The Backlash Abates? Stories of LGBTQ Love and Cheer

Ohio Church Hosting Drag Event Firebombed, Resists Police Pressure

The anti-LGBTQ backlash is powerful right now. We need some good news, and little Chesterland just gave us some.

Posters (top) promoting related drag-queen fundraising events in Chesterland, Ohio. Photos (bottom) of damage done to the Community Church of Chesterland by at least one self-described Nazi with molotov cocktails and a sledgehammer. Note the fire damage to the door of the church’s preschool.

That kind of violence is pitiful. There are people who say, “Think of the children, think of the children.” Well, children go here. We have a preschool here.

— Jess Peacock, Pastor of Community Church of Chesterland, in Ohio

I’ve been on pins and needles for more than a week since I started writing this story. I meant to immediately write up a short piece about a church not far from where I grew up, a church attacked with molotov cocktails and then besieged with threats over a drag-queen fundraising and story event.

But, every time I sat down to write, something about the story grew even more alarming. I decided to sit back and observe before sharing my thoughts.

And then … something truly special and cool happened.

First, let me explain that this story is super personal for me. Chesterland is a name that trips off my tongue, part of the ordinary language of my childhood. Little Chesterland feels and tastes…