From LGBTQ to MAGA, protesters seek spotlight at GOP presidential debate in Simi Valley

Wednesday's Republican presidential primary debate starts at 6 p.m. on a stage bordered by the Air Force One jet that once carried Ronald Reagan. But the show kicks off two hours earlier at the bottom of the long steep drive that leads to the Reagan Presidential Library.

That’s where the Democratic protesters will be, at the corner of Madera Road and Presidential Drive in Simi Valley, waving a Joe Biden flag and carrying signs about Roe v. Wade, gay rights and indictments of what they see as the Republican agenda.

Across the intersection, a group of Donald Trump supporters are expected to gather for their own rally, marked by Make America Great Again signs, American flags and shout-outs to the former president and GOP frontrunner not expected to participate in the debate.

Though they are diametrically opposed on, well, everything, the two groups will be pursuing the same goal: Attention for their message with the Dems, in particular, focusing on television cameras and reporters carrying notebooks in their hands and deadline burdens on their shoulders.

“It’s all about about getting your views in front of some media,” said Michael McKeon, who will be there with his husband as part of the Stonewall Democrats of Ventura County LGBTQ advocacy group. “The more coverage you get on a protest, the more people that know there is an opposition.”

The MAGA group doesn't trust media coverage, said organizer Delilah Orloff, who used Facebook to spread word about the rally.

"We want to show those who come to Simi Valley that we are politically active," Orloff said. "Trump supporters are still here."

The rallies at the bottom of the drive evoke attention from others too. The Reagan Library and its exhibit on the Auschwitz concentration camp will be closed Wednesday in a move that will keep protesters at the end of the hillside drive and away from the library. At least nine Simi Valley police officers will monitor the protest area though organizers offer assurances their actions will remain peaceful.

It’s unclear how many people will show up. Organizers worry the timing of the rallies, 4 p.m. on a Wednesday, may keep some away.

More than 120 people, almost all of them from Democratic, women's rights and LGBTQ groups, protested the appearance of presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the library on a Sunday in March. An entrance sign at the library was found defaced with the spray-painted name DeFascist the morning of the governor’s appearance. The protest stayed peaceful.

An organizer called the rally a success in part because it garnered attention from the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times and others.

“There was definitely national attention,” John Lapper said. “We sent our message out loud and clear that (DeSantis') agenda was not welcome.”

Lapper, a 70-year-old retiree and Democrat who regularly appears at Simi Valley City Council meetings, is organizing the debate rally as a counter message to Republican campaign rhetoric on gay rights, abortion, voter rights and other issues.

Other groups expected at the rallies include farmworkers, Moorpark College students and activists from Los Angeles County.

Orloff, a Trump supporter who volunteered at the now closed Republican Values Center in Simi Valley, sees the rally as a way to amplify a message.

“The point is that we need to show we are the Simi Valley MAGA, the people who support Donald Trump and his ideology,” she said, hailing the need for change. "Economically, culturally, you name it, we are a crumbling nation."

It is another irony. Lapper too contends the real issue is change.

"We’re at a real crossroads," he said. "I’ve been around, and I’ve never seen politics as they are today."

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.

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This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Protesters seek spotlight at GOP debate at Reagan Library in Simi