Thursday's conviction of four members of the extremist group The Proud Boys of seditious conspiracy for their role in the January 6 U.S. Capitol attack. The decision, which includes a conviction for their former leader Enrique Tarrio, could be a major blow to the neo-fascist group. Still, they’ve already moved on to their next act, reports Mother Jones. After rising to prominence for their brawls mostly with anti-fascists, the next frontier for the Proud Boys is patrolling anti-LGBTQ drag queen brunches and story hour protests. In the past year, while other members of the group were on trial for their role in January 6, members of the group shown up across the U.S. at drag brunches and story hours—from Fall River, R.I., to Sanford, N.C. Along with the extremist group Patriot Front, the Proud Boys disrupted an event in Coeur d’Alene, Id., leading to 31 arrests.
“We know the public doesn’t support Drag Queen Story Time,” the Rhode Island Proud Boys chapter said after protesting a drag queen story hour alongside a neo-Nazi group in Fall River, “we know they want it stopped but are afraid or don’t have the time.” The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project published data says anti-LGBTQ mobilization among far-right groups like the Proud Boys is up since 2021, going from their harassing two events up to 14 the next year. Kathleen Belew a history professor at Northwestern, who has extensively studied the white power movement, described far-right groups showing up at LGBTQ events as “performative publicity,” saying, "What they want out of a confrontation, is piece of video footage that they can use to recruit people into their movement,”
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