After weeks of criticism, online threats from far-right groups and a legal complaint, the Jackson Pride Committee and the city reached a compromise with state GOP representatives and community members who had complained about the festival’s drag show.
Jo Yurcaba
The annual pride festival was supposed to be held in the city’s public Conger Park, as it was in 2019 and 2021, but now it will be held indoors at the nearby Civic Center. “We’re devastated, because we know that young people in their teens who are queer or questioning or supportive would love to see this, and parents could have brought them,” Hollingsworth said. “But we will be in contempt if we even allow parents to bring in their child, so we won’t.”
Todd also quoted a state law that bars “adult cabarets” from being within 1,000 feet of public parks, residences or places of worship. But Darren Lykes, chair of the committee, said that he spoke with all of the drag performers and told them it would be a family-friendly event. He added that there had been drag performers in the park at the past two festivals. “Where was your outrage then?” he asked Todd.A member of the First United Methodist Church also compared hosting the drag show in the park to people wearing black face in a public place.
On Tuesday, state Reps. Todd and Jackson, along with 12 members of the First United Methodist Church, filed a legal complaint against the city of Jackson in the Chancery Court for Madison County, claiming that holding the drag show in the Civic Center would violate state law.
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