Nazi group sued by state for disrupting LGBTQ+ events & drag story hours with threatening protests

Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell (D) has filed a lawsuit against a self-described neo-Nazi group for “an escalating series of unlawful and discriminatory incidents” targeting LGBTQ+ events and immigrants.

The suit, filed last week, accuses the National Socialist Club, also known as NSC-131, and its two leaders, Christopher Hood and Liam McNeil, of repeatedly engaging in “violent, threatening, intimidating, and coercive conduct that has interfered with the exercise of rights secured by state and federal law; unlawfully obstructed access to public accommodations, including libraries and hotels; and damaged, defaced, and unlawfully intruded upon property throughout Massachusetts.”

Related:

Nazis menace drag queen story hour

Juicy Garland tweeted from the event, “Golly, I didn’t order those.”

According to the complaint, NSC-131 describes itself as a Nazi organization and “engages in a range of activities that it claims are intended to identify and combat the ‘enemies’ of ‘true white New Englanders.’”

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Those actions have allegedly included repeated attempts to disrupt public events organized by LGBTQ+ groups. Specifically, the suit claims that between July 2022 and January 2023, NSC-131 engaged in a campaign to disrupt and shut down four separate family-friendly drag queen story hour events in Massachusetts.

“During this campaign, uniformed NSC members engaged in street fighting, assaulted members of the public, and interfered with access to event spaces in public libraries,” according to the complaint. “NSC has repeatedly indicated that it targeted the Drag Queen Story Hour events because of the sexual orientation and/or gender identity of the people involved in organizing the events, the performers at the events, and/or the people attending the events.”

One August 2022 event the group targeted was canceled due to safety concerns. At another, which took place in December 2022 at the Fall River Public Library in Fall River, Massachusetts, uniformed NSC members held a banner reading “Drag Queens Are Pedophiles,” shouted anti-LGBTQ+ slurs at attendees, and assaulted two people associated with the group that organized the event.

At a January 2023 event, NSC members actually entered the Taunton Public Library, terrorizing families with small children by bursting into the room where the event was being held wearing ski masks.

“Because of the NSC members’ appearance and the manner in which they entered the room, the Story Hour performer and others reasonably feared that the NSC members were going to carry out a violent attack,” according to the complaint. “NSC members called out to parents that they were helping to ‘groom’ their children for sexual abuse; they also called the performer a ‘pedophile,’ a ‘street whore,’ and other insults.”

The suit alleges that one NSC member attempted to instigate a fight with one parent, while another “raised his hand in the shape of a gun and made a shooting gesture in the direction of parents and the performer.”

The suit also alleges that the group targeted hotels providing emergency shelter to recent immigrants to the U.S. on five separate occasions between October 2022 and October 2023.

“On social media, NSC-131 has stated that it targeted the hotels because they were providing housing to ‘invaders’ from ‘Haiti,’ ‘Central America,’ and ‘Africa,’ while espousing conspiracy theories promoting the idea that the shelters were part of a plot to implement ‘White replacement,’” a press release from AG Campbell’s office states. “During the incidents, NSC-131 members trespassed on hotel property and engaged in other unlawful conduct to intimidate and threaten employees and guests and interfere with the operation of the hotels.”

The group is also accused of carrying out vigilante “patrols” hunting for “anti-White” activity in cities and towns throughout Massachusetts since at least 2020. “In practice, this means that uniformed Club members roam public streets and neighborhoods – generally at night –defacing property, seeking out physical confrontations with their ‘enemies,’ and otherwise causing a disruption and threat to public peace and safety,” according to the complaint. The suit alleges that armed members of NSC-131 “trespassed upon and ‘tagged’ public and private property to claim territory for the Club.”

“NSC-131 has engaged in a concerted campaign to target and terrorize people across Massachusetts and interfere with their rights,” Campbell said in a statement.

Campbell’s office is seeking injunctive relief against NSC-131 and its leaders, as well as “monetary awards related to civil penalties, damages, and other costs, amongst other forms of potential relief,” according to the press release.

“Our complaint is the first step in holding this neo-Nazi group and its leaders accountable for their unlawful actions against members of our community,” Campbell continued. “My office will continue to do all it can to protect our residents’ and visitors’ civil rights and public safety.”