Watch: KKK Members Protest LGBT Pride in Alabama City
Members of the Ku Klux Klan protested a LGBT Pride event Sunday in Florence, Alabama, AL.com reports.
Several members of the white nationalist group donned in their white robes made a rare public appearance at what was described as the first-ever LGBTQ Pride parade in Northwest Alabama. Benjamin Newbern, executive director of the Equality Shoals advocacy group, told AL.com attendees were feeling "shocked and then embarrassed" when they saw members of the KKK.
"It was just crazy. This was a huge day for the LGBTQ community with the fact that nothing like this had happened before with members of the LGBTQ community marching in the streets here," Newbern told the newspaper. "Hate has always been here, but it reared its ugly head yesterday to show that it's still around."
Newbern added there were more than 200 people who participated in the march and over 100 people who attended the event. He also launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for Equality Sholas to help "fund many projects, including an LGBTQ community needs assessment of Northwest Alabama and surrounding counties; Southern Outpost, an LGBTQ oral history archive of the stories of LGBTQ Southerners." Click here to donate.
AL.com reports some participants of the LGBTQ Pride march were disappointed with the Florence Police Department, whose officers showed up to make sure there was no violence at the event. On the department's official Facebook page, a post read: "Two sides, opposing views. Peaceful rally. Our duty and honor to provide security and ensure the safety of both groups." Another posting included the hashtags "#equalitymarch2017" and "#defendersoftheconfederatecross"
"That's very odd because that group to me is based on hatred and is like a terrorist group to me," Will Cross, a member of the Quality Shoals, told AL.com. "I don't think there should be an equivalence there because we paid and got permits and hired police officers, and they just kind of showed up trying to scare people."
Nevertheless, Cross and Newbern told the newspaper the police were helpful in keeping people safe.
"Honestly, I'm really impressed that as many people showed up as did, especially in our small town where it's typically really conservative," Cross said. "I was also really impressed that there were tons of families and small children there with signs saying things like 'I support my gay child.'"
"We just wanted to have a sister march to the national marches happening all across the nation," he added.
An attendee of the LGBTQ event took a video of the KKK protesting and shared it on Facebook. Check it out below.