions of similar events across the country. 2/4 pic.twitter.com/QumqYn4Bxd
— Indiana Mutual Aid Coalition (@INMutualAid) June 28, 2022
In a video on their public Telegram channel the Proud Boys posted a video of themselves flashing white power hand signs during the disruption.
Hate like this cannot be tolerated, it is dangerous. At another disruption in Nevada a gun was pulled. 3/4 pic.twitter.com/L3HEBoffA8
— Indiana Mutual Aid Coalition (@INMutualAid) June 28, 2022
Far-right attacks on LGBTQ+ events are spiking around the country. In response, communities in North Texas are organizing for self-defense.
Florida Chief Financial Officerย Jimmy Patronisย is pushing out a pediatrician from a board in charge of running the stateโs Healthy Kids program because of her viewpoints on vaccines for children under five.
The brief email did not go into great detail, but said that Patronis โ a Republican running for re-election this year โ was removing Gwynn from theย Florida Healthy Kids Boardย because she had made โsome very political statements that do not reflect the CFOโs point of view, even going so far as to as to say that the state is โobstruct(ing)โ access to vaccines.โ
โThe CFO does not share your opinion and believes the state has gone to great lengths to protect lives in the face of the Coronavirus,โ reads the email sent to Gwynn byย Susan Miller,ย who is Deputy Chief of Staff for Patronis.
In an interview with Florida Politics, Gwynn said theย Healthy Kids Board of Directorsย has only met once since her appointment in March.
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But Gwynn has appeared in approximately ten interviews with television, radio and print media since Gov.ย Ron DeSantisย and Surgeon Generalย Joseph Ladapoย announced the state wonโt make COVID-19 vaccines available for children under five years of age at local county health departments.
The local health departments play a key role, Gwynn said, in childhood vaccination efforts. Some of the stateโs poorest children in the state go to the county health departments to get vaccinated.
But health departments also play a key role in helping distribute vaccines to pediatricians who work in rural areas or in small group practices.
Pediatricians who donโt have access to large amounts of cold storage capacity rely on the local county health departments to supply COVID-19 vaccines for their patients. Additionally, pediatricians who donโt meet the minimum number of doses required to order through the state system also rely on the health departments to provide them vaccines for their patients.
โPediatricians can still do that to this day for kids over five,โ Gwynn said of relying on the health departments to provide them with COVID 19 vaccines. โThey, the Governor and the state Surgeon General, just chose to not allow the under 5 to be carried (by the health departments). This is about health equity and children that live in poverty. Thatโs what this is about.โ
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The Healthy Kids Corporation provides subsidized health insurance to children throughout the state with funding that comes from both the federal government and the state.
Gwynn, a South Florida pediatrician who cares for poor children, told Florida Politics she never identified herself as a member of the Florida Health Kids Board in any of the interviews.
โI donโt like to play this game. Thatโs not my intent to engage in this political war,โ she said.
Sen.ย Tina Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat who has been talking to Gwynn about the impact of the DeSantis administrationโs decision on vaccines for small children, criticized Patronisโ actions.
โI am appalled at the decision of the CFO to oust Dr. Lisa Gwynn, the President of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, an expert in pediatric care and vaccines, from the Florida Healthy Kids Board because she spoke out against the administration in an effort to get her youngest, most vulnerable patients a life-saving vaccine,โ Polsky wrote in a text. โThe tyranny of this administration continues to smother any dissenting opinions (e.g. Dr.ย Scott Rivkees). All Floridians should know how an acclaimed doctor has been treated by the DeSantis regime.โ
Gwynn says the board has only met once since her appointment in March. Floridaโs surgeon general, mentioned below, is associated with the anti-vax extremist group Americaโs Frontline Doctors.
Things are getting worse in Florida.
The #DeSantis regime is retaliating against pediatricians for speaking out against their unprecedented obstruction of COVID vaccines for kids.https://t.co/VAildh9WG8
Florida's decision not to pre-order COVID vaccines for children six months to five years old will lead to delays since doctors and hospitals in the state will be responsible for ordering them. https://t.co/pBCb2WyN7f
At yesterday's briefing, Dr. Ladapo made clear neither he nor Gov. DeSantis believe Florida parents should have the choice to vaccinate their children against the coronavirus at county health departments, the primary point of care for 33,000 Florida kids.
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis (@COVIDOversight) June 29, 2022
At yesterday's briefing, Dr. Ladapo made clear neither he nor Gov. DeSantis believe Florida parents should have the choice to vaccinate their children against the coronavirus at county health departments, the primary point of care for 33,000 Florida kids.
— Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis (@COVIDOversight) June 29, 2022
Sooooo, move heaven and Earth to protect the unborn zygote but if it’s an actual, live, miniature human being it “Die motherfuckers”. Republican “logic”….
And so the erasing of same sex couples begins.ย Just students know that a teacher is married to someone of the same gender is now forbidden in Florida.ย How does this protect children?ย ย It does clearly make gay married teachers a lower class of people than straight married teachers.ย ย What next limiting benefits to gay married teachers or just making it illegal to have gay teachers?ย ย WTF, I am going out of my mind that the US in a few short years snapped back into a theocracy.ย ย ย Hugs
Representatives for Orange County teachers sounded alarm bells Monday after word spread from principals that Orange County Public Schools would impose strict restrictions on classroom behavior after Floridaโs new Parental Rights in Education law, a.k.a the โDonโt Say Gayโ law, took effect.
According to representatives of the countyโs teacher association, teachers and staff members will be disallowed from wearing rainbow articles of clothing, including lanyards distributed by the district last year. Elementary-level teachers reported being discouraged from putting pictures of their same-sex spouse on their desk or talking about them to students.
โSafe Spaceโ stickers aimed at LGBTQ students may have to be removed from doors, teachers will have to report to parents if a student โcomes outโ to them and they must use pronouns assigned at birth, regardless of what the parents allow, the CTA reported.
"teachers and staff members will be disallowed from wearing rainbow articles of clothing, including lanyards distributed by the district last year… teachers reported being discouraged from putting pictures of their same-sex spouse on their desk"https://t.co/rGqqNeeKQn
— Christian Vanderbrouk ๐บ๐ธ๐บ๐ฆ๐ป (@UrbanAchievr) June 29, 2022
Florida has no law barring such discrimination nor does the federal government. There’s no basis for such a suit and should it actually go into court the current right wing courts will rule against us. This is why we are so fucked and this is just the beginning.
Give it time. If Thomas gets his no ‘substantive due process’ case, that would undermineย Loving. And there’s cases every year about one wedding or another not allowing an interracial couple to celebrate there – and the venues do win the cases if they are sufficiently private.
Hear, fucking, hear. I think a lot of Americans, including people on this forum, really havenโt grappled with whatโs happening. For all the countryโs history of injustice against Blacks, Native people, women and LGBT people, most of us have only ever known life in a nation of democracy, freedom and rule of law.
Weโre now entering a phase of history that people in Europe and other countries such as Chile have already seen – where democracy, freedom and rule of law all collapse and are replaced with dictatorship, oppression and lawless rule by decree. Itโs disorienting, like the sudden death of a loved one, and it takes a while to wrap your head around it and realize that what you have always known as normal is now gone.
They already are. I am in a number of online groups for music teachers. They are leaving in droves. I guess the MSM will wait and report on this in September when schools can’t open for lack of teachers. (Always a day late and a dollar short our US excuse for journalism!) So it’s already bad, but yes this will make it worse.
The books that have been banned are like “And Tango Makes Three” showing two male parents and no sex. But stories like Goldilocks with a Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear are not banned.
It is about indoctrinating their version of what a family looks like, what a couple looks like.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late Before you are six or seven or eight
I have to remind everyone the current Republican / GOP attack on the Democrats is they are groomers and child abusers.ย ย Just saying.ย ย Hugs
Matt McIlravy formally resigned from his position of Pilot Point mayor this morning after being indicted earlier this week for online solicitation of a child.
Britt Lusk, the City Manager of Pilot Point, said that on Friday, the city received a letter from MacIlravy announcing his resignation immediately. Because MacIlravy’s resignation comes after the city posted its agenda for the week, the city will act on it at a later date in accordance with state law and the city charter.
For now, the city’s Mayor Pro Tem will serve as the acting mayor. Lusk did not name who that person is, and the Pilot Point City Council’s web page simply had a blank space under “Mayor.”
MacIlravy was arrested on Tuesday, June 21, 2022ย in an undercover operation conducted by Dallas police. He is accused of arranging to meet up and engage in sexual activity with a girl he believed was 13 years old.
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Pilot Point mayor resigns after being arrested on charge of soliciting a minor https://t.co/TWbP7n2FlN
Dozens of political committees with ties to Florida conservatives are funneling thousands of dollars toward candidates who share Gov. Ron DeSantisโ priorities.
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Poll workers at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department deposit peoples’ mail in ballots into an official ballot drop box on primary election day on Aug. 18, 2020 in Doral, Fla. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. โ Florida Republicans are capitalizing on the national movement surrounding parental rights and education by jumping into local school board races with crucial endorsements and much-needed cash.
Dozens of political committees with ties to Florida conservatives are funneling thousands of dollars toward candidates who share Gov. Ron DeSantisโ priorities by campaigning against issues like critical race theory. DeSantis endorsed a slate of 10 school board candidates โ a rare, if not unprecedented, move for a Florida governor that could help Republicans capture more support in the midterms from parents energized by contentious issues such as masking students during the pandemic.
โPeople are frustrated with the business-as-usual on these school boards,โ said Christian Ziegler, vice chair of the Republican Party of Florida whose wife, Bridget, is running to keep her seat on the Sarasota County school board and has been endorsed by DeSantis.
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โPayback is coming in Augustโ when the school board elections are held, Ziegler said.
School board races in Florida are traditionally nonpartisan, sleepy down-ballot races. But Republicans, led by DeSantis, are getting more involved this year after the Covid-19 pandemic inflamed interest in education and what students are learning in schools, particularly about race and gender identity. Democrats have not shown similar levels of funding.
The candidates backed by GOP-tied cash and endorsements from DeSantis show that Republicans are gunning to unseat incumbent school leaders and reshape boards in key spots across Florida. The effort could help Republicans control nearly all levers of government in the state, from the governorโs mansion, Cabinet, state Legislature down to local school boards.
In Miami, for instance, one race is heating up between a career educator with support from GOP leadership and a longtime school board staple.
Monica Colucci, an elementary language arts teacher with 26 years of experience, claims in campaign material that she has โseen firsthand the detrimental impact of liberal policiesโ in Miami-Dade County schools. Colucci, who also spent a year serving as special assistant to GOP Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuรฑez, was among the first candidates endorsed by DeSantis in her race against Marta Pรฉrez, a school board member who has served for 24 years and considers herself a conservative.
โI know the challenges that parents are facing and teachers are facing day in and day out,โ Colucci said in an interview. โYou can be on a board for 24 years but if youโre not day to day facing the challenge yourself, you get a bit removed.โ
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Colucci has raised less than half as much cash as her incumbent opponent at this point in the race. But campaign finance reports show Colucciโs first fundraising haul came in May to a tune of $53,000 fundraising and included some $15,000 from committees linked to state Republicans. She followed that up by raising more than $31,000 between June 1-17, records show.
To that end, Colucci scored $1,000 donations from Nuรฑez as well as from state House members from south Florida and beyond, including Reps. Thomas Leek (R-Ormond Beach), Alex Rizo (R-Hialeah), Daniel A. Perez (R-Miami), Demi Busatta Cabrera (R-Coral Gables), David Borrero (R-Sweetwater) and Bryan Avila (R-Miami Springs).
Another Miami Dade school board candidate endorsed by DeSantis, Roberto Alonso, also has received $1,000 donations from committees led by Republican lawmakers such as outgoing Senate President Wilton Simpson and Sen. Ray Rodrigues (R-Estero), campaign finance records show.
And Colucci and Alonso each landed $1,000 from a committee led by state Sen. Ben Albritton (R-Wauchula), who represents some eight counties in Central Florida but not Miami-Dade, where the races are located. Albritton said in a written statement that heโs โproud to support candidates who share my values, particularly those who will have a voice on the school board.โ
Alonso, who DeSantis in 2020 appointed to the Miami-Dade College trustee board, has raised more than $83,000 in his race while the candidate with the next highest contributions, Kevin Menendez Macki, is sitting on $16,555 for the wide-open seat. Alonsoโs campaign is closely aligned with the Republican governor and promises to โoppose attempts to impose Critical Race Theory and other extreme liberal agendas in K-12โ and โprotect female athletes and female sports.โ
Pรฉrez, meanwhile, has raised $188,000 in her Miami-area race against Colucci, including $100,000 of her own money, records show. She raised nearly $23,000 between June 1-17, including $4,000 from committees tied to the local teachers union. Yet even with a financial lead, more than two decades experience and the power of incumbency behind her, Perez acknowledges that an endorsement from DeSantis would aid her reelection.
As a conservative, Pรฉrez said she was โvery puzzledโ to see her opponent, Colucci, earn a stamp of approval from DeSantis. She touted improved graduation rates and workforce programs under her tenure on the board and how she opposed proposals that could have been linked to critical race theory.
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โI just donโt understand,โ Pรฉrez said in an interview. โBecause I have never had a conversation with the governor and heโs supporting someone whose agenda seems to be my agenda.โ
Elsewhere in Florida, other candidates that have been โ and could soon be โ endorsed by DeSantis are collecting money from state Republicans.
Incoming House Speaker Paul Rennerโs political committee, for example, donated $1,000 each to five school board candidates in four separate counties, including two in Duval County that were endorsed by DeSantis. These two Duval candidates โ April Carney challenging an incumbent and Charlotte Joyce seeking reelection โ also landed $1,000 apiece from state Rep. Clay Yarborough (R-Jacksonville), records show.
Carney, a conservative mother who โbelieves that families know what is best for their children โ not bureaucrats or elected officials,โ holds a slight financial lead over Elizabeth Anderson, a former educator and board member since 2018, with both raising more than $65,000. Joyce, who earlier this yearย proposed a proclamationย in support of DeSantis and recent legislation that prohibits educators from leading classroom instructions on sexual orientation or gender identity for kids in kindergarten through third grade, has raised nearly $30,000 compared to almost $8,000 by her challenger, Tanya Hardaker.
โWe need strong school board members who will set Floridaโs children up for success, ensure parental rights in education, and combat the woke agendas from infiltrating public schools at the local school board level,โ DeSantis said in a statement accompanying his endorsements.
Some candidates are linked to political committees that have donated to candidates backed by DeSantis, a possible sign of another round of contenders that could eventually get a blessing from the governor.
Jessie Thompson, a Volusia County mother, was endorsed by Renner and Republican Congressmanย Byron Donaldsย (R-Fla.), and is in a three-person race to fill a vacated seat.
And in Lee County, a GOP stronghold thatโs home to Fort Myers, there have been no endorsements from DeSantis and yet at least a dozen political committees have invested a total of $22,000 in four different candidates. Among this spread are donations from committees led by Republicans like Albritton and state Reps. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R-Fort Myers), Sam Garrison (R-Fleming Island), Lawrence McClure (R-Dover), Josie Tomkow (R-Polk City) and Mike Beltran (R-Lithia), records show.
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One of those races features two challengers who are raising more cash than an incumbent and both could earn DeSantisโ endorsement.
Jason โBig Mamaโ Jones, a radio host and parent, is leading the pack by eclipsing $32,000 so far without donations from political committees. Jones proudly bills himself as the only parent vying for the seat and contends his local school board is missing the needs of students, something he believes puts him in line with the governor.
Jones said he would welcome an endorsement from the DeSantis, whose campaign is pushing for candidates toย complete surveysย gauging how they closely they align with him on issues like critical race theory and parental rights.
Jones is facing an incumbent in Debbie Jordan, the current chair of Leeโs school board, and Dan Severson, a former โTop Gun Fighter Pilotโ and ex-Minnesota lawmaker.
Severson, who spent eight years as a representative of the Minnesota House, including a stint as Minority Whip, appears well aligned with DeSantis by vowing to put โparents back in control of their childrenโs educationโ and grapple with โout of control spending, infighting, and liberal policies [that] have taken the focus away.โ His campaign, which has raised nearly $21,000 compared to $6,100 for the incumbent, also has ties to state Republicans, receiving $1,000 donations from Rodrigues, state Rep. Spencer Roach (R-North Fort Myers) and another committee that also donated to Colucci in Miami.
The endorsements from DeSantis are expected to shake up races leading to the Aug. 23 primary elections when school board contests โ labeled as nonpartisan statewide โ unfold. His name and surging political popularity attached to candidates could also help them raise cash in the coming weeks. The effects of DeSantisโ backing are already being felt, like in Miami, where Perez worries about fundraising now that DeSantis threw his support behind her opponent
โFunding for me is like Iโm a pariah,โ Pรฉrez said. โIโm working like Iโve never worked in my life.โ
Payback for what? What exactly have the schools done that is horrible Good luck getting teachers, Florida. Wait until the teacher retirements start en mass.
Teachers, nurses, doctors, they should just leave for another states and let Florida crumble into a shit hole state. Not a place for anyone to raise children.
They will ruin the education system. First, they will set up all these rules for teachers to follow, and they will chafe under them and leave. They won’t be able to fill a lot of the positions, and will lose the best teachers. Next, they won’t want to deal with boring stuff like budgets and maintenance, so the system will get wrecked from negligence, lack of any over sight, and so on. Spending will get out of control. Except corruption, and funds being channeled to bizarre things instead of maintenance and salaries. Once they have screwed it up past the hopeless point, they will declare victory over the liberals and step down. Then someone else will have to pick the pieces by raising taxes.
As happens when the Republican elected officials claim that people dressing up in costumes reading to kids in public places with other adults present is child abuse.ย ย The thugs (brownshirts) are out to enforce the Republican party line.ย Again the SCOTUS says we need less gun control.ย ย Hugs
A man with a gun turned a childrenโs reading book event into chaos at the Sparks Library Sunday afternoon. During a Drag Queen Storytime event, a group of Proud Boys protested against LGBTQ+ rights outside of the library.
Our News 4 and Fox 11 crew covering the reading event said when the protest came to an end, a man wearing Proud Boys clothing approached the library while carrying a gun, causing everyone, including children, to run into the library for safety.
The Sparks Police Department monitored the protest from a distance, but left soon after. There were no police presence when the man approached the building.
I truly wish the media would stop calling these assholes protesters. They’re not protesting. Protesters don’t show up armed and in combat gear. This is terrorism. FUCK.
white nationalists donโt target the LGBTQ community because they see it as โweak or powerless.โ
โIt is targeted because that community has brought inclusion into America, It has opened the space around equity and what it means to be an America that moves forward together across lines of difference. That is what frightens the Patriot Front, Proud Boys and other racist bigoted alt-right organizations.
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Scottie's Playtime 