Armed Neo-Nazis Disrupt Detroit Pride Parade

Kevin Wainczak, 22, of Plymouth, Michigan, waits to march alongside other participants during the Motor City Pride Parade on June 9, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. Image by Brittany Greeson/Getty Images

By Aiden Pink June 10, 2019

Armed members of a white supremacist group marched on what organizers said was Michigan’s biggest LGBT event on Saturday, with police intervening to keep the neo-Nazis and marchers separate, Fox News reported..

Members of the National Socialist Movement, which the Southern Poverty Law Center described as “one of the largest and most prominent neo-Nazi groups in the United States,” were present at Motor City Pride. Members of the group, who were openly carrying weapons, yelled anti-gay slurs into a bullhorn, tore up a rainbow flag and appeared to urinate on an Israeli flag, according to Slate.

While some marchers were upset that the police were protecting the Nazi group, most appeared to be enjoying the event, the Detroit News reported.

“There were warnings on Facebook of a Nazi group that might come and that’s just not right,” attendee Kortlyn Johnson said. “We haven’t seen anything and hope we don’t. Any groups that oppose just need to let people be happy.”

Aiden Pink is the deputy news editor of the Forward. Contact him at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink