Five white supremacists found guilty in plot to start a mob riot at Pride

Five members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front were convicted by a jury of misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot at a June 2022 Pride event in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. The men, who will be sentenced on Monday, now face up to a year in jail, up to $5,000 in fines, and up to two years of probation.

James Michael Johnson, Forrest Rankin, Robert Whitted, Devin Center, and Derek Smith were just five of 31 Patriot Front members who squeezed into a U-Haul truck and were arrested by police before they had a chance to disrupt the Pride in the Park event.

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Mom kicks white nationalist son out after he got arrested for going to riot at Pride

“Don’t believe the media, mom,” Jared Michael Boyce allegedly told his mother. “We were just there because they’re grooming kids.”

Police found riot gear, a smoke grenade, shin guards, and shields inside the truck. Police also found documents that allegedly mentioned the group’s plan to “form a column outside City Park and proceed inward, “until barriers to approach are met [and] … an appropriate amount of confrontational dynamic had been established,” the Huffington Post reported. The members had then allegedly planned to disperse and continue the riot.

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The group’s members came from at least 12 different states, including Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

The Anti-Defamation League identifies Patriot Front as a white supremacist group that promotes xenophobia, antisemitism, and fascism via the internet and engages in localized “flash demonstrations” across the country.

After the men were first arrested, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI), then-Chair of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, wrote in a statement, “This event must serve as an alarm to the violent, anti-LGBTQ+ hate that is brewing across the country and showing up not just on the fringes but in state legislatures. This Pride Month cannot just be about celebrating our community, but also ensuring that every person can live authentically — without fear of discrimination or violence — in every corner of this nation.”

A recent report created by the queer media watchdog organization GLAAD and the hate monitoring group the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) found that between June 2022 and April 2023, 305 incidents of harassment, 40 incidents of vandalism, and 11 incidents of assault were directed against the LGBTQ+ community nationwide.

Nearly half of the reported incidents were perpetrated by individuals associated with extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Patriot Front. Additionally, 128 of the incidents also involved antisemitic tropes, and 30 involved racist tropes, showing the overlap of anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment with hatred of Jews and non-white races.