Welcome Mike Pence to Town with a “Big LGBTQ Dance Party”
BY KAYLEE DUFF
💃 Start your Columbus Pride 2018 weekend off by welcoming Vice President Pence into town with a big queer dance party! 💃
The dance party protest will consist of music, drag queens and community members making their voices heard against the sound of the actively anti-LGBTQ politician.
According to the event’s organizer, Jay Smith, the Welcome Mike Pence: Big LGBTQ Dance Party generated in the comments section of Facebook. They decided on a dance party, because they agreed it was both “a great response to Pence’s policies and a great way to kick off Pride.”
Pence is coming to Columbus to talk to a Trump-supporting group, America First Policies, about the Tax Cuts and Job Acts. It just so happens that this talk coincides directly with the beginning of Columbus’s Pride weekend. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to protest in a more “positive environment,” explained Smith.
Pence has a very long, very upsetting track record when it comes to adament opposition to LGBTQ+ rights. You can read the whole laundry-list here and here.
The Trump/Pence administration has been a prime example of anti-LGBTQ+ authority. From erasing the LGBT rights off the White House website to refusing to acknowledge June as Pride Month, the queer community has been up in arms with the current administration.
The dance party protest will take place Friday, June 15, from 2 to 5 p.m., outside the Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel. Yes, that is on the corner of 3rd and Gay Street. Right outside the pro-Trump event Pence is speaking at. They certainly picked the perfect location, if you know what we mean. 😉
Smith said he wasn’t sure if Pence’s speaking here at the beginning of the Pride weekend was specifically planned, “but it’s the perfect opportunity to highlight his anti-LGBT administration and utilize the energy already around Pride.”
So far, confirmed DJs and drag queens at the protest include Virginia West, Sable Coate, Kiley Dash West, Amanda Sue, Gretta Goodbottom, Eris Gray, Roxy Nicole, Selena T West, Bianca Debonair, DJ Moxy and DJ ET. The event page reminds all protesters: “Stay off the streets and on the sidewalk, obey the law, be nice and don’t engage counter protesters, keep our city clean and show your Pride!”
Jay Smith wants this dance party protest to be a message to our local LGBT (and non-LGBT!) community: “The administration may not have their back, but we have their back.” We’re here to show people that — whether they’re out or closeted or questioning — everyone deserves to be loved and accepted.
Update:
An edit to this article was released on June 12, updating the list of DJs and drag queens attending the dance party.
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