Mike Pence’s Ohio Visit Will Kick Off With Dancing Drag Queens
Mike Pence’s scheduled visit to Ohio Friday will be met with a counter-protest of sorts, with a drag queen dance party taking place outside of his hotel, the Cincinnati Enquirer is reporting.
The vice president is scheduled to be a special guest at “Tax Cuts to Put America First,” a conservative event touting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in Columbus. According to the website of America First Policies, the Columbus event is part of a nationwide tour of such events touting the December 2017 tax cuts signed into law by Donald Trump. It’s not the first time Pence has spoken at such an event: when the tour visited Milwaukee recently, Pence was there.
“All told, these tax cuts… are going to save the typical family of four in Wisconsin more than $2,500 a year on their taxes. And 90 percent of working families are going to see a tax cut reflected in their paychecks before the year is out, if you haven’t already.”
Unfortunately for Pence, the timing couldn’t have been worse. The vice president, whose political stances and legislative efforts have been seen by some as anti-LGBTQ, will be making his visit during an important time for the LGBTQ community. Not only is June Pride Month nationwide, but in Columbus specifically, Friday marks the beginning of Pride Weekend.
To that end, Pence’s visit to Columbus will be greeted by “The Big Gay Dance Party,” a dance party replete with dancing drag queens, to be hosted right outside of his hotel.
A "Big Gay Dance Party" will be thrown outside of Mike Pence's hotel in Ohio on Friday https://t.co/HxxbaTTE9S pic.twitter.com/pOPdnAMOG8
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) June 14, 2018
Jay Smith, one of the event’s organizers, points to Pence’s anti-LGBTQ history as the reason for the event.
“We want to counter that anti-LGBT attitude that they have with a big, positive, loving dance party.”
Similarly, event co-sponsor ProgressOhio promised big fun in a press release.
“Ohioans will protest Vice President Mike Pence…by dancing outside the hotel and performances including DJs and drag queens.”
One guest of honor at the Big Gay Dance Party, according to the Columbus Dispatch, will be a Mike Pence impersonator of sorts. “Mike Hot-Pence” is an activist who bears a striking resemblance to the vice president. He can oft be seen collecting donations for Planned Parenthood, wearing a shirt and tie, but no pants, often carrying a cardboard cutout of Mike Pence, but in BDSM gear.
https://www.facebook.com/MikeHotPence/photos/a.934437243357102.1073741829.906396639494496/1237788413021982/?type=3
This is not the first time the LGTBQ community has trolled Mike Pence. A few days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, activists held an LGTBQ-themed dance party outside of Pence’s rental home in Washington.
