Local News

A community divided; Ministry against LGBTQ

WELLSVILLE - It was a village divided during the public portion of Wellsville's Village Council meeting Tuesday, as local ministry, concerned parents and residents faced off against the LGBTQ community over an event to be held in Wellsville in July.

The local ministry and concerned residents stood in strong opposition to the Pride Festival scheduled for July 15 in Wellsville. A part of the event, being called Kid Bop, a kids' drag show, is what has most people concerned.

The crowd of people gathered to voice their opinions on both sides filled the council chamber and flowed out into the hallway at village hall.

For security purposes there was police presence during the meeting.

The meeting opened with a prayer given by a minister which received mixed reactions with people cheering or booing during the prayer.

Wellsville Mayor Bob Boley addressed the crowd and told them he was going to make it very clear that he would not tolerate any outburst.

Brennen Kelly with the Wellsville First Christian Church addressed the crowd with a laptop showing photos and videos of what a drag show is like. Kelly said the photos and videos were from the drag shows put on by the organizer of the Pride Festival Joey Shilot, who goes by the name Ophelia Bottom. Shilot is also the organizer of a group/community who goes by the name Drag Me Through the Valley.

Kelly said he was incredibly concerned upon hearing about the Pride Festival featuring a kids' drag show.

"If you have never seen a drag show, it is highly sexualized," Kelly said. "As a concerned father and citizen, I'm very opposed to the sexualizing of our children. Exposing our kids to sexual material in my opinion is one of the most evil things we can do."

Kelly believes that as leaders in the homes and community the safety and welfare of the children should be the main priority. He also believes that exposing children to these kinds of events or actions is grooming children.

"I want to be clear, even though I don't support drag shows or other sexually explicit shows, the issue I'm bringing up is the exposure of such content to our children," Kelly said. "We have age restrictions on activities that we deem inappropriate for children; smoking, drinking, gambling, pornography, among others. This Kids Bop drag show must not be permitted to take place in any community let alone our very own hometown and there should be restrictions set in place to guard the public from all drag shows sexualized content."

Kelly is not opposing the drag show but wants the kids drag show prohibited to prevent the grooming and sexualization of children.

Shilot, who has been a lifelong Wellsville resident, said he was there because once again he and others were being forced to stick up for themselves.

"In this community and the Columbiana County community, LGBTQA+ citizens have been attacked for one reason and one reason only, because we are who we are, and that is why we need this event," Shilot said.

Shilot admitted that Kelly was correct in his statement that they run a collective of local drag entertainers called Drag Me through the Valley and went on to say that Kelly did not reveal the collective has raised almost $20,000 for local individuals and charities in the community."

Boley asked Shilot what charities he raised money for and Shilot responded giving the names of a couple of residents they raised funds for who were fighting cancer and for a local church's Thanksgiving program in East Liverpool.

Shilot noted that before he came out, he was active with a local church where he was taught to hate himself every day because of who he is.

"To assume we are trying to sexualize children is completely asinine," Shilot said. "I know for a fact that people are going to bring up pictures, which Brennen (Kelly) really did, but I can assure you those pictures were from an adult only drag show. Just like every single entertainer on the earth we know when kids are involved it's a different setting."

He also said that for shows where children are in the audience, they personally vet all music and outfit choices.

Shilot went on to say there were no incidents where children have been harmed at any of their drag shows and questioned whether the same could be said about a church.

"Council, there are two different sides to this story here -- a group that wants to live their lives and co-exist with everybody in this community and then a group that wants to eradicate us for being who we are," Shilot said. "This is obviously just a witch hunt and I and the people standing behind me will never bow down and we will never burn at that stake."

Josh Lytle of Family Care Ministry in East Liverpool said the target audience of the LGBTQ was the children in the community and it was their responsibility to protect those children from sexual abuse and exposure. He also spoke on how children were being taught in school and at home to figure out their identities.

"It's been recognized nationally that here is one of the number one places in the nation for drug addiction and overdose and when I started to look at statistics for the LGBTQ community especially, the children, these are national facts that kids, that were exposed to that and starting to go that direction, they said out of their own mouths they experienced sadness and hopelessness for two straight weeks," Lytle said. He also said that 68% of the children exposed to the LGBTQ movement contemplated suicide and that over 20% were exposed to sexual actions against their will at these types of events.

Jusin Garner, a Wellsville resident and former member of Wellsville Christian Church who has a minor in Biblical studies, said when he came out it was his church family who turned their backs on him.

"Joey and I started a drag charity to not only provide a safe space for LGBTQIA people but to attempt to bridge the gap of queer people in the community." Garner said. "After we started, I was followed; I had death threats made to me and I was harassed online continuously."

Garner asked how many have seen "Mrs. Doubtfire" or a Wesley Snipes or Patrick Swayze movie and then said that is all drag.

"Drag has been a part of the culture since Shakespeare and our only intent is to provide a safe space for queer people and promote inclusion and unity within our communities," Garner said.

Garner also noted that he wasn't sure it was the drag community they should be focused on and brought up a recent incident where a former Wellsville pastor was sentenced to prison for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

"The hate rhetoric and bullying tactics of the church have gone on long enough and I personally will not stop fighting for my community and the voices that are often unheard because of who I love or how I dress," Garner said.

Multiple others on both sides spoke before the mayor had to stop the public portion to continue on with the meeting to take care of village business.

A second public portion at the end of the meeting allowed some time for additional questions, such as if they could vote on whether to stop the kids' drag show and if the village had to follow ORC (Ohio Revised Code) in regard to exposing children to lewd acts.

Boley told the crowd that the village's law direction and county prosecutor has advised him and all members of council to refrain from making any comments in either direction on the topic.

Boley responded to the question on council voting to stop the kids' drag show and said that was beyond council matter and council could not do anything about it.

An audience member requested that Boley ask the village's law director to be present at the next council meeting to answer questions regarding the event.

Kgarabrandt@mojonews.com