LANDER—On a cool June evening in a small park near the Popo Agie River, Wind River Pride organizers were setting up for a drag show when unexpected guests showed up.
About 15 men in baseball caps and dark T-shirts, faces covered with neck gaiters, spread out on a bridge near the park, unfurled banners and began chanting. One held a megaphone.
Printed on the largest sign was “Patriot Front,” the name of a white nationalist group known for violence and malicious behavior, including at Pride events in the Mountain West.
No violence broke out in Lander. Following short-lived verbal confrontations, the men — whom observers believe are from out of town — retreated. The show went on.
But tensions remain in the wake of the incident. Pride organizers feel chilled and unsupported by a town they say failed to acknowledge the gravity for the LGBTQ+ community. Officials say the town respects everyone’s rights and stands by all its citizens, and doesn’t want to fuel the fire by heaping undue attention onto outsider agitators.
The situation can serve as a test case of how a small town grapples with the trickle-down effects of national culture wars. It also brings up questions about how communities can respond to these incidents.
The cultural landscape is changing for the LGBTQ+ community, said Liz Hardwick, who has been involved with Wind River Pride since its inception a decade ago. Pride has always experienced some pushback, Hardwick said. And while support has also swelled, they said, they’ve seen a troubling recent evolution that stretches from the halls of state houses to the streets of their town.
“I think what has shifted in these last two years is really targeted hate organizing,” they said. “There’s so much more sort of hate-based ideological stuff coming out, and that movement is more emboldened than it ever had been before.”
With harmful messages gaining traction in Lander, Hardwick said, they no longer believe the face-to-face communication they once relied on to create understanding is reliable.
“The rules of engagement that I think I grew up in … no longer make sense,” they said.
Evolving landscape
The inaugural Wind River Pride event in 2014 featured a picnic. Hardwick, who had previous organizing experience, had recently moved to Lander, and said, “I was like, ‘we need to cultivate queer space here.’” A small group began to sketch out an event.
“We thought it would be like six of us sitting in the park having a picnic together,” they said. “That first year it was probably at least 150 people, and it felt really powerful.”
Countries around the globe — and towns across Wyoming — now recognize June as Pride Month. In Fremont County, what started as a picnic has grown into a weeklong string of events commemorating and advocating for LGBTQ+ interests. There are dance parties, bonfires, storytelling events and, as of last year, a drag show.
Drag shows have been the target of increasing hate in recent years, said Ariella Kamil, a Wind River Pride organizer who joined the effort in early 2022. Kamil said they and Wind River Pride’s other younger members come with a different mindset, moving toward being loud, visible and “not just organizing for a joyful Pride, but also for a political Pride.”
Around 2022 is when “we started to become more radical in our organizing,” they said, “which is when we started to see the correlation in a rise in hate and pushback.”
Kamil and other Pride organizers cite the election of more far-right Wyoming lawmakers, the success of legislation aimed at transgender youth, national campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights and U.S. Supreme Court decisions as examples of that trend. They also point to controversial local government decisions, such as when Fremont County #1 School District in 2022 voted to remove five protected classes from its nondiscrimination policy, and in May voted to amend its library book policy.
The school district changes have nothing to do with LGBTQ+ students or community members, said school board member Scott Jensen, who championed both. He doesn’t believe they should be lumped into the conversation related to the recent Patriot Front protest.
“I know that Wind River Pride, they feel like they’re being targeted,” Jensen said. “I’ve received emails from some folks, and that’s what they’ve expressed to me … But no, [the school board’s business] has nothing to do with them at all.”
Debra East, another Pride organizer, feels the school board decisions do target her community, however. Stripping things like protected classes is “a way to start nibbling away” at community support and protection, she said.
Wind River Pride has seen support grow in other areas. The city of Lander has in recent years proclaimed June “Wind River Pride Month.” This year, Lander Mayor Monte Richardson signed a proclamation declaring June as “Anti-Discrimination Month.” Though not as strongly worded as they preferred, organizers said it was a win.
It also brought blowback. Emails sent to the Lander City Council and obtained by WyoFile show that several residents lodged opposition to the proclamation, which they argued will endanger children by engendering grooming and sexual abuse.
Somehow, Wind River Pride hit the alt-right radar. Four days after Richardson signed the proclamation, the Patriot Front showed up.
Response
How does a Pride event in small-town Wyoming get the attention of a national white supremacist group? And what can a community do about it?
Queer and trans communities are on the frontlines of anti-democracy attacks right now, according to Western States Center, an organization dedicated to protecting marginalized communities. In the wake of 2022 events, Western States released a guide called “Protecting Pride” to help groups prepare for protests with tactics like safety plans and community partnerships.
“It’s really been no secret that white nationalists, paramilitary and anti-democracy groups have increased their targeting of the LGBTQ+ community over the past year,” Stephen Piggott with Western States Center said in a recent press call. “From state legislatures to Target stores to drag events in rural America, anti-democracy groups are mobilizing in opposition to the LGBTQ+ community and using violent tactics and rhetoric.”
What has been different this year, he said, is that anti-Pride protests have often come as a surprise as white nationalist groups haven’t announced plans as publicly as in the past.
Most 2023 Pride events have gone smoothly, Piggott said. In its guide, Western States recommends communities issue proclamations of support.
“We often do see problems crop up when local government is not strongly putting itself on the side of LGBTQ+ visibility and on the side of all of their residents’ rights to gather and celebrate,” said Western States Program Coordinator Kate Bitz, who helped author the guide.
The city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, has been more proactive following the 2022 arrest of 31 Patriot Front protesters for conspiracy to riot, Bitz said, including signing a proclamation. That can be a strong deterrent.
Lander had a proclamation. What Wind River Pride organizers find disheartening, they said, is the lack of follow-up. The silence that followed the incident made the proclamation feel hollow, they said. They have called for the community to publicly denounce hate groups, posting recently on Facebook: “What’s the holdup, Monte?”
Mayor Richardson defends the city’s handling of the drag show. Lander law enforcement was on scene, the event ended peacefully and everyone’s rights to assemble were respected, he said. He prefers not to give the white nationalist group undue attention.
“There’s so much hatred in this country, and I don’t want to create more,” he told WyoFile. “We’re all equal. Whatever you choose to do you choose to do and whatever you’re doing in your house is your business. It’s not mine. It’s not anybody else’s.”
In a statement emailed to WyoFile, the city stressed the value of “embracing diverse perspectives and allowing them to coexist peacefully.”
Megaphone on the bridge
About 10 minutes before the start of the drag show in Lander, organizers were backstage deliberating on whether to delay the opening when they heard shouting from the bridge, according to the Pride organizer Sam Dahnert’s account.
It was coming from the men hiding their faces. When the anonymous protestors unrolled their flags and started chanting, Dahnert said, participants observed Patriot Front and other white nationalist group symbols. Dahnert turned up the music volume to drown them out. Soon after, a few Pride attendees confronted the men; shoving and angry words ensued as people attempted to pull down flags. Plain clothes police officers responded to defuse the situation. After about 15 minutes, the men packed up and left. A Pride volunteer observed them getting into vehicles with Utah and Laramie County plates, Dahnert said.
Lander Police Chief Scott Peters sent officers to the event because of the risk of conflict, he said, but in plain clothes so as to not call attention to themselves or disturb the event. His officers spoke to the people on the bridge during the confrontation about proper behavior, he said.
Peters’ department has received feedback that it should have done more to come out against the Patriot Front, he said. But even though many, including himself, don’t agree with their beliefs, “they have the right to stand there … everybody has a First Amendment right.”
The same standard protects Pride celebrants from calls to ban public LGBTQ+ events, he said.
City council member Julia Stuble is “confident the vast majority of Lander community members share my distaste for these abhorrent and un-American views,” she said in an email in reference to the anonymous protests. But, “as long as a group is peacefully protesting,” she added, “they enjoy the very important right to protest” — despite the irony that they appeared to be trying to tear down that right for others.
Following the events, Pride announced it would not participate in Lander’s July 4th parade. Many considerations contributed to the decision, organizers say; enthusiasm had already lagged before the Pride protest.
But a LGBTQ+ ally group did enter a float last-minute, East said, which made a powerful statement. “And that’s what I’m asking people to do: Like, show up.”
Self-reliance
People protested the 2022 Wind River Pride drag show, but Hardwick said the joy of the performance outweighed their messages. Organizers expected similar protesters in 2023, and they did arrive. But the added appearance of outside white nationalists brought a new gravity.
“I think the performers were really rattled,” Hardwick said. “Performers still gave their hearts out, but I think … there was more of just a nervous-system-jacked feeling.”
The fear is that Wind River Pride becomes a known target of a larger network of hate groups. “This, to me, requires really concerted leadership in our community,” Hardwick said. “And the absence of that feels really disheartening.”
People are tired of being scared and intimidated, said ACLU of Wyoming Advocacy Director Antonio Serrano. For his organization, response entails helping with safety and preparedness. “It’s all about that community solidarity, us taking care of ourselves instead of leaning on the systems and the people in power until we absolutely have to.”
Wind River Pride organizers echoed that sentiment. They will double down on security, first-aid and de-escalation training to make sure they are protected, Dahnert said. They are pursuing firearms training. “The reality is that we do have to keep each other safe,” he said.
Protecting one another is a core tenet of Pride, Hardwick said. “I think Pride has always been that. It’s like we create this little space one day a year where people are like, ‘oh great, I belong. I matter.’”
This is a footnote: Years ago after Matthew Shepard was murdered by two locals in Laramie, ( Let us not forget!) i organized some gay literature events including two library discussian groups based on books . One in Lander. My co-organizer was a gay woman, a relative newcomer.. I was in Lander and went somewhere to eat. My friend was at a table with her girlfriend ,so i hurried over to join them. My friend expressed fear for me –i might be seen as one of “them .” Was i sure i wanted to sit with them? Of course i did. So do some things change yet remain the same?
Ironic how those white nationalists are wearing masks. Historically, hatemongers hide their faces. Maybe why the radical right is so hell-bent on banning and passing laws against the study of factually correct history. Something worth thinking about.
And please don’t anyone start trying to tell me how the white nationalists wearing masks is the same as the Black Lives Matter protestors wearing masks. If you don’t know how that is different you need to study some factually.correct history.
And God forbid that there were Utah license plates in Wyoming.
Call out the National Guard!
White nationalists wearing neck gaiters to conceal their identities while they harass drag show participants. Which would you rather watch perform? Hate mongers or drag queens? Shades of Flip Wilson.
Well handled by Mayor Richardson. From the proclamation photo, however, I think he could see what was coming and planned accordingly.
A tough situation. Methinks public officials at all levels acted correctly. The First Amendment is often tough to defend–but is a core element of our republic. My sympathies go out to those who were endangered.
There is not a 1st Amendment right to hate speech. Period. They were ok to be there but not to disrupt the show. They should show their faces or else leave or not show up. We might not known the haters but God does.
They were there to instill fear and intimidate.
The comments defending white nationalism isn’t surprising. Unfortunately, wyoming has always been a breeding ground for the angry and simple minded.
I suspect it won’t be long before the “right” condones burning of witches and warlocks, or those who don’t believe in their weird conception of a god, which can’t be much of a god if humans are his crowning creation…
What’s the big deal about sexuality, anyway?
Yep, PatriotFront are definitely White Nationalists and bigots.
I was skeptical until I went to their website and clicked on their “Manifesto” link at the top of their home page. Just scroll down until you see the quote from Calvin Coolidge. Not only is that problematic (and that’s putting it kindly), read the surrounding text of the manifesto there.
It also doesn’t help that these guys have to cover their faces. I rail against BLM and other radical leftist groups covering their faces and call them cowards. PatriotFront members are just as cowardly in my opinion.
I don’t want them here. I want nothing to do with them.
I note the faux patriots wouldn’t show their faces. That may be Reverse Drag , but it’s still amounts to coming in drag.
There’s also a succinct term in the vernacular for it , but the best I can get away with in print is to call it ‘barnyard fowl excrement’.
Show up and protest all you want, Patriot Front. Even with faces covered so cowardly , we know where you are coming from , or standing in.
Good story by Ms. Klingsporn. It’s too bad the white nationalists did not make themselves available for comment.
Our country has dealt with this idea of tolerance vs no tolerance since the colonists arrived. Recall that in 1635, Massachusetts barred Roger Williams from the colony because of his religious views. He went off to Rhode Island.
In 1838, the Governor of Missouri authorized the shooting of Mormons with his order that the followers of Joe Smith be exterminated or driven from the state. The KKK for a time made Roman Catholics the enemy. The South, defeated in its traitorous rebellion, lost slavery but imposed Jim Crow laws to keep blacks in poverty, and away from white water fountains and white women. This history goes on and on, with legal discrimination against female property rights in marriage, Irish immigrants, and in recent days against homosexuals and others who don’t conform to what many consider standard sexual identities.
The difference between the two groups? One advocates for tolerance and the fading Wyoming axiom of live and let live. The other maintains that it knows how everyone should conduct their lives and publicly demands that we all conform to the standards they claim originate in the Bible and its Old Testament god.
It’s not Left vs Right or Liberals vs Conservatives when it comes to sexual identity. There are plenty of conservative people who don’t limit themselves to heterosexual love and monogamy.
Meanwhile, give credit to the Lander police for the handling of the June conflict. They kept the peace.
Thanks for informing us about the ongoing challenge for people who want to celebrate who they are. It’s no surprise that Wyoming is experiencing the ‘culture wars’, particularly with the far-right sensibilities of the State. Aside from our Freedom of Speech rights proclaiming this was simply two ‘equal’ groups ( “good people on both sides”) is a false equivalency. Anonymous, masked people from out of town showing up to protest a peaceful celebration of diversity is a hateful occurrence.
The difference between the left and the right is that the left is just trying to live freely by expressing themselves. The right wants to control what the left does. One side wants freedom for everyone and the other side wants everyone to live their way. The idea that people on the right don’t even know the difference is the problem.
It’s very telling when people are afraid to show their faces…very KKK. The right always needs to have someone hate, target and blame everything on. They’ve run through all the minorities through the years, illegal aliens, gay people in general, and now that all those have fell flat, they target one of the smallest groups in America…the trans community – which they think include anyone who do drag. Waiting for the day they start talking about solving real problems.
Organizing in a radical way is ok, but peaceful demonstrations are not! Can’t quite figure that one out! Your L+ group has obviously confused tolerance with acceptance!
As much as you might wish for it, the tail cannot wag the dog.
In the first place what is the point of drag shows or whatever it is they are doing if not to get attention? This is America and folks are allowed to express their opinion of public displays, and obviously not everyone has the same opinion.
EVER THE VICTIM. Absolute fealty to the perversions of them, they, those,etc. or else you’re a hate group. Where was the ACLU in the Summer of 2020 during the riots? They were advocating for the mask-wearing rioters nationwide. The increasingly militant, violent rhetoric of the far-left, out of town agitators is disappointing but not surprising. The vocal minority dictating to the silent majority, again. If you seek an armed conflict then by all means go forward with your firearms training. You can’t stir the pot and cry victim though, integrity doesn’t work that way.
White nationalist hate groups are the “silent majority”? Will you be claiming that there is good people on both sides next?
A bigot is a bigot
Let me be clear. I do not endorse this. But what is different from white nationalism from Rainbow group(not the hippie bunch) to the BLM groups? Really nothing. All pushing agenda I don’t want anything to do with. Yet All want me to sit and listen to the BS. If I reject their ideas then I am some how wrong
None of us has to “listen to the BS” if we don’t want to, but it’s incumbent on all of us to have peaceful tolerance toward other groups that are not harming others. As far as White Nationalism, that is a dangerous ideology that seeks to set one racial group above others. We would all do well to strive for “one nation, under God, indivisible…” as expressed in the Pledge of Allegiance.
No one cares whether you listen. They want you to leave them alone, the same way they leave you alone. The white-masked protesters went out of their way to confront people not bothering the personally at all. Stay focused on who is interfering with whom.
Isn’t it Typical that Leftists can say or do just about anything ,but when conservatives voice their view they’re called ” haters ” This country is falling apart due to the twisted double standards and warped mindset of the media and many who hold Positions in public Office. A book written by Ted Cruz explains how this has happened ” Justice Corrupted how the left has Weaponized our legal system”. Freedom of Speech is for all people and not just the Leftists, it’s clear the media enjoys putting their slant on everything so they can promote their agenda, but this is clear and there will be push back no matter what words they try to use to make conservatives look bad. Common sense is what’s being attacked here and the fact that abnormal actions of a group of people does not make
their absurd views normal. A broken educational system is also to blame for much of what we see going on across America and has been exposed by many. Leftists Propaganda is what we are seeing and those who promote it are the real “Haters”.
David, your first mistake is reading a book by Ted Cruz. I don’t think there’s much point in saying much else about your comment because quoting Cruz says enough. And groups like “Patriot Front” are in fact white nationalist hate groups not to be confused with “conservatives” unless that’s in fact your point about conservatism.
The real problem is that Freedom of speech is under attack, and as you have proven you choose to ignore anything said by people like Ted Cruz based on your values and not facts. It seems that being a conservative is what’s under attack just look at schools around the nation and the Hate twords conservatives where parents are put under investigation for speaking out against leftist ideology. It seem that when conservatives point out factual information they get silenced which is true of this news outlet and many have seen how opposing views are deleted or made to sound radical if they don’t follow Leftists ideology. Freedom of speech is what’s really under attack and it’s clear that conservatives values are not welcome by many media sources.
Nonsensical fear mongering from the low information voters.
Free yourself from your echo chamber full of lies and anger. You might find out that the sky really isn’t falling
It is Conservatives that have corrupted the Justice System and Ted is getting elected to tell you lies about our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The Lefts failing was not messaging using Constitutional language when making arguments post Roe.
The Bill of Rights is arranged in the importance the Founders felt about the issues of the day and then became more philosophical until the Founders got to the 10th Amendment which is basically the States handle the rest.
The First Amendment is attempting to negotiate a bargain between Free Speech and the Free exercise of Religion. When the balance between these two ideas frays, then see Amendment #2. I am glad to see the LGBTQ+ Community is responding to the violence coming from the intolerant, violent zealots on the right.
The Right to Privacy during a pregnancy should have extended to 9 months. It is ludicrous to read our Constitution and the Bill of RIghts and come to any other conclusion, unless you happen to be the 6 Catholics on the SCOTUS that voted for Dobbs.
I would love to discuss the reason the Founders put the 3rd Amendment in and then have a discussion about the 9th Amendment, then maybe we can argue whether Ted Cruz would have been a Senator in Texas without the aid of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution?
Your statements are full of false equivalencies. Where is the threat from the ‘left’ that you rail against? We don’t see the ‘left’ showing up with guns in hand, calling names, and faces covered with full intent of intimidation. Proud boys, patriot front et. al. Just a short step away from jack-booted thugs. They are not there for civil discourse.