London’s Wortley Pride sees anti-drag storytime and counter protest – London | 24CA News
The Green in London’s Wortley Village was jam-packed with individuals, Pride flags and a bunch of anti-drag storytime protestors on Saturday.
The protest and a counter protest befell on the nook of Elmwood Avenue East and Wortley Road, simply exterior the Wortley Pride pageant.
The protesters had an indication that learn, “Why do drag queens feel the need to perform in front of our children???” whereas counter-protesters have been heard chanting, “trans rights are human rights.”
Alex Ogilvie attended the occasion with a home made signal that learn, “LGBTQ+ = HUMAN.”
He instructed 980 CFPL he was attending to counter protest.
“Pride is support. It’s a safe place for people who are part of the community who haven’t had it before. It’s important to everyone,” he stated. “(We) have to keep fighting or else it’s never going to get better.”
Alex Ogilvie.
Kelly Wang/980 CFPL
A London man was charged final yr with inflicting a disturbance and possession of a weapon after disrupting the occasion.
Due to this incident in addition to the protest, the president of Wortley Pride, Kathy Bell-Campbell, says further safety was called-in for this yr’s pageant.
“(The protestors) have attacked us on social media and advised us they’re coming, so we took extra precautions to make sure everyone would be protected,” she stated. “We’ve had some instances where people have spray-painted on the ground, but we’ve covered it with hearts so people can’t read it.”
Over on the Green, Jordan Lock was taking her younger daughter to Wortley Pride so she will meet drag queens for the primary time.
“She had never seen drag queens in real-life before, and that just happened, so it’s pretty awesome,” she stated.
“I’ve grown up in the gay community my whole life. I’ve been around many drag queens and they’re some of the kindest people,” Lock stated in response to the anti-drag storytime protest. “People that are scared (are) fear-driven, they don’t really know. That’s sad, but hopefully people will come around to that.”
Marcel Barnd.
Kelly Wang/980 CFPL
Also on the Green was Marcel Barnd, a trans man from Montreal.
He instructed 980 CFPL he travels throughout Canada to attend Pride festivals to help the LGBTQ+ neighborhood.
He suggested the general public to not pay any consideration to the protest.
“If you go after them, that’s what they want, so just ignore them because you’re going to get that wherever you go,” he stated. “If they get you upset, just say ‘have a good day’ and move on.”
The occasion will run till 5 p.m. Saturday.
It will function a drag storytime, over 50 distributors and musical performances.
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