North Carolina Gay 'Deplorables' Group Plans to Protest Charlotte Pride

Friday August 11, 2017

A self-purported conservative gay group with alleged anti-transgender history plans to protest a city's Pride celebration.

North Carolina conservative gay group Deplorable Pride is inviting followers to protest the city of Charlotte's upcoming pride parade. The protest stems from parade organizers' move to deny Deplorable Pride's application to march in the city's pride celebration due to their alleged history of hostility towards transgender people and other marginalized groups.

"Join us in Charlotte North Carolina on August 27th. Come and show your support for your fellow Trump supporters who are LGBT and are being persecuted by their own gay community," reads an invitation to the Charlotte Pride protest posted on Deplorable Pride's Facebook page. "The Charlotte Pride event in Charlotte is expected to draw 120,000 people in attendance. Please help us show that intolerance is not acceptable."

On Deplorable Pride's website, founder Brian Talbert writes: "I started this organization after we were denied having a float in the Charlotte NC gay pride parade because of our political views. We were basically told we can no longer have a voice because we are gay Republicans."

However, Charlotte Pride organizers tell a different story. In a statement released in June, they wrote: "The Gays For Trump application was initially denied because of that organization's history of public comments and stances disparaging entire groups of people, including transgender people, people of color and immigrants."

Charlotte Pride is set to take place on Sunday August 27. Over 100,000 people are expected to attend.

As of this writing, six people say they are going to Deplorable Pride's protest.