About an hour into the Bozeman, Montana PRIDE event, as community organizations gathered at Soroptimist Park, a group of about 20 white supremacists showed up and started chanting anti-LGBT+ statements at the crowd. Many of them had their faces covered and held signs with racist and homophobic slogans.
The Bozeman Pride Stroll was interrupted by a group of protesters wearing masks and sunglasses to protect their identities while chanting and carrying signs promoting white supremacy and condemning the LGBTQ+ community.
The group walked up and down Main Street and other side streets while engaging with bystanders who shouted back at them. One bystander who engaged, Joseph Wood, ended up getting assaulted.
Wood said he was walking near the group when one protester handed him a flyer. He continued walking near them and another protester tried blocking his path. They ultimately got into a verbal altercation that escalated into the man hitting Wood in the face with a shield, then another man pepper sprayed him.
Montana Right Now
We’ve spent more than half a century trying to educate the general public about the fact that we gay people are not the child molesters or insane as we’ve been portrayed as since time immemorial. Now thanks to Republicans we are and in some cases like in Florida we have already lost the ground we have gained.
Be PROUD. Stand Up. Be Careful. Fight BACK!
White supremacists at Bozeman pride but organizer Anita Shadow says "we're here to celebrate, we're going to stay" pic.twitter.com/CB7JgrQNPq
— Nora Shelly (@noracshelly) May 20, 2023