In Franklin, Tennessee, a battle over LGBTQ+ acceptance has sparked as Franklin Pride, an organization responsible for hosting an LGBTQ+ pride festival, faces fierce opposition to obtaining a city permit. Franklin Pride’s President, Clayton Klutts, noted how this year’s resistance starkly contrasts the previous years’ smooth processes and sees it as a sign that the community is regressing in terms of LGBTQ+ acceptance. The heated conflict unfolded during a public forum at City Hall where over 30 people pleaded with Franklin’s mayor and the city board’s eight aldermen to deny the pride permit. These individuals accused the festival of being part of a coordinated national movement to groom children, attack families and destroy America. Some even linked homosexuality to pedophilia and cited a school shooting a day earlier as a reason to block the event.
The conflict has drawn attention to the nationwide backlash among conservatives against the rights of transgender people, drag artists, and LGBTQ+ people to see themselves reflected in school library books, curricula, and culture at large. Republicans in state legislatures have introduced various bills targeting LGBTQ+ rights. The issue of LGBTQ+ rights has been seen as a key issue to regain the White House in 2024 for some GOP strategists. These debates have garnered national attention onto the efforts of GOP lawmakers in Nashville, particularly in the days after three children and three adults were shot at the Covenant School.
The fight in Franklin, a conservative, predominantly Christian city of approximately 85,000 people, has surprised some older members of the local LGBTQ+ community. Tom Rice, a 71-year-old retired art teacher, has owned a home in Franklin for decades and notes how anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the area has become more pronounced over the past few years.
Beverly Burger, an alderman opposing Franklin Pride’s permit, and her constituents were disturbed by videos showing a performer in drag “gyrating on the stage” in the presence of children. She believes that Franklin Pride should be held accountable for “breaching community decency standards” and argues that the festival should not be allowed to take place in public spaces. However, the organizers of the festival maintain that the event was family-friendly and not overtly sexual, and that they agreed not to include a drag show in this year’s festivities.
Despite the concession, Franklin residents remain furious, and some of the comments at the city board meeting illustrate that the furor is not just about drag but more broadly about LGBTQ+ acceptance. One speaker promoted a local Christian ministry that aims to help gay people give up homosexuality and lead “healthy lifestyles” — a practice known as conversion therapy that is widely rejected by mental health professionals.
The city board voted to delay the decision until it could take up a separate “community decency” policy that would, among other things, ban “sexually suggestive behavior” and excessive “displays of affection” from public spaces. Some members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies argue that the policy is merely a thinly veiled attempt to suppress LGBTQ+ expression in public.
Spencer Lyst, a 17-year-old gay student and activist attending high school in Franklin, has felt animus building in recent years as local conservatives have fought to limit classroom discussions and library books about LGBTQ+ people. At a homecoming parade last fall, Lyst, who normally wears dresses and makeup, led his school’s pride club, and he and other students were booed by a group of parents. Despite the opposition, Lyst plans to be present when the board makes its final decision. He said, “I don’t need their acceptance, I just want to be free to be myself.”