The “Make America Straight Again” conference organized by a group of New Independent Fundamentalist Baptist preachers is still happening this weekend in Orlando (nearly three years to the day after the Pulse nightclub massacre). But the story is beginning to pick up steam, especially locally.

The man hosting the event is Patrick Boyle of Revival Baptist Church, and he apparently asked the Lake County Sheriff’s Office if he could hire officers to help keep everything running smoothly.

They said no.

In a statement to WFTV, the office laid out their reasons for denying the request. In short, they have no desire to offer hired help to promote hate speech.

We have a process in place for reviewing and approving, or rejecting, each request for security details that the agency receives. The request for Revival Baptist Church to hire our deputies to work for them during their event was declined for a couple of reasons. First, it appears as though the conference disparages homosexuals and will be targeting them during the group’s conference this week. Furthermore, the fact that the timing of this conference coincides with the three-year anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in nearby Orlando did not go unnoticed by our staff. We felt as though the timing of the conference is in poor taste and we chose not to allow the group to hire our deputies. We are, however, aware of the potential for protests and are currently discussing the possibility of an increased presence in general for the event in order to ensure everything remains peaceful.

It’s a sensible response. It’s still a relief knowing there will be police presence to keep everyone in check.

Boyle said he hired private security to protect his hate group specifically. But the members of his church aren’t the people who need to be worried about threats of violence. The rest of the world should be far more concerned about what they’ll do after these hate-preachers rile them up.

(Screenshot via YouTube)

