CELINA — Outrage and concern as a Mercer County town prepares for Pride celebrations next weekend.
Monday night community members attended the Celina city council meeting to voice their concerns with the event.
“We’re slowly creeping down a bad road let’s not go any farther,” a person said at the meeting.
Several people who spoke had a problem with the drag queens who performed at last year’s Pride.
They claimed the performances were inappropriate for children.
“Such display that one would be found behind closed doors in an establishment that says you must be 18 to enter on the doors is being allowed outdoors,” a citizen said at the city council meeting.
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Organizer of the Small Town Pride event Kyle Bruce is aware of the backlash.
“There’s a spectrum and there is sexually explicit drag there’s no denying that of course but there is also family-friendly drag and that is our goal,” Bruce said.
Bruce said the concerns citizens raised at the meeting were taken seriously by Pride organizers.
“We’re having outfits approved, music approved. Anything that’s choreographed try to have that approved as well so that we can make sure that we are living up to what we are labeling as being family-friendly,” Bruce said.
In a statement, City Council Member Eric Lochtefeld said “The Pride group is making sufficient compromises people find all sorts of things offensive if you don’t want to go don’t go.”
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This is the fourth year Bruce has organized Pride after a personal experience that wanted him to make a safe space for other LGBTQ+ people.
“It was initially created just because my mom put a pride flag up on her house during the first pride month I ever came out and our house was vandalized my car was keyed and the flag was stolen,” he said.
Now he’s inspired to throw an even better event.
“We are really proud of the event that we plan every year and I’m just excited to be around people that I love,” Bruce said.
Bruce said police will be at Pride as a safety precaution.
Celina Pride will take place June 24, 12-7 p.m. at Lakeshore Park.