Geauga County drag events draw protesters, heavy police presence
Demonstrators fulfilled a pledge Saturday to protest against drag show events Saturday at two Geauga County sites — a church in Chesterland and restaurant in Chardon.
Both communities are in rural settings just east of the Cleveland metropolitan area.
Authorities had urged planners of both events to cancel after some groups opposing the drag shows called for armed members to show up in force. A heavy police presence, including assistance from other communities, was deployed Saturday to keep tensions from boiling over.
Video posted to Facebook Live from Chardon showed a cluster of seven or eight men carrying flags and a sign that read "Strong families, strong nation" on Saturday. Some of the protesters wore masks.
At times, the group chanted "strong nation" and "life, liberty, victory" as they were filmed by individuals who outnumbered them. The Patriot Front, a white nationalist organization based in Texas, was among the groups.
The protest in Chardon was similar to one in Wadsworth last month that took place in a public park. There, neo-Nazi groups stoked tensions among a mixed group of protesters and supporters of the event.
At the Wadsworth Rock-and-Roll Humanist Story Hour on March 11, racial and homophobic epithets were hurled at attendees. Two individuals, a protester and a supporter of the event, were arrested when their confrontation turned physical.
Early video of the Chardon event showed a more restrained protest, with a supporter and opponent holding signs for their cause six feet from each other.
The Element 41 restaurant had promoted two shows at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
In Chesterland, the Community Church of Chesterland UCC hosted a drag story hour that also drew the attention of opponents. The church planned to continue with the event Saturday despite an attack on the property March 25 by a man wielding a Molotov cocktail.
In a statement released Thursday, the Chester Township Police Department, Chardon Police Department and Geauga County Sheriff's Office all recommended cancellation of the events based on "a realistic threat that that organized protests and counter-protests could result in violence."
On Friday, an Alliance man was arrested and charged with the church attack.
The U.S. Department of Justice said that man, Aimenn D. Penny, 20, also distributed flyers for a White Lives Matters protest March 11 against a drag show story reading for children in Wadsworth.
If convicted of attacking the church, Penny faces a mandatory minimum of five years and up to 20 years in prison for the malicious use of explosive materials charge and up to 10 years for the possession of a destructive device charge, the DOJ said.
Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Geauga County drag events draw protesters, heavy police presence
