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Opposing views over ‘family friendly’ pride festival continues to divide a community

By KRISTI R. GARABRANDT 7 min read

WELLSVILLE --The request for police presence and people lining up to attend a council meeting is a rare occurrence in the peaceful Village of Wellsville. But that's what happened Tuesday.

People from all over Columbiana County and as far away as Youngstown who are for or against what is being called a family-friendly Pride festival started lining up outside the Wellsville Village Hall over an hour prior to the 6 p.m. meeting.. The event is scheduled July 15 in Wellsville.

Supporters of the LGBTQIA+ community gathered in numbers holding Pride flags while waiting for the meeting to start while those opposed gathered in prayer circles outside the Wellsville Village Hall.

A group known as Columbiana County Pride, claiming in a June 8 Facebook post to have faced what it is calling baseless homophobic and trans-phobic attacks by a local group during a June 6 village council meeting, encouraged supporters to attend the June 20 meeting and help fend off the attacks.

When the meeting started, council chambers was filled to capacity. Attendees overflowed into the hallway putting the building over maximum occupancy.

Prior to the public speaking portion of the meeting, Mayor Bob Boley -- feeling the village has had enough division --announced that per council rules each person speaking would be limited to three minutes. He added that council meetings are for the village people, but he would allow those from outside to speak and he expected the meeting to kept in order without any outburst. He stressed anyone creating an outburst would be removed by police officers from the meeting.

Officers were requested by the mayor to remove Robert Dornick of Wellsville from the meeting for being disruptive. Before being removed from the meeting, Dornick tried to question those in attendance on whether they watched movies like Hawaii 5-0 or Magnum P.I where Hawaiian men dress in grass skirts and equate that to dressing in drag. When he was told his three minutes were up, he responded with "that's bullcrap" and continued speaking. It was then that Boley requested his removal.

Wellsville resident Joey Shilot, also known by Ophelia Bottom and a member of the LGBTQIA+ group called Drag Me Through the Valley which is organizing the Pride Festival, there was a lot of misconceptions and lies spread by those agaisnt the festival and that he was present at the meeting to add clarity. According to Shilot, the was being fully transparent and that he was open to any reasonable question about the event.

According to Shilot, there are rumors circulating that children at the event will be dressed in drag and asked to dance at the event. Shilot said this was not the case a--organizers have asked drag queens having exxperience working for family-friendly events to be present at the show.

Shilot said it was also rumored that grown men dressed in drag would be dancing in front of children in sexual attire while grabbing dollar bills from kids. He said that it was untrue for multiple reasons including most of the cast being biologically women and cast members who would be live singing Disney music and other family-friendly songs. There would be no tipping the queens and the goal is to provide entertainment for those attending. He will be vetting all the music and customs for the show and there would be no inappropriate outfits allowed. He provided a photo of what he would be wearing, which is a long skirt.

Boley has said that under the advice of the village's attorney they cannot take any steps to draft legislation prohibiting the attendance of children at these types of events because drag shows are legal in the State of Ohio and there is no age restrictions in a show where there is nothing sexual happening in the show.

Brennen Kelly with the Wellsville First Christian Church, who is opposed to children being present at Pride Festival or exposed to drag shows, said that while Shilot claims children will not be exposed to sexual context, he already has through sexually explicit Facebook posts. Including photos and videos from his last 18 shows and points out that anyone on social media including children can access those posts.

Kelly said when working with children you must hold yourself to a higher standard and be careful of the content on your social media.

"I don't trust the judgement of anyone highly involved in adult-themed productions who does not understand the meaning of public discretion," Kelly said. "I don't think there is any bad motive here, only bad judgement on the organizer's part."

Kelly went on to say he simply wants council to make drag content strictly 18-plus and neither he nor anyone he is affiliated with has wished harm against the LGBTQIA+ community.

Kelly noted that he has it on good authority that strip clubs are illegal in the village limits and sees no difference between strip clubs and the drag show for Pride Festival. He also cited ORC (Ohio Revised Code) section 2919.22 Section B where it is illegal to encourage compel, act, model or in any way participate in a production or performance where the offenders know or should know the material is obscene or of sexually-oriented matter.

Wellsville resident Josh Lytle, asked that council considering passing an ordinance. It would uphold the current ORC and restrict all drag activities to 18 years of age and would make it illegal in the village for children to be present at drag shows or exposed to any of its contents entirely. Or draft legislation against it for the village to vote on at the upcoming General Election in November.

"At the very least the community as a whole should be able to vote on whether or not they want their children exposed to this," Lytle said. "Please do not fear the repercussions of doing what is right, Your community will stand behind you and you will be seen in the eyes of many as heroes and protectors of the most innocent our children."

Reverend Shane Russo of Boardman, a representative of the East Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church ,said that stood before Council as a church elder, there to speak not only as a member of the clergy but as a proud supporter of Columbiana County Pride which wants to offer a faith-oriented perspective to underlie the diversity of beliefs of those who hold the Bible dear.

Russo wanted to speak on the child issues because he believes that there are genuine concerns voiced out of genuine care about the presence of children at pride festivals, drag story hours and other events. He pointed out that children at these events are brought by their parents and are not there against their will any more than any other child who is taken somewhere by their parent. He went on to say these children are at these events with loving supportive guardians who want them to experience the full breadth of the human experience and teach them the value of acceptance and love.

Brian Noland of Wellsville said he has no problem with 18 and over for the event. He was into cross dressing and was molested as a child which caused personal issues for years. Based on his experience he believes that children should not be exposed whether its social media or a live show and he feels that council should stop the children from attending and let the adults do what they want.

Another meeting attendee, Wellsville resident Zac Baker is a father who would like to take his child to the Pride Festival and sees no reason where no one should be able to tell him he can't.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com

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