Ideologies clash at protest over pride event near UW-Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Protestors exchanged words at a pride event on Milwaukee's UWM campus Saturday.

"So today we are having an event called Family Pride, to celebrate that pride is for families, not just individuals."

John Holm, retired pastor for ZAO MKE, an LGBTQ+ friendly church near the UW-Milwaukee campus, says their Saturday event was for centering families with LGBTQ+ members with fellowship and activities.

That wasn't all that was happening at their church Saturday.

Protestors of a variety of types came out to protest the event.

"We are out here to oppose what they're doing to children, they are trying to sodomize and convert children," said Laruie.

Laruie, who refused to give her last name or identify of a group she represented besides being 'Baptist', made claims about other LGBTQ+ events in the city such as a drag story an hour earlier in the day.

She admitted she had never actually gone to see for herself what goes on at the events that typically feature a performer reading storybooks to kids, according to the Drag Story Hour national organization.

"I won't go to one," said Laruie.

Counter protestors held large boards to block families visiting the church from the protestors.

"Wanting to get an experience read, be happy, be joyus, and we have some people that want to rain on that parade with their bigotry with their hate," said Venus Randall, one of the coordinators of the counter protest.

They says they do this because protestors feel the need to come to their events.

"We're not going into churches and sitting down or doing stand-ins like these people are doing here," explained Randall.

Nick Prowell from Mercy Seat Christian Church out of Brookfield, says their group's ideology of 'The Lesser Magistrate Doctorine' calls for them to defy 'tyrants' or people of authority who don't interpret Christian holy texts the way they do.

"We would say that ultimately the government that legalizes this kind of behavior are the tyrants but also on an individual level people who propagate sin and lies they're haters of God, that's what the Bible talks about, and we have a duty to stand up against them," said Prowell.

The group, mostly made up of young people, were in town because of a conference.

"When I see people that are propagating around sin in the name of Jesus it's my duty as a Christian to rebuke them," said Prowell explaining their presence.

Pastor Holm says he wishes more people could consider things the way his church does.

"We follow Jesus, who was a brown-skinned Palestinian who sided with those who were marginalized," said Holm.