Proud Boys is a Hate Group Against Pride

I keep seeing Proud Boys members in the news. The journalists merely nod to the group's previous attacks on people and government processes if making any mention about their reputation at all. This is a thread for a more comprehensive view.

https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/proud-boys

I'm also using this as a test post because of a bug report.

Authorities Say Proud Boys Disrupt LGBTQ for Children's Event at San Lorenzo Library | NBC Bay Area (13 June 2022)

"A group of five men police say appeared to be members of right-wing extremist group Proud Boys disrupted a LGBTQ event for children at the San Lorenzo Library on Saturday."

The SPLC documents that Proud Boys member Jason Kessler helped organize the "Unite the Right" event in Charlottesville that "brought together a broad coalition of extremists including Neo-Nazis, antisemites and militias. Kessler was expelled from the group after the violence and near-universal condemnation" of the resulting violence in the city.

A group created from the riot, Patriot Front, is now in the news after 31 of its members were arrested for marching as a "little army" toward a family-oriented LGBTQ Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The armed men were arrested for conspiracy to riot.

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/11/1104405804/patriot-front-white-supremacist-arrest...

My group search last night somehow missed posts.

https://www.librarything.com/topic/337310#7859987

I would note that the only time we ever hear about Antifa these days is when people on the right (particularly those on the far or alt-right or in militia groups) bring them up.....otherwise they're nowhere to be found. We do hear a lot about the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers and other Jan. 6 insurrectionists who were determined to overthrown the govt. with the object of making Donald Trump a King? Not a fan of Joe Biden but with Trump out of power these fascist organizations no longer have the green light to do whatever they like anymore.

It's just one reason why I held my nose while voting for Joe.

>5 lriley: They still have too much support. One of the latest examples:

"Proud Boys show up at children’s library event" in Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina
https://www.wect.com/2022/06/22/i-felt-very-unsafe-parents-speak-out-after-proud...

and, according to unofficial reports, were escorted to the event by the Sheriff's officer.

https://twitter.com/gwen_fulton/status/1539428101632970752

The so-called protestors are said to have shouted aggressively and made faces through the interior windows of the meeting room at the young children and attending adults, who felt they were being put in danger. A fight was reported outside the library around the same time. And yet the Sheriff's Office started there was no disturbance of the event in the library.

https://www.wect.com/2022/06/22/demonstrators-protest-pride-storytime-event-coun...

Note that despite what the Boys were shouting, this was not a drag event but a regular storytime reading with Pride and family themes. The featured books were Daddy & Dada and the classic Heather Has Two Mommies to go with an activity "for the children to make their own family picture frame."

>6 aspirit: It's intimidation for sure and those who do it should be arrested. These days there doesn't seem to be enough follow up. Since Trump came to power groups like this have been empowered and they've run rampant since. Their tactics also tie into the debate over things like racism, assault weapons and abuse of all kinds. That so many on the right seem to celebrate all that these days....that many police and those in the judiciary do as well. Like a large part of the population actively wants to create a fascist fundamentalist Christian Taliban like ethno state and will follow whatever demagogue willing to take them there. The direction of this country more than kind of sucks.