WASHINGTON: A spike in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and threats has taken a heavy toll on pride celebrations in the United States this year, organizers say — especially in states where politicians want to curtail rights.

This month’s celebrations in Houston, the largest pride event in conservative Texas, have been scaled back due to rising insurance and security costs, as well as concerns over soaring temperatures and capacity.

“We made the decision to cancel the festival this year,” said Kendra Walker, president of Pride Houston 365, downgrading the plans to a parade.

The change was first announced in January as Texas lawmakers prepared bills restricting gender-affirming health care and drag performances. Now, pride planners across the US and Canada say they are facing higher bills because of anti-LGBTQ disinformation and hate.

“It only takes a few (people) that can’t decipher reality from fantasy, and that’s when the danger comes in,” Walker said, calling it “a formidable threat” and pointing to white supremacists who planned to riot at a pride event in Idaho last year.

‘A real shake-up’

Florida has become a hotspot, with Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican running for president, signing bills this spring banning youngsters from drag shows and restricting how they learn about the LGBTQ community.

“I didn’t realise there was going to be that much of a real shake-up,” said Carrie West, president of Tampa Pride, which in May cancelled an outdoor festival after some sponsors said they were worried about running afoul of the new laws.

The legislation, replicated in several other US states, also comes amid a torrent of anti-LGBTQ disinformation online.

False claims linking the community to paedophilia and Satanism have amassed across social media platforms, boosted in part by conservative commentators and advocacy groups. Similar allegations and misinformation went viral in late May about Target’s pride apparel collection.

“We don’t live in a time where we can just kind of separate what happens online from what happens in the real world,” said Ari Drennen, LGBTQ program director at Media Matters for America, a liberal media watchdog.

Not all pride celebrations have been affected. Long-running events retain a certain resilience against the hate that has targeted the community for decades, even as equality laws have improved rights in recent years.

“There are broad threats, and it’s definitely coming from the anti-woke crowd and their encouragement of their followers to disrupt events,” said David Clarke, spokesperson for NYC Pride, the largest such group in North America.

“(But) we have very robust security plans and we have for years. So it’s kind of business as usual, I think.” However, in Republican-controlled states where laws limiting LGBTQ rights have already been passed, small-town activists are contending with hate speech.

In April, the advocacy group Equality Florida issued an advisory warning for LGBTQ people traveling to the state.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2023