By Casey Parks, The Washington PostOrganizer Tom Wheeler waves a Pride flag and yells, “Canyon County, the gays are here!”
Now, the crews were here with 700 feet of six-foot-tall metal fencing, and Wheeler, a 27-year-old who’d chosen not a bulletproof vest but a cowboy hat and a pink T-shirt for the day’s attire, watched as they hoisted the frame, then wrapped the metal in a black shroud.“I think we have a thousand feet of gay stuff to put on the fencing,” he told Van Knapp, a curly-haired queer Nampa mom who’d helped him plan the event. “We need to glam up the perimeter.
“Hey folks! No rush, but curious to get an ETA for when you will begin barricading Americana?” he typed. The Nampa area had an abundance of churches and more gun stores than Wheeler had ever seen in one place. When he and Knapp appeared in public together, people sometimes stared. The city approved his request in late May. When a local news channel called and wanted to interview the organizers, Wheeler and Knapp decided he would do all the press. He has the kind of optimistic presence that makes people want to buy houses, but most important, he doesn’t live in Canyon County.
Later that evening, the station uploaded the segment to its Facebook page. The post soon had more than 2,500 comments, many of which promised that God would punish Wheeler with hell or the kind of fiery destruction the biblical cities Sodom and Gomorrah endured. Tom Wheeler gets a hug from Amanda Bladt, who helped plan the Pride festival. They had originally envisioned a small picnic in the park, but disparaging comments from Nampa's mayor helped fuel support and funding for the event.
bar announced a “Heterosexual Awesomeness Month” with drink specials for straight people. And friends sent Wheeler screenshots showing that people planned to protest. The queens were undaunted. They’d grown up in Arco and Wilder, towns with fewer than 2,000 residents, and for years, they’d felt alone in those rural communities.
A man stepped out in sagging Wranglers, and Wheeler steeled himself. He’d been prancing around all morning, but now, he moved toward the man with less sway in his hips. The man doffed his cowboy hat. He was there, he said, to set up tables for a nonprofit selling elote en vaso, shucked corn with cheese and lime juice.Wheeler fanned himself, relieved. Knapp handed him a walkie talkie, and then he high-kicked his way across the park. He had a hundred tasks to do.
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