PRIDE IS UNDER THREAT. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR YOU THIS YEAR?
Here’s the Painful Colorado Pride Story I Couldn’t Share Last Year
“We are watching you,” a group of masked anti-LGBTQ+ protesters chanted at us over the megaphone
Re-watching the minute-long video I took from a Pride event in Castle Rock, Colorado last August is so painful. It takes me right back to a moment when my blood was running cold as ice — on a day that had been so beautiful and warm.
They were holding a giant red, white, and blue sign that read, “Strong Families; Strong Nations”. Their faces were covered with Gaiter masks. They waved American flags meant to inspire fear in the people they hated: us.
They meant with their flags to tell us that this is their country, not ours.
I had stopped canvassing to run to the edge of the event and take that video as evidence, in case things escalated. Only a few minutes earlier, I’d showed a member of the Parasol Patrol a picture of the anti-LGBTQ+ slur “Groomers,” spray-painted in black in the parking lot near my car. I watched her go running without another word.
“We are watching you,” the group of anti-LGBTQ+ protesters chanted at us over the megaphone. In…
