North Idaho Pride is hosting Pride in the Park this Saturday at Coeur d’Alene Park. The Panhandle Patriots Riding Club has scheduled their annual North Idaho Day of Prayer in the park on that same day to protest the event.
Jessica Mahuron, the Outreach Director of North Idaho Pride Alliance which is hosting its sixth annual Pride in the Park said that the events are not supposed to be at the same time and that North Idaho Pride Alliance is focusing on the positive aspects that are taking place.
North Idaho Pride Alliance started out as a Peace Flag chapter and has been held at the Coeur d’ Alene city park since 2017. They have had several successful years hosting Pride in the Park but had to take two years off due to COVID-19. North Idaho Pride Alliance is an organization consisting of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex and Allied (LGBTQIA+) members and community groups. In this alliance, they are working towards a more unified Northern Idaho through networking, educating and advocating. They envision a community where everyone is valued, respected, and affirmed.
Mahuron said that North Idaho Pride Alliance has been hosting small events since the beginning of May and will continue hosting them. She said that they have had much success and no trouble while hosting events.
“Everything going on is not being told accurately,” Mahuron said, regarding the media around the Panhandle Patriots messages to Pride in the Park.
“We have a strong safety plan for June 11th,” Mahuron said. “We do not want to give people (Panhandle Patriots) what they are seeking, which is fear.” Mahuron really wants to make sure the community and those joining them for Pride in the Park knew that they, no matter what, will be creating a safe, supportive space for many partners and individuals.
In early May, a video surfaced on the social media platform, TikTok, that showed a campaign being held with District 1 Rep. Heather Scott, members of Panhandle Patriots Riding Club and other community members. The video was taken at the April 28 campaign by Scott.
The Panhandle Patriots Riding Club is an organization of community members that are Christians advocating for safe and healthy communities.
The Patriots are “a riding club that started with myself and Judge (another member), we would go into hoods and clean up drug needles and run drug users and pedophiles out of the hoods.” said a member, who identified himself as Viper, claiming to be one of the club presidents. Members of the club use aliases when conducting club business, with their legal names only being known to “insiders”.
The video has drawn large attention due to the message that was spread by Dog, a member within the Panhandle Patriots Riding Club.
Dog discussed in the TikTok post how the event “Gun d’ Alene” the second annual event commemorating the anniversary of when Panhandle Patriots stood to protect their community, was a day before the North Idaho Pride Alliance’s “Pride in the Park” event.
Panhandle Patriots have since changed the name of the event to North Idaho Day of Prayer. Dog has also stated over social media things that can be seen as directed towards the Pride in the Park event.
“We believe that children should be able to choose for themselves who they are and what they want to become,” Viper said.
“That very same day we actually intend to go head-to-head with these people” Dog said, following a statement made previously about how Panhandle Patriots made the decision to move North Idaho Day of Prayer from June 10 to June 11.
The Panhandle Patriots want to take the opportunity to advocate and show community members what they mean. Viper encouraged people to read their mission statements and learn about what they are trying to advocate for.
Dog is also seen in the video saying “A line must be drawn in the sand”, “Good people need to stand up”, and “We say, ‘damn the repercussions’”. All of these were directed toward their event, North Idaho Day of Prayer, and their agenda and mission for the event.
“The video on social media is a perfect example of what type of misinformation is being spread,” Viper said. “It is not that the video is not true but people that view the video must realize that they are only seeing a little bit of what was said as well as they are unfamiliar with the context of the video”.
Viper and Judge, the other president of the Panhandle Patriots Riding Club, went and had a meeting with the Chief of Police in Couer d’ Alene to discuss their event.
Rep. Heather Scott in the video says, “I wanted to bring us together because I am gravely concerned about the inappropriate materials in our public schools, school libraries and our libraries.” This is the only statement from Rep. Scott about the message.
The website of Panhandle Patriots gives more information about what the group wants to have happen and what their mission is. The press release on the website talks about how the group wants this to be a peaceful event and how they do not want the media using groups that are planning to show up to North Idaho Day of Prayer to condemn and tarnish their name.
“We do not welcome those groups here and we will run them out of town,” Viper said, regarding prospective White Nationalist groups attending North Idaho Day of Prayer. “We do not want them even affiliated with North Idaho because that is not what we stand for nor believe in”
Tony Stewart, Secretary for the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations told the CDA Press that “Groups have the right to peacefully assembly”, and that “No one can threaten, physically harass, or confront one another”.
Stewart had these remarks and others after being asked about his regards to the TikTok video. Stewart said that he was confident if one of the groups started a confrontation the Coeur d’ Alene Police Department would be able to handle it.
“One group does not have the right to deny another group or disrupt what they are doing,” Stewart said.
June 11th will hold activities in Coeur d’ Alene all day long. Pride in the Park has live artists, vendors, and many events and activities for all ages. North Idaho Day of Prayer will have their Prayer March most of the day as well with pamphlets advocating and educating their mission statements and beliefs. There is more information about both events and organizations on their websites.
Ducati Schiff can be reached at [email protected]