Moms for Liberty protest LGBTQ youth center Rainbow Room in Doylestown; supporters counter

A protest of about a dozen people Wednesday against an LGBTQ youth center in Doylestown attracted a counter protest of about 200 people in support of the Rainbow Room.

Canadian activist Chris Elston, better known online as Billboard Chris, announced Monday plans to gather outside of the weekly Rainbow Room meeting spot on Court Street.

“Some lovely @Moms4Liberty will be joining me, along with a journalist or two. Come join our party outside!” Elston wrote in his post, which gained more than 135,000 views just hours before the planned protest.

Elston has become a prominent figure in the parental rights movement over the past three years, donning a sandwich board with slogans like “Children cannot consent to puberty blockers” as he travels internationally speaking out against “a pseudo-religious movement” around gender identity.

During a 14-minute speech at the Moms For Liberty national summit in Philadelphia earlier this month, Elston praised the conservative group and urged attendees to fight against gender-affirming care, calling it “the greatest child abuse scandal in modern medicine history.”

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“There is no such thing as a transgender child. They’re called girls and boys, and they’re beautiful just as they are,” Elston said at the summit.

Melissa Reed, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Keystone, which founded the Rainbow Room 20 years ago, said Elston’s comments denying that LGBTQ people even exist are dangerous.

"We know that LGBTQ youth are more likely to attempt suicide because of the bullying and the harassment they face,” Reed said Wednesday afternoon.

The Rainbow Room has been nationally recognized as a resource and safe haven LGBTQ teens and allies.

“Sadly, both at the Rainbow Room and our other youth programs in Bucks County and across the state, we have seen people who want to bully and shame our young folks outside of those programs,” Reed added. “It's hurtful and it's harmful.”

The youth center has often been the target of aspersions cast in public meetings and on social media, especially recently as Bucks County has become embroiled in national culture war over LGBTQ rights. Parents in the Central Bucks School District who have supported conservative policies have railed against the Rainbow Room, often making accusations that its programs were grooming children for abuse.

Elston echoed those statements in another Twitter post earlier this week.

“The Rainbow Room brings together 14-year-olds with 21-year-olds to teach all sorts of queer inclusive sex,” Elston said. “Groomer central.”

A viral video of the Rainbow Room’s 2022 Queer Prom became political fodder for a bill to ban drag performances by state Sen. Doug Mastriano, a Franklin County Republican and former candidate for governor.

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10, was dragged into the online outrage earlier this year in part because he helped the Rainbow Room secure a $630,000 grant to fund a second location in Bucks County.

Santarsiero also joined counter protestors on Wednesday to show support for LGBTQ youth.

“What brings me here is the need to show support for the kids who come here, to the Rainbow Room, on a weekly basis …  We are not going to go away and we're not going to stop doing what we think is right in supporting these kids.”

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: 'Billboard Chris' and Moms for Liberty protest LGBTQ Rainbow Room