Gay men’s choir drowns out vile anti-LGBTQ+ protest that crashed family Pride event
Anti-LGBTQ+ protestors at Sacramento Children’s Museum (Twitter/@WLMCalfornia)
A Pride event designed to educate children and families on queer history was crashed by anti-LGBTQ+ protestors calling to “protect white children.”
The Sacramento event, which took place on Saturday (25 June), aimed to celebrate “love and families”, with Pride-related art activities, museum play and performances.
But things took an ugly turn when an anti-Pride group marched into the event holding signs saying things like “Groomers are not welcome in California”.
Drag queen Suzette Veneti, who attended the event, told CBS Sacramento that she wasn’t surprised, but disappointed at those who decided to protest at a child’s event.
“You’re standing there with a megaphone and signs, you’re scaring kids,” Veneti said. “They could’ve protested at Pride. They could protest anywhere they want, but to pick a children’s museum with children, like, this is for kids.”
Performers at the event managed to drown out the protesters with songs and choruses of solidarity, led by the Sacramento Gay Men’s Chorus.
“This is what we do,” group member Andrew Gibout said. “And so we all started to join in the chorus of ‘We are the World’ like 57 times, and it drowned out all the hate. They ultimately walked away because no one could hear them anymore, so it didn’t matter what they were saying.”
Gibout mentioned that several younger volunteers began to cry during the altercation, saying that “they had never experienced something like this.”
Sacramento Children’s Museum has hosted Pride events previously with no protests or issues. Last year saw two Pride-related events from the organisation, “Rainbow Families Pride Playdate” and the same “Pride with Leo and Friends” event that saw protests this year.
Pride events for families and young people have become a new target for anti-LGBTQ+ groups since Texas Republican Bryan Slaton said he wanted to ban children from attending drag performances.
Earlier this month, a group of alleged “Proud Boys” members stormed a Drag Queen Story Hour in California yelling “homophobic and transphobic slurs” as children in the event looked on in fear.
“People are just dressing up and having fun, and if kids want to see that then kids should be able to see that from people who are going to be fun and engaging to the kids,” Veneti continued.
