Safety measures in place for Pride, officials say
ebar.comThe increased activities of white nationalists and other right-wing extremists around the country, and particularly recently here in the Bay Area, has San Francisco Pride event organizers and authorities thinking of security at this year's event a little more earnestly than in previous years.
Kids attending a drag queen storytime at the San Lorenzo public library in the East Bay were confronted by right-wing protesters June 11, as alleged members of the Proud Boys barged in and harassed drag queen Panda Dulce as she was reading to the children.
While that was going on here, in Idaho the same day, police officers arrested 31 people who are believed to be affiliated with the white nationalist group Patriot Front, after they were seen gathering near a Pride event in the northern city of Coeur d'Alene.
Add a bomb threat placed to gay state Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) the following day, and an earlier bomb threat called in to LYRIC, an LGBTQ youth organization based in the city, at the end of May, and you have security concerns placed front and center for a high visibility event like San Francisco Pride.
